The Root Glass Company originated as Root Glass Works in Vigo County, Indiana. Businessman and Pennsylvania native Chapman J. Root (November 22, 1864 - November 20, 1945) opened the original glass company on May 27, 1901, at Third and Voorhees Streets a year after he moved to Terre Haute, Indiana. By 1904 the company was manufacturing beverage bottles for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

as well as several other beverage companies in the area. Between 1905 and 1912 the Root Glass Company workforce increased from 600 to 825 employees.

Information

In 1915, Root's company entered a

contest to design and exclusively manufacture a "new bottle, a distinctive package" for Coca-Cola. Chapman J. Root formed a design team for the contest consisting of plant supervisor Alexander Samuelson, auditor Clyde Edwards, and staff machinist and bottle designer Earl R. Dean. The now worldwide "Contour Bottle" icon was then patterned after the cocoa plant pod that was researched by Clyde Edwards and Earl Dean at the

Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library is located in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was built in 1906 by the Modern Construction Company of Terre Haute. The building is in the Beaux Arts architectural style. The Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library played an ...

in Terre Haute. Once a sketch was made at the library by Earl Dean, he worked through the night adapting the sketch to a hand machined mold depicting the curved cocoa pod as the center portion of the newly designed sample Coca-Cola bottle. With limited time remaining before the molten glass furnaces would be shut down for cleaning, Dean produced a few sample bottles that would be submitted to the national Coca-Cola bottle contest.

References

External links

Indianahistory.org: Root Glass Company Letter
Glassmaking companies of the United States Defunct glassmaking companies Defunct companies based in Indiana Vigo County, Indiana Manufacturing companies established in 1901 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1932 1901 establishments in Indiana 1932 disestablishments in Indiana {{US-manufacturing-company-stub