The Flickr Cherocola Image Generatr

A mural featuring a bunch of brand names and logos, seen in Colorado City, Texas.

Since its launch in 1905, RC Cola has been a soft drink that embodies individuality and entrepreneurial spirit. RC originated in Columbus, Ga., when a young pharmacist named Claud A. Hatcher decided to supply his family’s grocery store with drinks that he produced and bottled. Hatcher called his first line of beverages “Royal Crown,” and the first cola product “Chero-Cola.” Other early products included Royal Crown Ginger Ale, Royal Crown Strawberry and Royal Crown Root Beer. Sales grew steadily and in 1912 Hatcher’s basement bottling activities grew into the Chero-Cola Co. Sixteen years later, he renamed the company Nehi Corporation, after the successful line of fruity beverages he had developed. After Hatcher’s death in 1933, Vice President H.R. Mott took control of the company and quickly streamlined operations to make the company debt-free within the year. Part of Mott’s plan was the reformulation of the classic Chero-Cola into a more refreshing beverage. Chemist Rufas Kamm was given the responsibility of coming up with the new flavor, which took six months to perfect. The new cola was released to the public with the name of Hatcher’s original line of beverages: Royal Crown. Royal Crown Cola was an instant sensation. RC Cola, as it is now called, was such a success that the company was eventually renamed Royal Crown Cola Co. By 1940, RC products were available in 47 of the 48 states.

rccolawinchester.com/the-independent-soft-drink/

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/

The Louisville Commercial Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Louisville, Georgia is a small town located on the Ogeechee River to the southwest of Augusta. It served as the state capital of Georgia from 1794 to 1807, following Savannah and preceding Milledgeville, and is the seat of Jefferson County.

Though the town shares a namesake with its larger sister in Kentucky–Louis XVI, the name of this Louisville is pronounced Lewis-ville (like the communities in Illinois and Mississippi ).

The Louisville Commercial Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

Louisville, Georgia is a small town located on the Ogeechee River to the southwest of Augusta. It served as the state capital of Georgia from 1794 to 1807, following Savannah and preceding Milledgeville, and is the seat of Jefferson County.

Though the town shares a namesake with its larger sister in Kentucky–Louis XVI, the name of this Louisville is pronounced Lewis-ville (like the communities in Illinois and Mississippi ).

Chero-Cola sign on a former bottling building.

Claud Hatcher of Columbus, Georgia, sold a lot of Coca-Cola through his grocery business and felt he was entitled to a discount. Not receiving one, Hatcher declared he had purchased his last case of Coca-Cola and vowed to develop his own brand. He started with Royal Crown Ginger Ale in 1905 followed by Chero-Cola, a cherry-flavored cola, in 1910. This new flavor became so popular, Hatcher changed the name of the company from Union Bottling Works to Chero-Cola Company.

Chero-Cola’s popularity helped the company expand throughout the Southeast with franchise bottling plants including one in Greensboro which supplied Morgan County. The owners, L. E. Wright and G. A. Moore, moved their operation to Madison in 1914 installing “$6,000 [ worth of] modern up-to-date equipment” in the Swords Building at the corner of Washington and First Streets. Trade in Morgan County had “assumed such proportions that the plant found it necessary to move here in order to fill orders.” The Madison bottling works supplied Morgan, Greene, and Taliaferro counties.

Locating the bottling plant in the Swords building had a certain symmetry that mirrored legislative and social changes in Southern society. J.B. Swords was a distiller of whiskey and ran a saloon in the building in the 1890s (see our blog about that era of the building). However, the temperance movement was strong in Georgia resulting in ever increasing prohibition laws: a "local option" law in 1885 that allowed residents to vote their individual counties dry through a referendum, a 1907 statewide prohibition with some big loopholes, and finally an even stronger statewide prohibition in 1915. This aided the growth of soft drinks which were sometimes referred to as “temperance drinks.” Hence, an 1890s saloon became a 1910s soft drink bottling plant.

Chero-Cola’s ads stressed that the drink was only sold in bottles, focusing on “uniformity of flavor” and “certainty of cleanliness.” Even after 1915 when W. E. Black of Conyers purchased the Madison operation, the sanitary nature of Chero-Cola’s operation continued to be a selling point. So much so that the company held National Chero-Cola Day on April 18, 1917 when all their bottling plants throughout the United States hosted an open house.

Here in Madison, each visitor was greeted with a pretty fan, a booklet, a flag lapel pin, and a bottle of Chero-Cola. Attendees were shown how bottles were soaked in salt water, washed, and rinsed by machinery insuring no foreign substance could get in the bottled product. The Madisonian reported that there was no trash or dust about the place and that it was “as neat and clean as a parlor.” Mr. Black gave away 6,500 bottles of soda that day.

