Columbus, Ga. — Three of America's best-known soft drinks trace back to Columbus. John Stith Pemberton, the man who invented Coca-Cola, lived and worked here and is buried here, and a Columbus grocer started the company that created RC Cola and Nehi.

The story runs from a saber wound in one of the last battles of the Civil War to the first soda sold in a can.

John Pemberton: Coca-Cola's Columbus roots

Pemberton, born in 1831, married Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis in Columbus in 1853. After practicing some medicine and surgery, he opened a drugstore in the city.

In April 1865, during the Battle of Columbus, Pemberton suffered a saber wound to the chest. He became addicted to the morphine he used for the pain.

He went on to develop a coca wine, Pemberton's French Wine Coca. As Wikipedia's account of his life puts it, "Pemberton's world-famous soda was created in Columbus, Georgia, and carried to Atlanta."

After he moved to Atlanta, the city passed temperance laws in 1886 restricting alcohol. Pemberton responded with a nonalcoholic version of his drink. That was Coca-Cola, first sold in Atlanta on May 8, 1886.

Pemberton died of stomach cancer on Aug. 16, 1888, at age 57. His body was brought back to Columbus, and he is buried in Linwood Cemetery.

Claud Hatcher: the grocer who took on Coca-Cola

A second soda story was brewing in Columbus a few years later.

The Hatcher family's grocery business, Cole-Hampton-Hatcher Grocery, was established in Columbus in 1901. When a Coca-Cola syrup salesman refused to give Claud A. Hatcher a volume discount, Hatcher decided to make his own drinks.

In 1905, he started Union Bottling Works and made Royal Crown Ginger Ale, along with root beer. Two years later came Chero-Cola, a cherry cola.

Nehi: the 'knee-high' bottle

In 1924, the company introduced Nehi. The name was meant to remind customers that it came in tall, "knee-high" bottles.

Nehi became such a hit that it outsold Chero-Cola, and in 1928 the company renamed itself the Nehi Corporation. Decades later, Grape Nehi became famous all over again as the favorite drink of Radar on TV's "M*A*S*H."

RC Cola, the can and Diet Rite

In 1934, after Hatcher's death, Chero-Cola was reformulated and renamed Royal Crown Cola: RC Cola.

The company kept innovating. According to RC Cola's history, Royal Crown was the first company to sell soft drinks in a tin can, in 1954. The same year, it introduced Diet Rite, a diet soda brand.

Timeline: Columbus and America's sodas

Where to see this history in Columbus

Linwood Cemetery. Coca-Cola's inventor is buried here, in the city where he once ran a drugstore.

Pemberton House, 11 Seventh St. Pemberton's former home, a Victorian cottage, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 28, 1971. It is now a private residence and can't be toured, so view it from the street and respect the owners' privacy.

Why it matters

Coca-Cola is forever tied to Atlanta, but much of its inventor's story played out in Columbus: his marriage, his drugstore, his war wound and his grave. And while Pemberton's drink went on to conquer the world, a Columbus grocer annoyed over a syrup discount built his own soda company, one that gave America RC Cola, Nehi, Diet Rite and the first canned soft drink.

Next time you see an RC Cola or a Grape Nehi, you're looking at a little piece of Columbus.

How we did this

The Columbus Times compiled this account from the Wikipedia articles "John Stith Pemberton," "Pemberton House (Columbus, Georgia)," "RC Cola" and "Nehi," read Oct. 23, 2026.