Vernor's Ginger Ale - Springfield, MI - Neon Signs on Waymarking.com

According to the Wiki...

Although Vernors is the oldest surviving ginger ale sold in the United States, there were a number of ginger ales and ginger beers sold in commerce prior to 1866.

According to company legend, prior to the start of the American Civil War, while a clerk at the Higby & Sterns drug store in Detroit, James Vernor experimented with flavors in an attempt to duplicate a popular ginger ale imported from Dublin, Ireland. When Vernor was called off to serve in the war, he stored the syrup base of 19 ingredients, including ginger, vanilla and other natural flavorings in an an oak cask.

Vernor joined the 4th Michigan Cavalry on Aug. 14, 1862 as a hospital steward, was promoted to second lieutenant Sept. 20, 1864, and was discharged on July 1, 1865. After returning from battle four years later, he opened the keg and found the drink inside had been changed by the aging process in the wood. It was like nothing else he had ever tasted, and he purportedly declared it "Deliciously different," which remains the drink's motto to this day.

In a 1936 interview, however, his son, James Vernor Jr., suggested that the formula was not developed until after the war. This was confirmed in a 1962 interview with former company president, James Vernor Davis.

Vernor opened a drug store of his own on Woodward Avenue, and sold his ginger ale at its soda fountain. According to the 1911 trademark application on "Vernor's" as a name for ginger ale and extract, Vernors entered commerce in 1880. City by city, Vernor sold bottling franchises, with operators of those franchises required to strictly adhere to the recipe.

In 1896, Vernor closed his drugstore to concentrate on the ginger ale business alone. Initially, Vernors was only sold via soda fountain franchises, but later Vernors was bottled for home consumption.

James Vernor died Oct. 29, 1927 and was succeeded by his son, James Vernor Jr. Expansion continued throughout Prohibition. In 1962, Vernors introduced Vernors 1-Calorie, now called Diet Vernors. In 1966, the Vernor family sold out to the first of a succession of owners.

The company was next acquired by American Consumer Products and then by United Brands before being purchased by A&W Beverages in 1987. A&W was later purchased by Cadbury Schweppes.

Just prior to the onset of World War II, James Vernor II presided over the construction of a 230,000 sq ft bottling plant and headquarters, encompassing an entire city block on Woodward Avenue, one block from the Detroit River. In the late 1950s, when the City of Detroit proposed construction of Cobo Hall and other riverfront projects, a land-swap was negotiated, and Vernors moved its bottling plant and headquarters to the location of the old civic exhibition hall at 4501 Woodward Avenue, incorporating many of the popular features of the old plant.

Tours of the Vernors plant old and new were major tourist attractions. The flagship Detroit bottling plant was shut down by United Brands in 1985, with the local rights to bottle Vernors granted to Pepsi-Cola.

Name of business: Vernor's Type of business: Other Condition of Neon Sign: Hitsville - In good working order Physical Location: Dixie Highway Springfield, MI USA Web Address: Not listed

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