With sales continuing to grow, Mr. Black purchased the lot next to Godfrey’s in 1919 planning to build a 40 x 140 brick building for a new bottling plant. File this under “never built” as Black retired shortly thereafter handing the reins to W. F. Beam. Beam doubled the capacity of the plant within a couple of months. Despite this, Beam decided to relocate and sold the operation to L. C. Boochever and Eddie Cohen. By 1920, the plant was filling 1,200,000 bottles annually.

Something then went terribly wrong. With little explanation, a December 30, 1921 Madisonian article announced the sale of all the bottles, crates and machinery of the local Chero-Cola plant. A bankruptcy notice followed in February. The national company was facing difficulty as well. Chero-Cola was forced to drop the word “cola” from its name in 1923 after a years-long challenge from Coca-Cola. While the decision was eventually reversed, and the company reintroduced a cola product, minus cherry flavoring, Royal Crown Cola, the name Chero-Cola disappeared.


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Louisville, Georgia

Chero-Cola sign from Jefferson County Courthouse lawn in Louisville, Georgia.

A restored ghost sign for Chero-Cola, seen in downtown Alexander City, Alabama. When it was first marketed in 1910, Chero-Cola was just one of many cola-flavored soft drinks that had emerged in the wake of Coca-Cola’s success. The pharmacist who invented Chero-Cola was Claud A. Hatcher of Columbus, Georgia. In 1905, he developed his first concoction – a ginger ale which he called “Royal Crown” – and went into business as “Union Bottle Works.” In 1910, he jumped on the cola bandwagon with a cherry-flavored version called Chero-Cola, which was successful enough by 1912 to become the new name of the company. Coca-Cola eventually responded to the competitive threat by successfully claiming trademark infringement, forcing Chero-Cola to drop “cola” from its name in the early 1920s, contributing to the beverage’s market decline and the company’s eventual discontinuance of it. However, Hatcher bounced back in 1924 with a fruit-flavored brand called Nehi and changed the name of his company to Nehi Corporation. In 1934, Nehi entered the cola market again with Royal Crown Cola, which eventually became the company’s flagship brand. Although it has never come close to challenging the market dominance of Coca-Cola or Pepsi, by 2010 the company had become a global corporation called Royal Crown Cola International, with a much-expanded portfolio of brands, and an impressive list of innovations to its credit. It was the first national soft drink manufacturer to use cans, the first to use recyclable aluminum, the first to use 16-ounce bottles and the first to market a diet soda — Diet Rite Cola, which created the modern diet soft drink market. However, despite the company’s global presence, its brands never rejected the regional “down home” image it had long cultivated.

This restored mural faces the county courthouse in Louisville, GA

This building is a corner of what used to be the Hammer's block of the Winchester town square. Now that Hammers is out of business, they have tried to restore these buildings to original condition. This building was the post office until 1914. Then, in Feb. 1917 Chero-Cola Bottling Company (formerly Blue Seal Bottling Works) moved in.

In 1881, tightrope walker Monsieur LeRoy walked a tightrope connecting the roof of this building to the courthouse cupola.

Roanoke, Alabama

Constructed in 1914..the first floor was a Chero-Cola Bottling plant with the Mason's meeting upstairs. The building is listed on the NRHP.

Madison, GA

Bottling Company on second floor of the Knox Building. Chero-Cola was forerunner of Royal Crown Cola and Nehi Bottling Company.

The pharmacist who invented Chero-Cola was Claud A. Hatcher of Columbus, Georgia. In 1905, he developed his first concoction -- a ginger ale which he called “Royal Crown” -- and went into business as “Union Bottle Works.” In 1910, he jumped on the cola bandwagon with a cherry-flavored version called Chero-Cola, which was successful enough by 1912 to become the new name of the company. Coca-Cola eventually responded to the competitive threat by successfully claiming trademark infringement, forcing Chero-Cola to drop “cola” from its name in the early 1920s, contributing to the beverage’s market decline and the company's eventual discontinuance of it. However, Hatcher bounced back in 1924 with a fruit-flavored brand called Nehi, and changed the name of his company to Nehi Corporation. In 1934, Nehi entered the cola market again with Royal Crown Cola (better-known as “RC” Cola), which eventually became the company's flagship brand.

Read more : www.ehow.com/info_7750147_history-cherocola-company.html

This old 'ghost sign' for Chero Cola can be found on a building located in Shelbyville, Tennessee on the court square. These are the greatest...a fading memory of yester-year.

Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

Louisville, Georgia