The Bottle, Alabama

The Bottle
Unincorporated community
A 1924 picture of "The Bottle".
The Bottle Location within the state of Alabama
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	Alabama
County	Lee
Elevation	761 ft (232 m)
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-6)
GNIS feature ID	153675

The Bottle is a community located in the northern corporate limits of Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Bottle is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 280 and Alabama Highway 147, five miles (8 km) north of downtown Auburn, and adjacent to the Auburn University North Fisheries Research Complex.

The Bottle is located at 32°40'34"N 85°29'11"W; its elevation is 760 feet (230 m).

The Bottle is named for the bright orange wooden replica of a Nehi soda bottle which stood in the location for nine years during the 1920s and 1930s. 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. The Bottle stood 64-feet (19.5 m) tall, and measured forty-nine feet (14.94 m) in diameter at the base, and 16 feet (4.88 m) at the cap. The ground floor was a grocery store and service station, and the 2nd and 3rd 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 stopped briefly at The Bottle after visiting Auburn, as did Grand Ole Opry comedienne Minnie Pearl.

According to a 2001 account by W.A. "Arthur" Wood, The Bottle burned at 5:00 a.m. one morning in the fall of 1936. In Jill's book there is a photo that states The Bottle burned at 4:30 a.m. in fall of 1936. Another newspaper article by Betty Douglas that has burned in 1933 but the copy in Jill's book has a handwritten line and 1935 written in and from another by Denise Shealey has a summer morning in 1935.

Although the Bottle structure no longer exists, the name does and is still on Alabama maps listing the area as "The Bottle."

Today

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

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.”

Gallery

• The Bottle Alabama 2.JPG

  A 1924 picture of "The Bottle" from another angle.

• The Bottle Alabama Current.jpg

  "The Bottle" today.

See also

• Milk Bottle Grocery

References

• Sybalsky, Jill. Great niece of builder, owner and operator John F. Williams.

Further info can be found in her book Jill Marci and Her Ancestors Maternal Side (Library Edition)

• Logue, Mickey & Simms, Jack (1996). Auburn: A Pictorial History of the Lovliest Village, Revised. Auburn, Ala. ISBN 1-885860-08-0