Terre Haute helped teach world to sing
By Howard Greninger
Since Bob Durr was a young boy, Coca-Cola bottles and the soft drink, have been a favorite of his. He began collecting Coke bottles at age 25, knowing their special connection to Terre Haute as the origin of the world-famous bottle design.
Now, at age 60, he has more than 100 "uncommon" Coke bottles.
They include a 1985 Coca-Cola bottle with an image of Pete Rose, celebrating his 4,192nd hit. And there is one of just 400 bottles marking the first year of the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race at Indianapolis. Another is a Coke bottle with Jeff Gordon's name and number.
"Gordon was only with Coke for his first year in NASCAR, and has been with Pepsi ever since. I like the stuff that they don't make anymore," said Durr, owner of Durr's Towing Service.
Durr also has an early Coke bottle with the words "Coffey and Souder" on the bottom, along with "Terre Haute, over 7 oz, Chapman Root."
Chapman J. Root moved to Terre Haute in 1900, opening a glass company incorporated on May 27, 1901, as Root Glass Works.
His company was bottling Coca-Cola by 1904. Root's company would, however, change the worldwide image of Coke bottles in 1916.
His company's bottle was selected from among 11 designs in a national competition. The bottle, designed after the image of a cocoa tree pod, was patented Nov. 16, 1915.
Root was a successful businessman 10 years before the Coca-Cola bottle was created. He employed more than 600 people in 1905; and by 1912, his work force had grown to 825, according to the Indiana Historian, a publication of the Indiana Historic Bureau.
The Coke bottle ensured Root's fortune. In his 1916 contract with Coca-Cola, he was to receive 5 cents for every 144 bottles made. At the time of his death in 1945, Root left an estimated $11 million estate to his grandson, Chapman S. Root, according to the Indiana Historian.
Coca-Cola would play a major role in the Root family business for 66 years until 1982, when the family sold its 57.5 percent stock interest in the Associated Coca-Cola Bottling Co. for $417.5 million. The bottling company was the largest independent distributor of Coca-Cola products.
The Root family business is now called Root Organization, a private investment company with diversified holdings and with headquarters in Ormond Beach, Fla.
The Root Glass Works factory, where the bottle was designed, no longer stands on the northeast corner of Third and Voorhees streets in Terre Haute.
However, the spot is marked with a state historical marker, the only marker in the state with a "drawing of a thing or an item, which is the Coke bottle," said Carole Allen, history education specialist for the Indiana Historical Bureau.
Some other state markers have outlines of maps, Allen said.
A bottling plant of the former Root Glass company is still in use at 924 Lafayette Ave. The plant, now a distribution center, stopped bottling Coke in 1987, said Barry Powell, plant manager since 1979.
"The Coke bottle has always been a part of the fabric of the city, which started with the Root family," Powell said.
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis |
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COCA-COLA FAST FACTS
-- The Coca-Cola bottle is one of the most recognized icons in the world. The bottle was patented in 1915, but it wasn't until 1977 that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recognized the contour bottle as a trademark, an honor awarded few other packages.
-- The Coca-Cola 6.5 fluid-ounce bottle was designed by Chapman J. Root, T. Clyde Edwards, Earl R. Dean and Alexander Samuelson of Root Glass Works company in Terre Haute.
-- Six-bottle cartons of Coca-Cola were introduced in 1923. By 1928, sales of bottled Coca-Cola surpassed fountain sales for the first time.
-- By 1940, Coca-Cola was bottled in more than 40 countries.
-- Ten-ounce and 12-ounce bottles were introduced in 1955. Marketing of 12-ounce Coca-Cola cans started in 1959. Lift-top cans were introduced in 1964.
-- In 1988, Chapman S. and Susan Root donated $1.5 million for Root Hall, a classroom and office building at Indiana State University. It was nearly one-fifth the cost of the $8 million building.
-- The Roots in 1984 donated $500,000 to the Terre Haute Boys Club (now Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club).
-- In 1986, the Roots donated $500,000 to an $11 million renovation of Moench Hall at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. In 1987, the Roots gave a $500,000 contribution that launched a $1.5-million campaign to build an addition to the YWCA.
Sources: Vigo County Historical Museum, Coca-Cola Co., Indiana State University and Tribune-Star files