Collectors
of Coca Cola memorabilia have been known to go to great lengths to
add to their collections, but they haven't yet figured out how to
strip the paint off walls. There is no doubt, someone, somewhere who
has even moved into a former Coca-Cola bottling works. Texas has by
far the greatest number of these former plants than any other state.
Many are still vacant awaiting buyers. Monahans, Marshall, Beeville,
and Cuero are a few that we've seen for sale. Many others have been
bulldozed into parking lots.
Many of the hand painted signs that once advertised the drink have
been (with varying degrees of skill) repainted in small towns all
around Texas. The simple charm of the signs strikes a chord with people
of a particular age.
The once standard 61/2 ounce bottle of coke used to be embossed at
the bottom with the name of the local bottler. It would be interesting
to know the reason behind this extra effort. Surely there wasn't an
attempt to keep them within districts.
Abilene, Amarillo, Baytown, Beeville, Beaumont, Brownsville, Coleman,
Corpus Christi, Cuero, Del Rio, Denton, Eastland, El Paso, Fort Worth,
Galveston, Goliad, Henderson, Houston, Huntsville, Laredo, Lufkin,
Marshall, Monahans, Nacogdoches, Ozona, Paris, Pecos, Quannah, San
Angelo, San Antonio, Tyler, Uvalde, and Victoria are Texas towns that
once had their own local bottling works.
In this
section we include images of Coca-Cola signs that are painted on small
town walls, or in some cases, images of the bottling plants themselves.
Some of the signs are "ghost signs" meaning faded but original work.
Others are reproductions painted on top of former signs.
Readers are invited to send in signs from towns that we've missed
or haven't yet found.
© John Troesser |
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Coca-Cola
FEATURES
Coca-Cola
Signs, Ghost Signs, Plants in Texas
Photos by Barclay Gibson
Coca-Cola
Trucks and Bottling Works of SE New Mexico 1936 - 1965
Vintage Photos from the Barclay Gibson Collection
Painted
Signs in Fayette County 1938
IMAGES
Bottling
Works
Beeville
4-1-07
Terrell
Cars/Trucks
Coca
Cola Advertising Cars, 1930s
Coca
Cola Trucks, 1930s
Coca
Cola Truck, 1928
Signs in Texas Towns
Abilene
Bartlett
Belton
Bracken
1-12-08
Buckholts
Cameron
Celina
Center
Charlie
- Old box 4-5-07
Christoval
6-1-07
Clarksville
8-12-07
Crockett
Colorado
City
Crosbyton
Decatur
Fredericksburg
Jefferson
Gonzales
Grand
Saline
1-18-08
Hico
Knippa
Kiomatia
5-1-07
La
Vernia 4-21-08
Mexia
Nocona
5-11-07
Pittsburg
Shiro
Stamford
5-12-08
Tioga
Van
Alstyne 5-24-07
Wellington
Wolfe
City 4-17-08
More
Texas Signs
Ghost Signs
Old Neon
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