How did Dr. Pepper get it's name?

Answer 1

Hi - there are a couple of myths out there, but here is the real story and it's a good one!

In 1885, Charles Alderton was a pharmacist at the Morrison's Old Country Drug Store in Waco, Texas. Mr. Alderton was the person experimenting with different flavors, and he was the one who invented Dr. Pepper (not Morrison). However, Mr. Morrison (the owner of the drug store) was the one who named Alderton's new soft drink. Morrison had worked for a Dr. Charles Pepper, but he was not in love with Dr. Pepper's daughter as she was only about 8 years old when he left Virginia. Morrison probably chose the name Dr. Pepper because it allowed him to pay tribute to the first person to give him a job, the name had a nice ring to it, and it was common practice to include "Dr." in a drinks title. (The period was dropped from Dr. Pepper in the 1950s).

The patrons at Morrison's drug store fell in love with Dr. Pepper (it's a love story after all). It was not long before the whole town of Waco seemed to be stopping by Morrison's Drug Store to sample the new beverage. Other drug store owners started buying the syrup from Alderton and Morrison, and eventually the demand became so large that syrup production out grew the little drug store. Morrison found a solution to this problem by bottling Dr. Pepper. The first bottler of Dr. Pepper was a man named S. H. Prim. He owned a bottling plant in nearby Dublin, Texas, and that bottling plant still exists today. Not only do they still exist, but they still even bottle Dr. Pepper with 100% pure cane sugar. (You can order Dr Pepper made with 100% pure cane sugar from their website www.drpep.com). However, it was a young bottler named Robert S. Lazenby that helped Dr Pepper reach national proportions.