Vigo County Historical Society

Coca-Cola was a hit at six for a quarter

I was a child of the 1930s and at that time, my very religious family didn’t allow we to drink colas of any kind. There were whisperings there might be a drug in them that would be bad for our health or a sin to ingest into our body. When I was 4 years old and visiting a close neighbor (dad’s college friend), I was offered this wonderful soft drink, Coca-Cola. I was thrilled and rushed home to share the good news with mother. I received a hand spanking and a talk about wages of sin.

I started grated school at age 6 and one of our first questions (this during the Depression) was "What is your idea of being rich?" I immediately replied that I wanted to own a quarter when I grew up, as a Coke cost 5 cents apiece or six bottles for a quarter in the carton I soon became 12 years old but still not allowed to go to the show on Sundays. I was finally allowed to have colas, so five or six of us would go to the Nehi Cafe and talk for about two hours each Sunday afternoon. All this pleasure while sipping a nickel Coke drink.

I grew up and Eddie Fisher became a spokesman for Coca-Cola. We were told he drank at least 16 bottles of Coke per day. I never equaled that amount.

In the late 1940s my husband drove me throughout Allendale, showing me where he had delivered newspapers as a young teen. He drove me past the Chapman Root estate with the huge totem pole in front (now at the Vigo County Historical Museum) and explained to me that Root had worked on a design of a Coke bottle that even a blind man could recognize by feel.

Once, just before Great Scott closed by the mall, I asked my husband if we could split a carton of Cokes, as he preferred another brand name. He agreed. Upon arriving home, he noticed that were six diet Coca-Colas for me and only two of his brand. He said, "I thought we were going to split." To which I replied, "We did." He pondered a while and I heard him mutter "Well, I guess it’s all in how one looks at things." I was on a roll, so next time I bought seven Cokes. I drank my seven, and without any more of mine to drink, I succumbed and drank his one bottle. I could hear it calling me from inside the cabinet, saying, "Drink me, drink me, you can always buy him another one." But I forgot to buy another one.

One day, Paul said to me, "Think I will have my soft drink now." I was crushed, but I had to own up that I had taken it. He felt bad as he drank so few a year. I replied that there wasn’t a judge in the world that would convict me, as it was a clear case of Coke bottle entrapment, the bottle saying to me "drink me, drink me."

From then on I started buying cans of diet cola with no caffeine for myself and he stayed with his coffee.

There is a very large memorabilia of Coke products to view at the Historical Museum. Some Coke products may be purchased.