John Thomas Lupton
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John Thomas Lupton (1862-1933) was an American lawyer, businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the original three entrepreneurs who launched the sale of Coca-Cola in bottles for home consumption.
[edit] Business achievements
Lupton, alongside lawyer Joseph Whitehead and Benjamin F. Thomas, was a primary investor in the Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in America. Following the business' rapid success, the three partners divided the country into territories began selling bottling franchises to others. By 1909 nearly 400 bottling operations had been opened.
[edit] Philanthropy
Lupton gave significant financial support to a number of southern colleges and universities, Oglethorpe University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga have both named buildings on their campuses in his honor. The Lupton Library on the campus of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is one example of such a building.
[edit] References
- "Carbonated Philanthropy: A Profile of the Lupton Family Foundation in Chattanooga, Tennessee", Family Giving News, November 2004 http://www.ncfp.org/FGN-Nov_2004/Lyndhurst.html
- Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, National Park Service website http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/dix.htm
