"Working Places / Places that Work"

8th Annual Preservation Week 2006 Photo-Essay Competition

First Place:  Kheeli Ferrel, Central Elementary, Paducah

Title:  Coca Cola Plant

At the beginning of the day I went to the most marvelous, historical building in Paducah, Kentucky.  It is the Coca-Cola plant located at 3141 Broadway.  This beautiful building sits on 2-1\2 acres of land and is over 60,000 square feet.  The man who built this wonderful building was Mr. Luther F. Carson.  Mr. Carson founded the Paducah Coca-Cola Bottling Company in 1903.   The business moved into this landmark building in 1939.

I got to tour the building and take pictures.  The Coca-Cola plant was a state of the art building that was started in 1938 and completed in 1939.  The building was designed by Lester Daly from Metropolis, IL.

When you walk through the stainless steel doors, you enter the rotunda bearing a 10-foot chandelier that is the shape of a Coke bottle. It hangs from the ceiling of the dome in the rotunda.  Until a few years ago, the dome graced the night skyline with colors that would change.  The floor is terrazzo (resembles marble) and it bears the Coca-Cola logo in the center with colorful swirls.  That is where the first bottling machine stood years ago and it only bottled one at a time.  A spiral staircase also made of terrazzo, leads to the second floor offices that features outer doors slightly curved to match the circular copper dome and rotunda.  Mr. Carson’s mahogany office is awesome.  The wood covers the entire room from floor to ceiling with beautiful molding and trim.  Mr. Carson handpicked each piece of wood.  In 1938, the building cost $148,270.15 according to the paperwork found in the office by the new owner.  To build it now with the land included would cost about $5 million.  I learned that the building was a bottling plant and they made the syrup that goes into Coca-Cola.  The syrup mixing room was used for distribution purposes.
  Until November 2005, the plant was still in operation but has now moved to the Industrial park.  The new owner, Arvid Orbeck of Destin, FL. Is hoping to put executive office suites, an apartment, restaurants and shopping centers in the building.  I spoke with Nancy Gregory who is the on-site manager of the building and she told me that plans were building drawn up as we speak.  She added that the project is “stirring quite a buzz in the community.”  This will add more jobs for Paducah and it will give many the opportunity to see this incredible structure that most have only viewed from the outside.  The building is located in the center of Paducah and a lot of people use it to give directions because everybody knows where it is.  It is an icon and many people in the community love the “Old Coke Plant.”

If you drive down to the river front where the murals have been painted on the flood walls, you will see a mural dedicated to the Coca-Cola building.  It is a rendering of “The Grand Opening Night”  The mural is also featured on a 2006 calendar for the month of March.  At the airport, they have brochures about Paducah and the building is featured in the historical section along with a photo of it.

Mr. Carson has passed away but his daughter Mrs. Jane Myre still lives in Paducah and is thrilled that her father’s building is going to be renovated and that his legacy will live on thanks to Mr. Orbeck.  He has also reassured her that the historical integrity of the building will remain.

This essay and photograph(s) are the property of Preservation Kentucky, Inc. and Kentucky Heritage Council and that any use of the photo or essay must be approved by PK and KHC.