History of Pepsi Cola

The History of Pepsi-Cola Caleb D. Bradham was born in Chinquapin, North Carolina in 1866 to a well-to-do family. Caleb was a very well liked young man who was not only very smart, but very popular as well. He seemed to be destined for great things in life. Caleb wanted to become a doctor and after graduating the University of North Carolina he entered medical school at the University of Maryland. However, in his second year of medical school his father's business failed. Caleb had to quit school and take a job, so he moved to New Bern, North Carolina and took a job teaching school. However, Caleb still loved medicine, so when the towns pharmacy, at the corner of Middle and Pollock Streets, was placed on the market in 1893, Caleb convinced the owner to sell him the business. Exactly how Caleb pulled this off must be a testament to his great personality and his salesmanship ability because Caleb didn't actually have any money to purchase the business. He convinced the pharmacies owner to sell him the business based almost solely on credit.

Caleb immediately changed the name of the pharmacy to "Bradham Pharmacy" and started putting his medical training to use putting together prescriptions for the community of New Bern. In those days a pharmacy was more than just a place you picked up your medicine. In those days a pharmacy was also the social gathering place of the towns more educated men, and Caleb's warm and engaging personality brought these men to his pharmacy on a pretty regular basis. Many pharmacies of that era also had soda fountains from which they served their customers soft drinks (as opposed to the hard drinks served in saloons). Caleb's pharmacy was no different, and Caleb was pretty good at concocting new soft drinks of his own making. Sometime in the 1890s Caleb created one such drink that became quite popular at the Bradham Pharmacy, and the patrons started calling it "Brad's Drink" in Caleb's honor. However, Caleb preferred another name for