James Vernor Sr. (April 11, 1843 – October 29, 1927) was an American

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

and

druggist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in order to dispense them safely to the pu ...

who began selling

Vernors Vernors is an American brand of ginger ale owned by Keurig Dr Pepper that was first served in 1866 by James Vernor, a pharmacist from Detroit. History Vernors is the oldest surviving ginger ale in the United States. According to the company, ...

brand

ginger ale Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own or used as a mixer, often with spirit-based drinks. There are two main types of ginger ale. The golden style is credited to the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph ...

in 1880.

Biography

Vernor was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, moving with his parents to

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in his youth. While employed at Higby and Sterns' Drug Store in Detroit, Vernor began experimenting with ginger ale. After the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, he enlisted and served with the

4th Michigan Cavalry 4th Michigan Cavalry Regiment was a regiment of cavalry in the Union Army during the American Civil War fighting in the western front as part of the Army of the Cumberland. It was noted as being the regiment that captured the fleeing President o ...

from 1862–1865, becoming a Second Lieutenant before being discharged. According to a discredited company legend, when Vernor left to serve in the war he had stored his ginger ale syrup base in an oak cask. After returning four years later, he opened the keg and found the drink made from it had changed through the aging process. He declared it "Deliciously different," which became the drink's motto. However, in a 1936 interview, son James Vernor Jr. suggested that his father did not develop the

Vernors Ginger Ale Vernors is an American brand of ginger ale owned by Keurig Dr Pepper that was first served in 1866 by James Vernor, a pharmacist from Detroit. History Vernors is the oldest surviving ginger ale in the United States. According to the company, ...

formula until after the war, a fact confirmed both by former company president James Vernor Davis in a 1962 interview and the 1911 trademark application on "Vernor's" as a name for ginger ale and extract. According to it Vernors did not enter commerce until 1880. In 1896, Vernor and his son James Vernor II closed the drugstore and together opened a soda fountain on Woodward Avenue south of Jefferson Avenue near the riverfront ferry docks, and organized a

manufacturing plant A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an Industry (manufacturing), industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with Outline of industrial machinery, machinery, where workers manufacturing, manufac ...

. By 1915, they expanded operations to include a

bottling company A bottling company is a commercial enterprise whose output is the bottling of beverages for distribution. Many bottling companies are franchisees of corporations such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo who distribute the beverage in a specific geogra ...

, which widely manufactured Vernor's Ginger Ale. Vernor was one of the original members of the Michigan Board of Pharmacy, formed in 1887, and held License No. 1 throughout his career. Vernor also served on the

Detroit City Council The Detroit City Council is the legislative body of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The full-time council is required to meet every business day for at least 10 months of the year, with at least eight of these meetings occurring at a locatio ...

for 25 years. Vernor died in

Grosse Ile, Michigan Große or Grosse is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Aristid von Grosse (1905–1985), German nuclear chemist *Ben Grosse, American record producer and mixer * Carl Grosse (1768–1847), German author, translator, philos ...

October 29, 1927, at age 84 from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

. He is buried at

Woodmere Cemetery Woodmere Cemetery is at West Fort Street and Woodmere Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, in the neighborhood of Springwells Village in what was originally the township of Springwells. Woodmere Cemetery is operated by the Midwest Memorial Group. Hist ...

in the southwest section of Detroit, Michigan.Woodmere Cemetery
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References

Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vernor, James 1843 births 1927 deaths American drink industry businesspeople Deaths from influenza in the United States Businesspeople from Albany, New York Businesspeople from Detroit Union army officers Deaths from pneumonia in Michigan Keurig Dr Pepper people 19th-century American pharmacists

Biography

See also

References

Works cited