Clicquot Beverage Truck (Red Rock Soda Truck) - 200 Block of West Main Street

Transportation; Business Enterprises; Advertisements; Carbonated beverages; Trucks

The Clicquot, pronounced "klee-ko," Ginger Ale Company was born in Millis, Mass., in the 1880s. At one time it owned bottling companies all over the United States. It shipped its soda drinks all over the world. At first ginger ale was all that was bottled, but later flavors were added such as Sarsaparilla and Golden Ginger Ale. It was one of the first soda companies to experiment with metal cans. The first cans were what was called the cone top cans. This was in about 1938 and the first results were not exceptional, but with World War II intervening it wasn't until after the conflict that the metal can became a staple. At that time the Royal Crown Company led the way. The cone tops gave way to the flat can because they were more stackable. The Eskimo boy logo on the side of the truck was used for many years by Clicquot and today anything with that image on it has become a collector's item. The Clicquot Company was in business until about 1982. The truck seen here, parked across the street from the Madison Theater and Copeland's Oil Company on Main Street, was also filled with Red Rock Cola. The Red Rock Cola Company, at 109-111 E. Second St., was managed by Walter C. Bennett according to the 1947 city directory.

Harry Lemen, photographer

City directories; Town Report of Millis, MA; Internet.

Picture taken circa 1948

Madison-Jefferson County Public Library

Permission to reproduce this image for other than personal use must be requested from the Director of the Madison-Jefferson County Public Library. Please contact at 420 W. Main Street Madison, IN 47250 (812) 265-2744

Photograph taken with Eastman-Kodak Brownie Camera No. 2C model A, using No. 130 film. Resulting negative (2.875in x 4.875in) scanned at 1200 DPI using a Microtek ScanMaker 9800XL. Online jpeg image file saved at 72 DPI 800 to 1000 pixels on long edge.

Still image

"lemen1303-clicquotclub"