This issue traces the history of the Nashville Bottling Works, beginning with its origins in 1905 when Homer J. Hall and Jackson Whitehurst established a small bottling operation in Sparks and began selling soda to customers in Nashville. By 1906 the plant moved permanently to Nashville under Joel I. Norwood, whose popular “High Life Ginger Ale” became a regional favorite. Ownership transitioned several times before Benjamin A. Deal Jr. took over in 1912 and expanded the business with aggressive marketing and large shipments across South Georgia. In 1917 the company became the Lime Cola Bottling Company of Nashville, producing ginger ale and a variety of soda waters until a 1920 fire destroyed the plant.

The Lime Cola franchise was soon revived by J.R. “Dick” Bennett, who later converted the operation into a Coca-Cola bottling plant on South Jefferson Street. The Nashville plant operated through the 1930s, adding new delivery routes and updated equipment before bottling operations ceased in 1933 during the Great Depression. Thereafter it served as a distribution center until 1941, when the building was repurposed as a local market. The issue concludes with later photos of delivery trucks and reflections on the once-thriving soft drink culture in Berrien County.

Subject(Names): Bennett, J. R. “Dick”; Deal, Benjamin A. Jr.; Ferguson, R. L.; Griner, Ronald; Hall, Homer J.; Humphries, W. C.; McCall, Brad; Norwood, Joel I.; Polk, Lacy; Taylor, Fred; Whitehurst, Jackson