Before Coca-Cola was a fountain drink, John Stith Pemberton sold a preparation made with wine and coca. Local prohibition in Atlanta prompted the pharmacist to develop a nonalcoholic alternative, replacing the wine with sugar syrup.
Coca-Cola reached Jacobs’ Pharmacy in 1886. Pemberton died in 1888, before later owners expanded the beverage into an international business. Its origins, however, belonged to a career that had begun in medicine and pharmacy in Georgia.
A Quick Look at the Life of John Stith Pemberton
Biography Summary
Dr. John Stith Pemberton was a Georgia pharmacist and chemist best known for creating Coca-Cola. His career extended from a Columbus drug business to professional service and laboratory work in Atlanta.
Profile
Full Name: John Stith Pemberton
Born: 1831
Died: August 16, 1888, in Atlanta, Georgia
Birthplace: Knoxville, Georgia
Education: Studied medicine and pharmacy at the Reform Medical College of Georgia in Macon
Major Roles: Pharmacist, chemist, and medical practitioner
Best Known For: Creating the original Coca-Cola beverage
From Medical Training to a Columbus Drug Business
Born in Knoxville and raised in Rome, Georgia, Pemberton studied medicine and pharmacy in Macon. By nineteen, he was qualified to practice. His training included botanic medicine.
Pemberton practiced medicine and surgery before establishing himself as a druggist and operating a pharmacy business in Columbus.
He married Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis in 1853, and the couple had a son, Charles. From 1855 to 1860, the family lived in the Columbus residence known as the Pemberton House.
War Injuries and an Atlanta Career
During the Civil War, Pemberton served the Confederacy and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was badly wounded in fighting at Columbus in April 1865.
According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, Pemberton is thought to have developed morphine dependence after using the drug to relieve pain from his wounds.
Pemberton joined an Atlanta business partnership in 1869 and moved to the city in 1870. His professional activities there extended beyond commerce: he became an Atlanta Medical College trustee and served on Georgia’s first pharmacy examining board.
His laboratory also became a state facility for testing agricultural chemicals, giving his work a role in Georgia’s agricultural testing as well as its pharmaceutical commerce.
French Wine Coca Meets Local Prohibition
By 1885, Pemberton was marketing Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. Inspired by Vin Mariani, the preparation combined wine and coca and was promoted for health complaints. Its medicinal promises were advertising claims, rather than established clinical benefits.
In an 1885 Atlanta Journal interview excerpt reproduced by the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Pemberton described French Wine Coca: “It is composed of an extract from the leaf of Peruvian Coca, the purest wine, and the Kola nut.”
Local prohibition in Atlanta prompted Pemberton to develop a nonalcoholic alternative. He replaced the wine with sugar syrup, producing the beverage that became Coca-Cola. Coca and kola were central to the new drink and its name.
Coca-Cola Reaches Jacobs’ Pharmacy
The first glass of Coca-Cola was sold at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in Atlanta on May 8, 1886, for five cents. Pemberton produced the syrup, which was mixed with carbonated water for fountain service. Bottling belonged to a later stage of the business.
Pemberton’s partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, supplied the Coca-Cola name and its script lettering.
Early promotion included newspaper advertising in the Atlanta Journal. According to the Coca-Cola Company’s history, initial sales averaged about nine servings a day.
Although Coca-Cola was a nonalcoholic alternative to the wine preparation, the early drink contained cocaine associated with coca.
Business Interests Change Hands
As the venture developed, Charles Pemberton was placed in charge of manufacturing. In March 1888, John Pemberton filed an incorporation petition, another step in organizing the beverage business.
Pemberton sold interests in the venture in stages. Asa Candler acquired rights in the late 1880s and consolidated control through subsequent transactions.
Pemberton died in Atlanta on August 16, 1888. Atlanta pharmacists closed their shops and attended his funeral together. His body was returned to Columbus, where he was buried in Linwood Cemetery.
The Enterprise That Grew After Pemberton
Candler achieved sole ownership by 1891 and formed a Georgia corporation in 1892. Advertising and distribution helped expand the business beyond its beginnings at an Atlanta pharmacy.
Bottling began in Vicksburg in 1894, followed by a broader bottling-rights arrangement in 1899. Later leadership and distribution made the beverage internationally prominent.
The international enterprise developed after Pemberton’s death, but its original beverage came from his pharmaceutical work. The reformulation of a wine tonic into a nonalcoholic fountain drink remains the defining link between his career as a chemist and Coca-Cola’s history.
Timeline
These milestones trace Pemberton’s life and the early business developments that followed his invention.
1831
John Stith Pemberton is born in Knoxville, Georgia.
1850
Pemberton qualifies to practice medicine after training in Macon.
1853–1860
He marries Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis in 1853. The family lives in the Pemberton House in Columbus from 1855 to 1860.
April 1865
Pemberton is badly wounded during fighting at Columbus while serving the Confederacy.
1869–1870
He joins an Atlanta business partnership in 1869 and moves to the city in 1870.
1885
Pemberton markets French Wine Coca, a wine-and-coca preparation.
May 8, 1886
The first glass of Coca-Cola is sold for five cents at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in Atlanta.
March–August 1888
Pemberton files an incorporation petition in March. He dies in Atlanta on August 16 and is buried in Columbus.
1891–1892
After Pemberton’s death, Candler achieves sole ownership in 1891. Candler forms a Georgia corporation in 1892.
FAQs
Question: Did John Pemberton create the Coca-Cola name and logo?
Answer: Pemberton formulated the beverage. His partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, supplied the Coca-Cola name and script lettering.
Question: Was Coca-Cola originally an alcoholic drink?
Answer: Coca-Cola was developed as a nonalcoholic alternative to Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. The earlier preparation contained wine; the two products should not be confused.
Question: Did Pemberton sell Coca-Cola for $2,300?
Answer: The Coca-Cola Company’s history gives $2,300 as Candler’s total cost of acquiring sole ownership. It does not describe a single payment of that amount to Pemberton. Ownership changed through multiple transactions.
Sources
- New Georgia Encyclopedia: John Stith Pemberton, Coca-Cola Company
- Lemelson-MIT: John Pemberton
- Georgia Historical Society and Georgia Public Broadcasting: John Stith Pemberton: Today in Georgia History
- The Coca-Cola Company: The Birth of a Refreshing Idea, The Asa Candler Era
- Historic Columbus Foundation: Pemberton House and Family History, page 24
- Encyclopedia of World Biography: Pemberton, John Stith
- Library of Congress: World’s First Coca-Cola was Served
- U.S. National Library of Medicine: Pick Your Poison: Cocaine
- Georgia Historical Society and The Coca-Cola Company: Birthplace of Coca-Cola
- Atlanta History Center: Coca-Cola: Atlanta in 50 Objects