This local volunteer (upper left), in Dwight, Illinois, is the “Texaco Man” at their restored, historical site gas station. I found his image while researching this post, and it was like I was looking at my Uncle who ran the Texaco Station in Tioga, Texas (see a photo of my Uncle in the update at the end of this post). Liberty Hotel vintage, restored sign (right). Top loading Dr. Pepper dispenser (lower left).

BLOG POST: DUBLIN, TEXAS, Sept 8-10, 2017

Two stories.

WRITTEN & PHOTOGRAPHED BY: STEVE HOLLOWAY

UPDATED JUNE 23, 2021. Posts should be direct and to the point. That said, I’m going to start out with a big no-no, asking you to bear with me while I tell you two stories: One about the trip itself and one about the reason for the trip.

FIRST THE TRIP. We drove to Cleburne, Texas and stayed at the Liberty Hotel. We found the Liberty on our way home from Jamesport, Missouri in 2014. It was 11:00 at night when we saw their sign and thought for sure that it was just a historical landmark but, when we went in, we found a completely renovated hotel.

The Liberty is a great “base of operations” for North Texas, located a little over an hour from Dublin, thirty minutes from downtown Fort Worth and an hour or so from downtown Dallas.

The rooms are luxurious, the staff is small-town friendly and helpful and the town itself is quiet and relaxing.

They have a breakfast buffet of fruit, waffles, pastries, juices and coffee so you can grab something to eat before you head out for the day.

It has become our get away, stay-over stop. (The Liberty is an Ascend Hotel but, if you call their local number, (817) 556-3700, you get their front desk which usually has more up-to-date information on availability and reservations than the online booking resource.)

Summers in Tioga.

NOW THE REASON FOR THE TRIP. Like so many road trips, this was about reconnecting with a childhood memory. About how the simplest thing at the time becomes significant later in life.

This trip’s memory went back to when I had my first Dr. Pepper. Doesn’t seem like much but keep reading.

Most summers, when I was growing up, I spent a week at my Grandmother’s house in Tioga, Texas, with my Aunt, Uncle, and Grandmother.

My parents would drive me north on US281 from San Antonio through the Fort Worth area to Tioga to stay at my Grandmother’s (taking one of my first road trips in the process).

One summer, my Aunt had the new, 6.5 ounce bottles of Seven Up, Dr. Pepper, and Coca Cola in the refrigerator. I had never had a soft drink before. I tried all three but Dr. Pepper was my favorite.

My Uncle ran Tioga’s Texaco gas station, the only station in town. It was a single-pump Texaco dealer and he was its’ only employee.

Most days he would take me to work with him where he would sit in his small, glass windowed office, doing crossword puzzles, looking outside, waiting for a car to pull up to the pump then going out in his fresh laundered, starched and pressed Texaco uniform to pump gas, check the oil and clean the windshield while customers waited in their cars. Like the jingle said, “You can trust your car to the man who wears the star, the big, red Texaco star.”

The station had a top dispensing Dr. Pepper machine stocked with all three sodas. Two or three times a day, he would give me a nickel to get a “bottle of pop”.

It never occurred to me that this would become such a distinct memory. The memory of having my first Dr. Pepper, of my Uncle and of his mid-50s Texaco station.

A memory that, much later, became tied to a television series.

Vintage signage and the front of Dublin Bottling (top and bottom left). Tioga, Texas water tower (bottom right).

The Dublin connection.

In an episode of American Pickers, Mike and Frank picked the Dublin Bottling Works in Dublin, Texas. That episode is how I learned Dublin Bottling was the first Dr. Pepper bottler.

Dublin Bottling made it possible for pharmacist Charles Alderton to take Dr. Pepper beyond the fountain at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store in Waco throughout Texas including, Tioga.

I also learned the owner of the Bottling Works kept and preserved advertising, bottles, cases and point-of-sale materials since the 50s and through today.

Dublin became a must-see, North Texas road trip.

Dublin is 159 miles southwest of Tioga. So every Dr. Pepper I had at my Grandmother’s house came from there.

It was even possible that I had a Dr. Pepper from one of the vintage bottles we bought for our home display (below); bottles that had been used and reused during the 50s then preserved by the owner of the bottling works, kept through today, refilled with the original Dr. Pepper and capped with vintage caps.

Sunset on the Chisholm Trail Parkway heading back to Cleburne from Fort Worth (above). Dr. Pepper Display (below). Dublin Bottling Works is where we found the 1950s Dr. Pepper wall sign, vintage 1950s bottles (the Bottling Works refilled vintage bottles with Dr. Pepper and capped with vintage caps), and the drink cases, one from the 1950s and the other from the 1960s.

A MUST DO ROAD TRIP STOP. If you find your way to the Dublin Bottling works, stop at Old Doc’s Soda Shop for a soda and a snack.

Make sure and take the bottling line tour. You will fill and cap your own bottle of soda and see a mid-century bottling line at work. Also, shop both their Soda Shop and the bottling line store for vintage soda and advertising items.

BUILDING THE DR. PEPPER DISPLAY. Between the store and the shop at the bottling facility, we found the items for our display of vintage Dr. Pepper wooden cases, bottles and signage. Those plus the Texaco pump badge we found near home.

So, have I connected all the dots?

A television show that connects to a bottling company that connects to the first Dr. Peppers ever bottled that connects to the first Dr. Peppers I ever had that connect to a home in Tioga that connect to the Texaco station where my Uncle, Tioga’s Texaco Man, had Dr. Peppers.

I know I mentioned finding the small town newspaper story about the Dwight, Illinois Texaco Man volunteer. What I didn’t mention was the last connection: I was born in Bellville, Illinois. Only 3 hours North of Dwight.

UPDATE: Remember the Dwight, Illinois “Volunteer Texaco Man” (upper left)? Well this is my Uncle Walter (upper right), Tioga’s real Texaco Man, and my Aunt Jewel c. 1975. We also found the Tioga house was still there. We got up there to photograph it in 2021 (lower image). © 2017-2022 The Paper © 1975-2022 Steve Holloway

Liberty Hotel 205 S Caddo St, Cleburne, Texas (The Liberty is an Ascend Hotel but, if you call their local number, (817) 556-3700, you get their front desk which usually has more up-to-date information on availability and reservations than the online booking resource) Dublin Bottling Company 221 S Patrick St, Dublin, Texas. Texaco attendant photograph copyright by and used with the permission of The Paper Dwight, Illinois. Many thanks to The Paper for the use of the image and for keeping memories of Mid-1950’s life alive.

#dublinbottling #texaco #drpepper #fortworttexas #roadtrip #route66 #caranddriver #roadstory #crazygoodfood #foodie #authenticstay #roadtripstory #roadtripimages #carculture

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