20 Everyday Products That Are Older Than You Think

Nine glasses a day. That was roughly the pace during Coca-Cola’s first year, a modest beginning that hardly hints at what followed. On May 8, 1886, pharmacist Dr. John Pemberton brought his syrup to Jacobs’ Pharmacy in Atlanta, where they mixed it with carbonated water and sold it at the soda fountain. Customers paid five cents a glass. At the time, there were no red delivery trucks, holiday commercials, vending machines glowing in gas stations, or bottles lined up in restaurant coolers. Those layers of memory came later. First there was simply a new fountain drink in a Southern pharmacy.