Was Dr Pepper named for a Virginia man?
Dr Pepper is the oldest soft drink in the United States. It was created, manufactured, and sold by pharmacist Charles Alderton in 1885 from Morrison's Old Corner Drugstore in Waco Texas. The store owner Wade Morrison is believed to have named the product in honor of Dr. Charles Pepper, a Christiansburg, Virginia pharmacist whom Morrison worked for as a young pharmacy clerk.
Dr Pepper does not have a period to make the distinction that it is not a medicinal product. This soft drink wasn’t marketed nationally until the 1904 World’s Fair Exposition in St. Louis when it was introduced to around 20 million people. Dr. Charles Taylor Pepper was a physician and surgeon who was born in Big Springs, Virginia on December 2, 1830. He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia in 1885 and became a Confederate surgeon during the Civil War.
Dr Pepper is the oldest soft drink in the world
After the war ended he opened a drug store in Rural Retreat where he sold medical supplies. He also worked in the medical field providing services for the surrounding area and remained in Virginia until he passed away on May 28, 1903.
There are other theories on where the soft drink got its name but The Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas has not been able to confirm or authenticate any records of where the name for the oldest soft drink in the world came from but Virginians believe they know.
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