Opens to the public March 15th with a reception on April 12th.
Visit a grocery store today, and you’ll find products in all sorts of packaging: plastic bottles and containers, aluminum cans, steel cans, and glass jars and bottles. A hundred years ago, however, glass ruled the world. And more specifically, glass ruled Chattanooga.
Many know that we are home to the world’s first Coca-Cola bottling operation. But, did you know that Chattanooga was also home to one of the biggest glass businesses in the country, the Chattanooga Glass Company? The Chattanooga Glass Company employed hundreds of people as it churned out tens of millions of bottles a year for Coca-Cola and dozens of other companies until it closed the doors of its Alton Park factory in 1988.
Join us as we dive into early 20th century Chattanooga, where we’ll use Chattanooga Glass Company objects and more to share untold stories of Chattanooga:
- The cola wars: In the early 1900s, Chattanooga saw the emergence of Coca-Cola and other local and regional companies, and one of which still calls Chattanooga home to this day.
- Local distilling and brewing: Before prohibition, Chattanooga was a hotbed for distilling and brewing, home to dozens of whiskey companies and one of the South’s largest brewers.
- A fight for dairy supremacy: Before the days of refrigerated transport, local dairies reigned supreme.
- A cure in a bottle: Before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), you could find dozens of tonics and “medicines” that would promise to cure anything that ailed you.
