In the US, carbonated soft drinks loaded with sugar (or more likely corn syrup) have been in a marketing competition for decades. Coca-Cola almost always wins, and until recently Pepsi-Cola has been in second place. But earlier this very month, there was a new #2: Dr Pepper.
Dr Pepper is always pronounced “Doctor Pepper,” even though technically there is no period after the “Dr,” so maybe it’s not an abbreviation for “doctor” at all. It’s a mystery that’s older than you might think, because Dr Pepper actually predates Coca-Cola, and was invented in 1885. The inventor was Charles Alderton, a pharmacist. Pharmacists invented nearly all of the soft drinks, ice cream concoctions, and combination treats in the US, simply because back in the 1800s and early 1900s, the place you’d go for refreshment was a “Drug Store,” which was likely to have a counter with stools where you could order and enjoy your daily dose of sugar. They were called “soda fountains,” although no actual fountains were involved, and no “soda” (sodium bicarbonate) was used either.
Alderton was born June 21, 1857 in New York City. His parents were British, and they sent him to school in England as a boy. When he returned, he studied medicine at the University of Texas. He became a pharmacist and worked in Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas in the 1880s. Morrison’s had a soda fountain that served lemon, vanilla, and “sarsaparilla” flavored drinks, and Alderton noticed that customers were getting pretty tired of having just three choices. So he started experimenting. He finally came up with a combination of twenty-three different ingredients, including phosphoric acid, that he thought was pretty good.
The soda fountain in Morrison’s began selling the new stuff on December 1, 1885, but if you wanted a glass of it you wouldn’t ask for a “Dr Pepper.” You’d tell the attendant to “shoot a Waco.” It’s unclear how that particular phrase arose; maybe it was on the menu. Alderton’s main occupation was the pharmacy, though, not the soda fountain, and he just gave the formula to the owner of the shop, Wade Morrison. It was Morrison who came up with the name “Dr Pepper,” but he never explained why. As a result there are plenty of stories about where the name came from. One guess is that it’s named after Dr. Charles T. Pepper of Virginia, in the US. Evidently Morrison may have once known Dr. Pepper. But nobody knows for sure.
In 1885 it was still one year before Coca-Cola was invented, but Dr Pepper remained a local favorite for quite some time. It wasn’t until the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri in 1904 that a wider audience found out about the drink. They liked it, and Dr Pepper became a national brand sold in bottles as well as at soda fountains. In the early 20th century it was marketed with medical claims, as were some other carbonated drinks. Specifically, Dr Pepper was said to “aid digestion and restore vim, vigor, and vitality.” It doesn’t really have any health benefits, of course, and rumors that circulated in the mid-20th century that it contained actual fruit juice weren’t true either. Dr Pepper is still made according to Alderton’s original recipe, which is said to be stored in two halves in two separate safe deposit boxes in two different banks.
As for Alderton, inventing Dr Pepper brought him a bit of recognition, but that’s all. He just gave away the formula, and even Wade Morrison never saw outsize profits from the drink — it didn’t get hugely popular until 20 years after its invention. Alderton spent the rest of his life in Waco, Texas, and passed away in 1941 at 83.
