The First Coca-Cola in Shelby Came in a Five-Gallon Can

The first Coca-Cola ever sold in Shelby was not bottled at all. In the early 1890s, the drugstore Kendrick & Kendall, located where Messick’s later stood, bought Coca-Cola in five-gallon cans and served it over ice. Before they even sold Coca-Cola, the same store served something called “pineapple snow,” made by shaving ice into a custard-like mixture. This makes Kendrick & Kendall not only the first place to sell Coke in Shelby, but also one of the earliest places to introduce commercial ice-based treats to the town.