BRISTOL PEPSI-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY

The very short history of the Bristol Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company starts with one man by the name of D. D. Parks, who happens to be the mysterious D. D. P. who’s initials are on both Bristol Pepsi bottles and Appalachia Pepsi bottles, and for very good reason. D. D. Parks moved to Bristol, VA from Mountain Airy, NC in March 1916 after he acquired the franchise to bottle Pepsi-Cola.(2) A January 1917 article in the Bristol Herald Courier entitled "Record of One Year" confirms that the bottling company appeared upon the scene in the first half of 1916, and as of the publishing of the article held $5,000 in capital, and employed 6 to 10 persons.(1) Apparently this bottling company was located on the Northwest corner of the intersection of Commonwealth and State Street.(2) While I have no other information to discount that, the sanborn maps straddle it by at years both ways, the 1913 map shows an agricultural implements seller, while the 1922 shows a wholesale grocery company in the same building, so it's entirely possible that this was the location because the layout of the building has indeed changed.

Of course the bottling company didn't last but two years at the most, Parks was having to continuously borrow money to keep the plant up, and when J. M. Huneycutt came to him with the proposition to combine their resources in Appalachia, VA, he jumped at the chance, pulling his newer bottling equipment out of the building in Bristol, and moving it to Appalachia, VA in March of 1918.(2) If you want to know what became of D. D. Park's moving to Appalachia then check out the Pepsi-Bottling Company of Appalachia, VA page on this site.

6 1/2 oz Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company bottle

1917 advertising for the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Bristol

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