Coca-Cola and Global Culture

This side of Heritage Green was not part of the Greenville Women's College but also had its share of unique Greenville history as a gathering place for the community.

November 17, 1930 marked the opening of the Coca-Cola bottling plant at 516 Buncombe Street. This was one of the most ornate factories built in the time period. Easily distinguishable by its opulent accents to its roof, support systems, and even its drainage system, the building was costly to construct, and even included lily ponds and gardens behind the building for guests to enjoy. Finished right at the outset of the Great Depression, this facility was to strengthen the brand's visibility and impact in the area--an area already known as the "soda capital of the world," given its location between the home of Pepsi (in New Bern, NC), Coca-Cola (in Atlanta), and Verner-Springs (a local company that did not survive World War II rationing and sugar shortages).

The beautiful building was used for elegant community activities, but those disappeared as the bottling factory needed every square inch of the space. It cut down the many trees in its "backyard" to create a major distribution hub--all the land where the Museum and Library currently sit. The architectural gem's huge windows, once showing off the "modern" bottling process, were bricked in, and it was forgotten as a significant building until recent decades, with the transformation to become Bob Jones University’s Museum and Gallery at Heritage Green. Since the closing of the BJU Museum and Gallery, this marvelous building has held the Carolina Music Museum. It showcases a world-famous Carolina Clavier Collection, with more than 40 English, European, and American pianos and harpsichords dating from 1570 to 1845!

Be sure to notice the large, curly, cursive letters that make up the logo for the building’s original purpose, the original downspouts and lamps, and beautiful brick facade. This was a part of the "Cola Wars" five decades before it hit major international advertising!

Sources Used:

About. Carolina Music Museum. Accessed 10 Oct. 2018.

Judith Bainbridge, "Always Coca-Cola." South Carolina Design Arts Partnership Projects, FY 2002-03. Reprinted in The Greenville News and held at the Coca-Cola World Headquarters in Atlanta, GA.