Can Waco’s soda pop mystery be solved prior to 2024 eclipse?

“Will the real Dr. Pepper please stand up?” This would present an interesting challenge to the four panelists on “To Tell the Truth,” a long-running television game show that debuted in 1956.

 

Bud Collyer hosted “To Tell the Truth.”

The objective is to separate fact from fiction. Who invented and named the original Dr. Pepper soft drink product? When and where? 

Waco, Texas, claims to be the birthplace of Dr. Pepper in 1885. It was America’s first soft drink, introduced at “Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store,” owned by Wade B. Morrison, who had moved to Waco from Virginia. 

The beverage was reportedly concocted by Charles Courtice Alderton, a young pharmacist employed by Morrison. The drink was initially called “Waco,” a blend of 23 flavorings. Everybody who tasted it loved it. 

However, Morrison mysteriously “renamed” the product as “Dr. Pepper” before expanding production and distribution. Why? Was there a living, breathing Dr. Pepper lurking? 

Unfortunately, direct answers to those questions went to the grave with Morrison; he died in 1924 at age 71. 

One simple theory is: Morrison was following a trend of the times to give products names with “Doctor” in the title in order to make them sound more healthful. Author Anne Cooper Funderburg said it was popular for “nostrums” to carry a physician’s name – real or imagined – to give their products a perceived legitimacy. 

Dr. Pepper was promoted as a “brain tonic” as well as a refreshing, sugary pepper-upper drink that delivered “vim, vigor and vitality.” 

Print advertisements in 1913 proclaimed Dr. Pepper to be “Liquid Sunlight.” The copywriter said all life revolves around the sun, and the sun’s energy is soaked up by “certain fruits, nuts and sugar cane. We combine these substances with distilled water. The name we give our combination is Dr. Pepper.” 

“Drink a beverage that promotes cell building, not one that simply deadens the sensory nerves. Drink Dr. Pepper. Solar energy-liquid sunshine.”

 

The product became Dr Pepper (sans the “period”) in 1950.

 

With the upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, Waco will be directly under the shadow for 4 minutes, 13 seconds – one of the best places in America to view this extraordinary event. 

The folks at Dr Pepper need to capitalize on the enormous marketing opportunities that have fallen into their lap…and hitch the Dr Pepper wagon to the stars above – establishing Dr Pepper as the “official drink of the universe.”

 

Still, there is the need to address the issue of Dr. Charles Taylor Pepper of Rural Retreat, Va. 

Lots of folks believe adamantly that he’s the guy behind the original Dr. Pepper drink. 

Dr. Charles Pepper was a “real doctor.” He earned a medical degree at the University of Virginia in 1855. He served as a surgeon with the Confederacy during the Civil War and established a medical office in Rural Retreat after the war.

 

Fact or fiction?

Dr. Charles Pepper opened a drug store as an extension of his practice. He “mixed up mountain herbs, roots and seltzer into a fizzy brew” that he served to his customers, promising “health giving properties.”

 

Some sources believe that Wade Morrison once worked for Dr. Charles Pepper and hijacked the drink formula. 

Cindy Akers of Pulaski, Va., says Morrison lived in Christiansburg, Va., and was a neighbor of Dr. William Alexander Reed Pepper (Dr. Charles Pepper’s older brother). Morrison was friendly toward Dr. William Pepper’s daughter, Mary Ann “Minnie” Pepper. 

Akers speculates that Dr. Pepper was initially named in honor of Dr. William Pepper, who was a father-like mentor to Wade Morrison. 

That works for me.