ROYAL CROWN BOTTLING COMPANY OF EAST TENNESSEE

Nothing feels as good as having one of your theories about a mystery confirmed. Recently I was contacted by a fellow collector who owns two bottles from the Royal Crown Bottling Company of East Tennessee that actually have the town name displayed under the company name, the town is indeed Johnson City, Tenn. I have also found an incorporation date for the company, which is June 9, 1945. With where it was located, and when it started operation solved, that leaves who was actually doing bottling the product, where were they distributing the product, and when they ceased operation. I found the incorporation info in the State Corporation Commission report of Virginia, the foreign corporations part of the report to be exact which means that it is incorporated in another state but doing business in Virginia. There is a possibility that one of the places that the company is distributing these is in the Smyth county area maybe on down toward Bristol, VA due to the sheer amount of these being found around the area.

Of course this leads us to who is actually bottling the product because there is no mention of the company itself in the Johnson City directory during the period that the artifact evidence suggests they were operation, basically 1945 till at least 1957, so we are to assume that one of the bottling plants in operation in the area are responsible for the bottling. This leads us to my first piece of evidence that caused me to first surmise that the company was located in Johnson City and now lead me to believe that it is indeed Lawrance L. Rice's Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company who are bottling these bottles.

This picture is of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Plant at 804 West Market Street in the middle to late 1950's. The date is estimated by the cars in the full photograph. If you look closely you will see that there are soda signs on the side of the building. There is a Pepsi on the top, a Grapette (which assures me that this is during Rice's control), and to my surprise a Royal Crown Cola sign partially covered by the sign post in the foreground. One question hit me as soon as I saw this picture, why would a Royal Crown Cola sign be allowed to be on the side of a competitor's building? You have to remember that this was a time when Royal Crown was still a major player in the cola game, so there was no way that Rice's Bottling company would allow that unless they were themselves bottling Royal Crown Cola.

This may also help point to where he is distributing these drinks as well, because Rice lived in Roanoke, VA where he also has a bottling operation; however, I doubt he was distributing them there, because Roanoke, VA already had a Royal Crown Bottling Company in that area; however, there is quite a bit of territory between Bristol and Pulaski which only has Nehi Bottling Company of Bluefield, VA, and Nehi Bottling Company of Appalachia, VA covering it, so it could be from Bristol up to Wytheville for all I know. Like I have said before who was bottling these products, where they are distributing them, and when they ceased operations are still just theories; however, as I find more I am feeling more satisfied that I am on the right track.

7oz Nehi Bottle dated 1944

12oz Royal Crown Cola Bottle dated 1945

6oz Chero Bottle dated 1946

6oz Chero Bottle dated 1947. I find it odd that there is a acl and an embossed Chero from this company, especially when it appears that the acl predates the embossed version; however, it appears that this is one of those bottles that has the "4" added later and may be an updated mold. You see this practice on some of the Marion VA Orange Crush and Blueridge Ginger Ale bottles.

7oz Nehi Bottle dated 1947

10oz Royal Crown Cola Bottle dated 1955

10oz red & yellow label Nehi Bottle dated 1957

10oz red & white label Nehi Bottle dated 1957, transition year?

10oz red & white label Nehi Bottle dated 1959. This is the latest date that I have found for this company.

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