6 Winter 2003 Bottles and Extras

South after the Civil social and economic decline. Businesses, War, the new venture retailers and shoppers soon left the area, was named The causing all downtown to suffer. After Peabody. several fires and changes in ownership, Coke The original hotel was The Peabody closed (1975) once again. built at the corner of After a six-year, $25 million renovation, and Main and Monroe in “The South’s Grand Hotel” reopened on downtown Memphis September 1, 1981. For collectors of soft and was considered one drink memorabilia that is noteworthy the Peabody of the finest in the South. because on that date, to commemorate the It had 75 rooms with reopening of The Peabody, The Coca-Cola private baths, a ball- Company issued a commemorative tray Cecil Munsey room, saloon and lobby. (pictured here) that today commands a It cost a precious $3 or price of over one hundred dollars in the $4 a day for room and collector marketplace. If you’re ever in Memphis, meals and extra for a fire or gas light. The Also it’s good for collectors to recall that one of the most important places to visit is Peabody Hotel remained in the builder’s The Coca-Cola Company used round and The Peabody Hotel. The establishment is family directly or indirectly for 96 years. oval trays exclusively from the 1890s to world famous as “The South’s Grand The Peabody was the place to see and 1910. From 1910 to the 1990s, most trays Hotel.” be seen. Over the years it played host to advertising Coca-Cola have been The Peabody was originally built more such notables as U. S. Presidents, Confed- rectangular like Peabody hotel commemo- than 130 years ago. That’s 30 years before erate Generals, plantation owners, profes- rative tray featured in this article. the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of sional gamblers, important businessmen End of story? No, no! If you’ll look Memphis was opened in 1902, to become such as the owner of the local Coca-Cola closely you will note that the commemo- one of several pioneering Coke bottling bottling company, movie stars and other rative tray features a pictorial rendering of franchises in Tennessee. celebrities. The Peabody enjoyed success some ducks. While the hotel is famous in Coca-Cola’s promotional association until 1923 when it closed. its own right as an historic building with with “The South’s Grand Hotel” did not Two years later, in 1925, a $5 million new Delta style architecture, it’s the come about until 78 years after the first Peabody hotel, designed by architect ducks that are, perhaps, even more famous bottling plant opened in Memphis. But Walter Ahlschlager, opened at its present than the historic hotel itself. that’s getting ahead of the historical tale to downtown address – 149 Union Avenue. Indeed, every day at 11:00 a.m. in be told here. R. Brinkley Snowden, great-grandson of Memphis, at The Peabody, the To begin with, it’s interesting to note that the original builder, owned the new hotel. “Duckmaster” escorts his fowl onto the Native Americans living in what is now The new 468-room hotel exudes a grand- elevator at roof level. When the group of Memphis, Tennessee had their first con- dame charm and is still the place to see five mallards arrives in the lobby of the tact with Europeans, in 1541, when they and be seen. It serves as the social hub for hotel, a red carpet is unrolled, a John Philip encountered the Hernando De Soto Memphis and the Mid-South elite. Sousa march is played, and the flock expedition. Things went very well for the new prop- marches from the elevator to the Italian Not much is recorded about that first erty throughout the 1930s through the Travertine Marble fountain, up a few steps meeting but approximately 200 years later 1970s. In the 1970s downtown Memphis, and in they go. (1739) French explorers built Fort like many urban areas, experienced a At 5:00 p.m. they do it all over again– Assumption on the Memphis site