Dodge City Sarsaparilla

Lorainites must have really enjoyed their sarsaparilla in the old days – because the city had not one, but two different hometown western-themed sarsaparillas, pardner.

I’ve written several times about Wild West Sarsaparilla, and included a few images of its distinctive can. But I’ve never included a shot of Dodge City Sarsaparilla until I saw these bottles (a brown one and a green one) on Ebay recently.

I did post the story behind Dodge City Sarsaparilla here back in 2013. Apparently its creation was tied to Lorain’s 125th anniversary celebration back in July 1959.

Dodge City Sarsaparilla was bottled by the T. J. Bottling Company, which I wrote about back here in 2010. 

T. J. Bottling Company (also known as T & J Bottling Company) began its operations at the old William Seher bottling works at 304 Twelth Street around 1958. The company remained at that address until around 1967, when it moved to 318 W. 15th Street. It disappeared from the city directory listings around 1975.

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I think it’s amusing that the old west seemed to be a popular cultural theme in Lorain and the surrounding area (as opposed to a more logical nautical one). Besides the two Western soft drinks, there was Heilman’s Ranch House, the Westgate Shopping Center, the Tonopah Tavern in Sheffield Lake, and Avon Lake’s Saddle Inn.