Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas, 1998-99, by George Walker

From MemoryArchive

Who: George Walker
What: Dr. Pepper Museum
When: 1998-99
Where: Waco, Texas

I volunteered at the Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas from 1998 to 1999. While at the Dr. Pepper museum, I learned some interesting facts about the museum and beverage, and how to make a beverage.

The Dr. Pepper museum, while I was volunteering there, had volunteers perform various tasks. The tasks that I performed while I was there included working at the soda fountain, and performing maintenance.

Dr. Pepper Can

While I was working at the Soda Fountain, I learned some interesting things about the soda. The first was that the people who used to mix sodas at the soda fountain were called "soda jerks." This is because when you used to make a soda, you had to put in the syrup first, fill the glass with water at a low pressure, and then jerk the handle for the soda fountain, which squirted out water at a high pressure, mixing the water and the syrup.

In addition, Dr. Pepper used to be known as a Waco. Some old guy came in once, and said, "Shoot me a Waco," and I didn't know what he was talking about, until someone told me that's what they used to call Dr. Pepper.

While I was working at the Dr. Pepper Museum, I learned a lot of interesting facts about the museum, and beverage.

Dr. Pepper's name is shrouded in mystery. One possibility of its origin is that the person who invented it, Charles Alderton, named the beverage after his horse. Another is that it "pepped" people up, and the inventor thought adding "Dr." made it sound more healthy, so there you go.

the Dr. Pepper museum is located in the original building where it was bottled.

Dr. Pepper is the oldest major soda in the world.

Many people think Dr. Pepper has prune juice in it. Where this rumor came from is anyone's best guess, but all sorts of people told me that when they visited. (It's not true.)

The building containing the Dr. Pepper Museum was hit by the infamous Tornado.

The Dr. Pepper museum contains a soda shop, a gift shop, and exhibits about Dr. Pepper and other sodas, the origins of Dr. Pepper, the original bottling facility, a movie theater, and much, much, more. In case you are interested, its website is www.drpeppermuseum.com.