Bob Collins
Coca-Cola Bottling Co. – Winona Historic Commerce Tour from Minnesota Historical Society on Vimeo.
When you grow up in a declining New England milltown in the ’60s, you had to get your view of exotic lands from the bottom of a Coke bottle.
In those days, Coke plants cranked out Coke only in bottles; there were no cans, and at the bottom of each bottle was stamped the names of far-off locales where the bottles were made and the Coke was poured — places like Detroit or Cleveland.
Or maybe Winona.
Those days ended a long time ago for all but one sort of bottle, the ones from Winona.
That ended today when the bottler there — the last bottler to provide 6 oz. returnableCoke bottles — announced they’re quitting the operation.
