Texana Thursday: 4 Things You Might Not Know about Dr Pepper

Dr Pepper bottles often have the old logo urging you to enjoy them at 10, 2, and 4 o’clock (Mike Mozart photo, Creative Commons license)

Many Texans know that Dr Pepper, the popular soft drink, was created in Texas. But there’s more to the story. For example, Dr Pepper dropped the period after “Dr” in its trademark in 1950.

Some other things you might not know about Dr Pepper include:

1. Dr Pepper is older than both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola.

Dr Pepper was created in 1885, and its corporate headquarters today is in Plano.

Coca-Cola was introduced in 1886 in Atlanta, where its corporate headquarters remains today.

Pepsi-Cola came along in 1898, and was introduced in New Bern, North Carolina. Its corporate headquarters today is in Purchase, New York.

2. Dr Pepper was created in Waco.

Wade Morrison owned Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store, which in 1885 was on the bottom floor of the McClelland Hotel at 329 Austin Avenue in Waco.

Morrison hired Charles Alderton, a pharmacist, whose key responsibility was to prepare medicines for local patients. But Alderton also liked to serve carbonated drinks at the soda fountain, and he experimented with creating a soft drink. He experimented with various fruit syrups and found something that he liked.

Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store was later moved to near the ALICO building, the tallest in Waco. The building remains but the two drug store sites are no more. Meanwhile, production had been moved to another site, at 300 S. 5th Street. Today, the Dr Pepper museum sits at the site.

3. Dr Pepper was named after a real person.

People urged Morrison to name the drink. He decided to name it after a physician and pharmacist with whom he had worked in the past, Dr. Charles T. Pepper.

4. Early Dr Pepper marketing efforts encouraged three drinks a day.

If you were to look at a “retro” logo for Dr Pepper, shown on the bottles in this picture, you’ll see a circle with the numbers 10, 2, and 4. The idea is to enjoy a Dr Pepper at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4 p.m. The idea for this was the winner in an ad campaign contest.

Other marketing campaigns over the years have included “Be a Pepper” and “23” to emphasize the 23 fruit flavors that give the drink its flavor.

Dr Pepper has also actively sponsored sporting events and is the namesake of Dr Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, near Dallas, which is home of the Frisco RoughRiders baseball club of the Texas League.