DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just here to pass it along — this is the official story of the Dublin Dr Pepper Bottling Company, straight from the Texas Historical Commission. Now, Sam Houston Prim rolled into Dublin in 1891 carrying six hundred and eighty dollars worth of bottling equipment. Not a fortune, but enough to get started.
He set up his bottling works at the southeast corner of Patrick and Elm streets, and right away he got to work — bottling Dr Pepper, along with other products, under what the record calls an informal agreement. Informal. For thirty-four years, mind you.
Then, in 1925, Prim made it official. He formally chose his territory — a forty-four-mile radius, centered right there on Dublin. Not forty-three miles.
Not forty-five. Forty-four. That circle of territory, drawn all those years ago, remains the company's territory to this day.
Sam Houston Prim was born in 1863 and died in 1946. And here's the thing that the Dr Pepper executives themselves felt compelled to say at the time of his death — that Prim had bottled that soft drink longer than any other individual. Any.
Other. Individual. The company has remained in operation ever since, which means what started with six hundred and eighty dollars worth of equipment and one man's handshake deal has made Dublin home to the oldest Dr Pepper bottler in the world.
Some things, you just don't walk away from.
What the marker says
Sam Houston Prim (1863-1946) arrived in Dublin in 1891 with $680 worth of bottling equiment, purchasing property at the southeast corner of Patrick and Elm streets to house his bottling works. Prim bottled Dr Pepper, along with other products, under an informal agreement until 1925, when he formally chose as a Dr Pepper distribution territory a 44-mile radius centered on Dublin -- an area that remains as the company's territory today. At the time of Prim's death, Dr Pepper executives noted that he had bottled the soft drink longer than any other individual. The company has remained in operation since that time, making it the oldest Dr Pepper bottler in the world. (2009)