NORTON BOTTLING COMPANY
T. M. PEPPER COMPANY, INC

The history of the Norton Bottling Company starts out in the early 1900's at 245 Eighth Street, with the partnership of T. M. Pepper, and T. B. Hillman (proprietor of the Coeburn Bottling Works).(2) T. B. Hillman would sell out in 1905 so the company existed prior to this point. T. M. Pepper purchased the land that the plant was located on in 1899, he also bought the adjoining lots in 1903 and 1904.(2) So it is very possible that he was in operation from as early as 1899, and the other lots may have been purchased with the profits of the company for possible expansion. Ownership of this land would pay off later on.

T. M. Pepper sold the company to F. B. Kline on September 1, 1906, which included all the personal property of the company and a good faith option to leasing the building for two years from the sale date for ten dollars a month.(2) The only problem was that T. M. Pepper couldn’t bottle or sell soda in Wise and Lee county for five years from the sale date.(2) Thus T. M. Pepper's place in bottling history was over, or was it?

April 30th, 1914 T. M. Pepper starts up the T. M. Pepper Company, Inc with T. M. Pepper as President, H. W. Meade as Vice President, and L. C. Pepper as Secretary Treasurer. The T. M. Pepper Company, Inc was incorporated on May 18, 1914(1), and used a straight side amber bottle similar to a Coca-Cola bottle with a slug plate in the middle of the bottle. T. M. Pepper went bankrupt in 1917, and the company would change their name to the Stone Mountain bottling company on February 7, 1923.

A Hutchinson bottle from the Norton Bottling Company

An ad for the Norton Bottling Company from June 3, 1904.

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