Mt. Pleasant Bottling Companies
ownership, opening or closing dates, or the kind of beverages they manufactured.
Bottles branded by known plants still exist in some cases, while other plants that once existed are documented only in Sanborn maps and previous Titus County histories. Sanborn maps were updated only about every five years, and while they show that a bottling company once occupied a given location, obtaining information about the company's name, ownership, or precise dates about when it began or ceased operation is impossible without supporting information. Unfortunately, in some cases we will probably never know exactly which bottle came from which plant.
According to the Sanborn maps, a bottling works was located on Houston Street (now Second Street) near the railroad from 1896 to 1901. The bottling works was no longer in the same location in 1906.
We suspect that this is the bottling plant mentioned in R.L. Jurney's History of Titus County 1846-1960. In his book, Mr. Jurney states, "There was a good well of water on the back of the Williams lot where farmers and their families got water to drink. Joe Hays, brother of Sam B. and Russ Hays, had a bottling works in the back of the Carr building and used water from this well to make soda pop." The two-story Carr building that once stood on the southeast corner of North Jefferson and East Second Streets and the Williams building at 114 North Jefferson were among the first brick buildings erected on the square.
It is unclear whether that bottling plant closed completely and another sprang up shortly thereafter, or if it just moved further south down the block. In 1906 another bottling works was shown behind a grocery store located in the fourth building north of East First Street on North Jefferson Street. It, too, was gone by 1911.
The Dr Pepper Bottling Company is no doubt the best known of Mt. Pleasant's former bottlers, but was by no means Titus County's first or only bottling plant.
Mt. Pleasant has been home to several soft drink bottling companies during its history. In the latter 1800s and early 1900s, small bottling plants were common in many communities. By studying news articles and the Sanborn maps, it seems to have been common for a small bottler to go into business then close in a few years, followed by someone else who would open a new plant.
Mt. Pleasant is embossed in several types of glass bottles whose shapes dates back to the 1800s. Some were likely manufactured by plants that we know once operated here, others may be from plants that we have no information about. Because the bottling plants were small, and because historical newspapers pre-dating 1924 were destroyed, we cannot document most of the early plant's
These bottles, embossed Mt. Pleasant Bottling Works, Mt. Pleasant, Tex. are artifacts of one of Mt. Pleasant's early soft drink bottling plants. Unfortunately, we have so far been unable to determine facts about this plant's location or history.
According to the Sanborn maps, Mt. Pleasant had three bottling companies in 1911.
The Greenspun Bottling Company was located on the southwest corner of East Third Street and Washington Avenue. Although we don't know when it closed, it was not shown on the next map printed in 1920, so it closed some time between 1911 and 1920.
There was also a bottling company and ice cream factory located in the first block of what is now West First Street, west of where the 1897 Bell Tower is now located.
The third bottling company shown on the 1911 map was the Greer Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of peanut candy, on Washington Avenue in the approximate area of present-day East Seventh Street. It was almost assuredly the source of the Greer Manufacturing Company bottles shown on this page. The stubby, rounded shape of some of the Greer bottles indicates that they were likely made in the latter 1800s to early 1900s.
Jesse Reed began developing Dellwood Park as a health spa during the 1800's. He built a cafe and several small houses, plus a camping area for people who came by horse and wagon to camp. Reed had financial difficulties and sold the property to Sidney Suggs in 1890, who in turn sold it to H.W. Peterman in 1894. Even though the waters didn't cure disease, people felt better after drinking it and were happy to make wild claims about its curative powers.
Dellwood's mineral water was sold around Mt. Pleasant. Three styles of Peterman Mineral Springs bottles have been found that were most likely used in different time periods to market the mineral waters. The Red Mineral Springs Development Company purchased the property on July 2, 1908. We do not know when Peterman Mineral Springs water sales ceased.
The Peterman Mineral Springs Company bottles were almost surely used to sell mineral water drawn from springs once located in Dellwood Park. The spring water was once sought out by people for the healing powers it was said to posess.
R. L. Jurney states that Jesse Greer owned the Greer Manufacturing Company and that an Abyssinian named George worked for him. He said that George was a mechanical genius, and George and Greer built a machine to cut candy into bars and package them in one operation. Greer patented the machine, but sold the Hughes Candy Company of Fort Worth an interest in the patent because he lacked sufficient capital to manufacture and market the machine.
Greer later made a fortune when he and George went to Boston, Massachusetts and designed and built other packaging machines, which were among the first placed on the market.
Judging by labels embossed in the bottles, the Greer Brothers apparently had four bottling plants -- one in Mt. Pleasant, one in Pittsburg, one in Mt. Vernon, and one in Detroit, Texas. We do not know if the plants operated simultaneously, how long the Greer bottling plants operated, or what kind of beverages he made.
In 1920, the Sanborn map showed a bottling plant in the first building on the right on East Second Street, east of the intersection of North Jefferson Avenue.
The Dr Pepper Bottling Company is the best known Titus County bottling company. It was founded by A. R. Morriss of Atlanta in Mt. Pleasant in 1924, and began bottling Dr Pepper in 1928. Dr Pepper bottling in Mt. Pleasant is covered extensively on its own page.
James J. and Lewis K. McElroy opened the Dixie Manufacturing Company in the Blackwell Building in North Mt. Pleasant in May, 1929. They bottled Orange Kist soda for a short time, then sold the plant to Earl Tuel and H. B. Wyatt of Gilmer in January, 1930. Mr. Tuel and Mr. Wyatt moved to Mt. Pleasant to run the bottling company.
This Squeeze bottle was also manufactured in Mt. Pleasant, but we don't know whether it was a company's main brand or just a brand that another company manufactured.
