The Lexington Syrup & Beverage Company was the successor around 1919 to the Sinalco Bottling Company. The company continued to use the old bottling plant at 424 Christie Avenue. The company’s telephone number was 1922. The company was owned by William A. Beheler.[i]
In 1919, the company was listed as the “manufacturers of High Grade Soft Drinks, Specialties – Club Soda and Lemon Sour, Distributors of Reif’s Special.”[ii] In addition to Reif’s Special, the company continued to bottle the Club Cola brand. The Coca Cola Company forced the discontinuance of the Club Cola brand in the 1920s, by legal means and the high costs of litigation.[iii]
Christie Avenue Bottling Plant, circa 1919
Delivery Truck, with Reif’s Special Sign
Advertisement, 1919
Reif’s Special, crown top, circa 1919
By 1923, the company’s name was changed to Lexington Parfay Company.[iv]
In May 1924, the name was again changed to Dixie Bottling Company. The Dixie Bottling Company was incorporated on May 20, 1924 to “manufacture, bottle, sell and distributors all kinds of soft drinks.” The stockholders were William A. Beheler (48%), William E. Beheler (8%), Harold M. Beheler (8%), T. M. Gilliman (12%) and John Kloecker (24%). The company was capitalized at $25,000. Kloecker was associated with the Lexington Brewing Company (brewers of Dixie Beer), which was closed in 1919 by Prohibition. They were noted as the “Manufacturers of Ocean Breeze, Cherry Blossoms and Julep line of Soft Drinks.” The company continued in business until the Great Depression in 1929/30. The company also produced Dixie and Beheler Colas during this period.[v]
Dixie, crown top, circa 1924 - 1930
[i] Lexington City Directory for 1919.
[ii] Battaile, Barton K., Lexington: Pictorial Nostalgia, Lexington, Kentucky, 1974, page 143.
[iii] Petretli, Allan, Petretli’s Coca Cola Collectibles, Krause Publications, Iola, WI, 1972, page 645.
[iv] Lexington City Directory for 1923.
[v] Lexington City Directory for 1925, 1927 and 1928.
