by Larry Chowning –
The Northern Neck Coca-Cola building on Main Street in Montross is one of the last reminders of bygone days when small town Coke bottling plants were located throughout the Tidewater region.
Coca-Cola was invented in 1886 by Atlanta, Ga. pharmacist John S. Pemberton. His bookkeeper Frank Robinson chose the name for the drink and penned it in the flowing script that became the Coca-Cola trademark.
At first, soda fountains and drug stores were the primary distributors of Coke. Store owners purchased Coke syrup by the gallon, mixed it up and sold it by the glass. Around 1900, Coca-Cola became available in bottles.
By the early 1920s, Coke had become a popular American soft drink and local franchises for distribution and bottling were being formed. Westmoreland County businessman H.S. Murphy, in an effort to bring a franchise to the Northern Neck, went to Washington, D.C., and talked with Coca-Cola officials about establishing a “sub-bottling and distributing plant” in the area.
Arthur Carver III of Montross and former owner of Northern Neck Coke said that the Washington Coca-Cola bottling firm was a “direct-line” Coke business that could establish a franchise and they allowed the franchise to come to the Northern Neck.
“We were in the Washington, D.C. [Coca Cola franchise] territory and they were supposed to service our area but at the turn of the [20th] century roads were poorly maintained and we were some distance from Washington.
“There were numerous bottling plants around [on Northern Neck] but they did not bottle Coke and people wanted to drink Coca-Cola,” said Carver. “The main office in Atlanta had done a great job of advertising Coke nationwide in magazines and when people traveled they discovered the good taste of a Coca-Cola.”
First plants
The first Coca-Cola bottling and distributing plant on the Northern Neck was in Kilmarnock. It opened May of 1921 and a couple months later a second plant opened at McGuires Wharf on the south side of Nomini Creek in Westmoreland County. Stock was sold to generate capital to finance and build the two plants and both plants operated under Northern Neck Coca-Cola.
The plants consolidated in 1928 and the Northern Neck Coca-Cola Bottling Plant moved to Montross. Arthur E. Carver Sr. had started the Bank of Montross in 1908 and was on the board of directors of Northern Neck Coca-Cola. “My grandfather was a stock holder and active in the business,” said Carver. “He saw an opportunity to consolidate the plants and move the business to Montross where he was able to better manage it. By 1928, roads were improving and the board felt one plant at one location was able to serve the entire Northern Neck.”
At the start, the Montross Coca-Cola plant was in a wood frame building. The present Coca-Cola brick building in town was completed in 1932. “My father [Arthur E. Carver Jr.] was 18 years old and at Augusta Military Academy [in Fort Defiance, VA] when my grandfather called him home for the opening celebration,” said Carver.
The announcement of the grand opening in the Northern Neck News and Rappahannock Record read, “Announcement of the opening of the new standard plant of Northern Neck Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Montross, at 10 o’clock on Thursday morning May 12th.
“The doors of the New Standard Model Plant . . . will be thrown open to the public for the formal celebration. Music on the occasion will be furnished by James Wharton and his Orchestra, of Kilmarnock, will play that afternoon and night.”
The machinery were up and going and the public was allowed to go inside and see the works. “All our customers and friends, including all the school children and teachers, are especially invited to the opening.”
“Dancing from 9 to 12 a.m.,” it stated.
“James Wharton’s orchestra played until one o’clock in the morning,” said Carver. “My father said it was a great time and an exciting time for Montross.”
Northern Neck Ginger Ale
As small town Coca-Cola Bottling plants were consolidated and closing in the 1950s and 60s, the Montross plant was able to survive largely due to the sales of Northern Neck Ginger Ale.
Arthur Carver Sr. began experimenting in the early 1920s with a ginger ale formula. It was strongly flavored with ginger root extract and a “personal” blending of his own recipe. Three generations of Carvers produced and sold the ginger ale and the drink gained popularity with each generation.
In 2001, Arthur Carver III sold the Northern Neck Ginger Ale formula to Coca Cola and the same year he sold the business, ending an 80 year family relationship with Coca-Cola.
“Since we sold the ginger ale, they say it does not taste as good as when we made it here at our plant in Montross,” said Carver. “We used a lot of ginger extract and kept true to my grandfather’s original formula. That was our secret to success.”
Urbanna Coca-Cola Bottling Plant
About the same time the Northern Neck Coca-Cola Bottling Company was organized in 1921, the Coca-Cola Company in Chattanooga authorized a franchise to bottle and sell Coca-Cola in Middlesex and six other counties on the Middle Peninsula.
Edward Chappell purchased the franchise in 1921 and established the business in Urbanna. In the beginning, Chappell rented the basement of the building that is today across from the service station on Cross Street in town and, with one employee, setup a distribution and a manually operated bottling plant.
Besides bottling, Chappell purchased Coke syrup and mixed it with carbonated water to provide Coca-Cola and distributed it at special events, which included church dinners, masonic meetings, baseball games, family reunions, carnivals and circuses.
Chappell’s wife, the late May Chappell, said in a 1950s interview that her husband often did not get home until midnight from delivering Coke due to muddy road conditions or snow drifts. “He was happy though because Coca-Cola was catching on and he was selling more and more as time went on,” she said.
In 1923, Chappell built a new brick Coca-Cola plant building on Virginia Street across from the ABC store with a three-bay garage in the rear for his trucks. At the fourth annual Labor Day Boat Regatta in 1941, Chappell purchased the full-page ad space on the back cover of the regatta program. It read, “Pause and Refresh Drink Coca-Cola bottled in Urbanna by Richmond Coca-Cola Bottling Works Inc. Urbanna, Virginia.”
In November 1944, Chappell died and controlling interest of the plant went to Walter Sams, who had built a home at Walesa Point, short for Walter Lee Sams, just outside of Urbanna on Robinson Creek.
Sams built a new Urbanna plant in 1947 a little further down on Virginia Street. The building today houses the Half Shell Restaurant and Chesapeake Inn. In the early 1950s, the new plant served 410 retail customers with eight located in Urbanna.
Charles A. (Shorty) Long came to manage the Urbanna plant in 1951. In 1953, the plant led all Virginia Coca-Cola operations in percentage of sales increases.
During Christmas 1953, the plant window facing the street had a large cardboard image of Santa Claus drinking a Coke and holding a sign “Drink Coca-Cola in Bottles.” There was also an old fashion Coke cooler and a Christmas tree fully decorated with Christmas cards at the base.
A letter from Long to J. Roland Rooke of James E. Crass Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Richmond dated Jan. 6, 1953 stated, “Our Christmas Party included all the employees and their families. The party was held at the Urbanna Lodge with a turkey dinner and all the trimmings. We enjoyed very much a fine dinner, Christmas tree and presents, bingo and exchange of gifts among employees.”
At the 1955 Christmas party, employees Long, Robert Hall, Junnie Knapp, Ray Burch Sr., Dan Davis, Archie Miller and Punch Parnell all posed for a photo. The 1957 plant window at Christmas had Santa Claus in a rocket ship drinking Coca-Cola, indicative of the time as Russia launched their Sputnik satellite in October 1957 and another poster with a mighty pretty red cheeks gal holding a Coke.
On Nov. 16, 1963, the Urbanna Coca-Cola bottling plant closed as part of a consolidation of plants and Long was transferred to a plant in Bowie, Md.
Today, sitting on many fireplace mantels, kitchen shelves and throughout homes on the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, are glass Coca-Cola bottles with embossed on the bottom “Montross, Va., or Urbanna, Va.” — a reminder of a time when Montross and Urbanna and other small towns had their own bottling plants from which Coca-Cola was locally distributed throughout the region.
