The Bottle, Alabama
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The Bottle is a community located in the northern corporate limits of
Auburn, Alabama Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama, with a 2020 population of 76,143. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. The Auburn-Opelika, AL MSA with a population o ...
, United States. The Bottle is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 280 and Alabama Highway 147, north of downtown Auburn, and adjacent to the
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...
North Fisheries Research Complex. The Bottle is located at 32°40′34″N 85°29′11″W; its elevation is . The Bottle is named for the bright orange wooden replica of a
Nehi Nehi (pronounced "knee high") is a flavored soft drink that originated in the United States. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works and founded by Claud A. Hatcher, a Columbus, Georgia grocer who began bottling ginger ale a ...
soda bottle which stood in the location from 1924 to 1936. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.


History

Built in 1924, and billed as "the world's largest bottle", The Bottle (sometimes referred to as The "Nehi Inn") was built by John F. Williams, owner of the Nehi Bottling Company, in
Opelika, Alabama Opelika (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Opelika is ...
. The Bottle stood tall, and measured in diameter at the base, and at the cap. The ground floor was a grocery store and service station, and the second and third floors were living quarters and storage. The neck of the Bottle had windows so as to be used as an observation tower. The "bottle cap" was the roof. Inside there was a spiral oak stairway. The Bottle became a gathering place for tourists and locals alike to swap yarns and have parties every Friday night on the balcony above the service station. President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
stopped briefly at The Bottle after visiting Auburn, as did
Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
comedian
Minnie Pearl Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl, was an American comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (1940–1991) and on the televisio ...
. According to a 2001 account by W. A. "Arthur" Wood, The Bottle burned at 5:00 one morning in fall 1936. However, multiple contemporary newspapers claim The Bottle burned down in 1933, 1935, or 1937. Although the structure no longer exists, a historic plaque and a photograph mark the location, and Alabama maps still list the area as "The Bottle".


Today

Currently, The Bottle's former location is only an empty lot. The property was put on sale in 2005. The land was purchased in early 2006 by the Hayley Redd Development Company.


Gallery

File:03-26-17 The Bottle, Alabama (Historic Marker).jpg, The Auburn Heritage Association held a historic marker dedication for "The Bottle" on April 25, 2015, at the corner of U.S. Highway 280 and Alabama Highway 147 (North College Street), which is the original location of "The Bottle".Thursday, April 23, 2015, ''The Auburn Villager'' by Katy Thorson interviewing Jill Sybalsky and Anne Booth "Locals to remember 'The Bottle' in dedication" File:The Bottle Alabama Current.jpg, "The Bottle" (2006)


See also

*
Milk Bottle Grocery The Milk Bottle Grocery, located at 2426 N. Classen Boulevard in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a grocery building with a large metal Braum's milk bottle atop its roof. The store was constructed in 1930, and the milk bottle was added in 1948. The b ...
* Unusual place names


References


Sources

* Logue, Mickey & Simms, Jack (1996). ''Auburn: A Pictorial History of the Loveliest Village, Revised''. Auburn, Ala. Unincorporated communities in Lee County, Alabama Unincorporated communities in Alabama Auburn, Alabama Columbus metropolitan area, Georgia Bottles Novelty buildings in Alabama Keurig Dr Pepper 1924 establishments in Alabama{{Short description, Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States