The Dr Pepper Bottling Company
Hazel and Otis McMinn at the 1964 grand opening of their Ferguson Road plant.
The original Dr Pepper plant at 111 E Second Street (left building) now houses a framing shop. The second part of the building added so trucks could be loaded indoors (right) now houses a Hispanic business.
This restored Dr Pepper sign on the building formerly occupied by the Masonic Lodge and now occupied by Jo's Antiques at the corner of East 1st and North Jefferson is a reminder of Dr Pepper's history in Mt. Pleasant.
Echoes of Dr Pepper's Past
still visible in Mt. Pleasant in 2008
The 1964 Dr Pepper plant at 1405 W Ferguson Road as it appeared in April, 2007. The plant continued to expand after the grand opening shown in the 1964 photos above. A loading shed was added to the east side of the building (left side of photo), and a second building, as large as the original building, was added to the west side of the original building.
A tire distributor now occupies the former
Dr Pepper plant.
M. B. Crain (left) watches Hubert Hardy (right) stack a window display of Dr Pepper cans before the open house.
Hubert Hardy (right) gives Jonice Crain (left) a sample of the Friendly Pepper-Upper
After capping, the filled bottles go into a wash vat to remove any excess from the outside of the bottles.
Empty bottles are inspected as they pass a light box before filling to detect any broken bottles or foreign objects that might be inside.
Bottles are filled and capped by machinery as they pass down the automated line.
Next, the line of empty bottles passes are sent to the automated bottling equipment where they are filled.
Left to Right: Otis McMinn,
Mt. Pleasant's new Dr Pepper Bottling Plant at 1405 W. Ferguson Road.
Filled bottles are given a final visual inspection before being put into cases for shipment.
Filled, capped, cleaned, and inspected bottles are put in wooden cases to be shipped to customers.
Donna Loren rides in a car sponsored by Dr Pepper in the Mt. Pleasant Christmas parade.
On Friday, December 4, 1964 the Dr Pepper Bottling Company of Mt. Pleasant held the ribbon cutting and open house for its new plant at 1405 West Ferguson Road.
The Dr Pepper Bottling Company operated at 111 East Second Street until 1964, when Mr. McMinn built a new and much larger plant at 1405 West Ferguson Road. The new plant's grand opening and open house were held from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, December 4, 1964. The activities were coordinated with the Mt. Pleasant Christmas Parade. Donna Loren, the "Dr Pepper Girl", came to Mt. Pleasant to take part in the plant's grand opening and the city's Christmas parade. In late 1963, the national Dr Pepper Company recruited her to market Dr Pepper to the younger demographic. She was seen nationally promoting Dr Pepper on billboards, magazines, and in personal appearances for five years. In 1964 and 1965 she co-starred with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in four of American International Pictures' popular Beach movies and appeared as a regular on the ABC television series Shindig.
Mr. McMinn provided free Dr Pepper to guests who toured the new plant and workers demonstrated how Dr Pepper was bottled.
The Ferguson Road plant continued to grow, and Mr. McMinn doubled the size of the building.
In addition to the Mt. Pleasant plant, Mr. McMinn owned Dr Pepper bottling plants in Palestine and Nacogdoches, and the 7-Up & Double Cola Bottling Plant in Pittsburg, Texas. He was a director of the State Bottlers Association for three years. His plants bottled several brands other than Dr Pepper, including NuGrape, Barqs Root Beer, Delaware Punch, 2-Way, Suncrest Orange Soda.
In March, 1974, Mr. McMinn sold the Dr Pepper Bottling Company to Sam Hatcher, but bought the plant back from Mr. Hatcher two and a half years later on August 5, 1976.
