Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

 

The first Coca-Cola bottling company was opened in Dickson in March of 1914, next door to the Dickson Ice & Coal Company on Railroad Street. The distributor was O.V. Clark. When the company moved to the corner of Shaw Alley and West College Street, the previous site became the James Choate Tire & Recapping Plant. This photograph was taken at the West College Street location, also home to Sam Hannah’s barbershop and later the McCreary Photo Studio.

 

On May 11, 1931, the Coca Cola Company announced plans to build a new modern two-story brick building on North Main Street, on property known as the Moize property, next door to the Methodist church. In 1967 Coca-Cola announced the purchase of the old Hampton High School property on Cowan Road, and the plant was moved from North Main Street to the Cowan Road location. An open house was held on October 29, 1968.

 

For several years after Coca Cola moved out of the building, Henry Ragan owned the building, and it served as the service department and warehouse for Ragan’s Friendly Neighbors Store. The building was sold to Jim Marvin in 1993; in 2001, Marvin sold the property to the Methodist Church, which had the building torn down in 2006, and leased the vacant lot to the city for a parking lot.

 

In 2005, after the Coca Cola Company closed its operations in Dickson, the Water Authority of Dickson County purchased the seven acre property for $1.1 million.

 

Photo and text provided by Alan Ragan