DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – The original prototype of the 1915 Coca-Cola bottle is on display at the Root Family Museum.

Starting Tuesday, the prototype will greet visitors to the Root Family wing of the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

The 100th anniversary of the bottle was celebrated at an invitation-only reception Monday before it is opened to the public the following day.

Chapman J. Root designed the original bottle with help from two colleagues a century ago, on Nov. 16, 1915. His prototype bottle went on to win a national contest held by Coca-Cola in 1916 and helped generate a fortune for the family-owned Root Glass Co. in Terre Haute, Ind.

Preston Root, president of the Root Organization, said the bottle is the only prototype on display in the world. The only other prototype is in a vault at Coca-Cola’s corporate headquarters in Atlanta.

“When you toured the museum before, you saw this great collection of stuff, but why is it all here?” he said. “The reason is found in 1900, when the Root Glass Co. was formed.”

Preston and his five siblings – Chapman J. Root II, John, Bill, Chris and Susie – will be in attendance to honor the business their great-grandfather started.

The Roots have been supporters of the Museum of Arts and Sciences since the 1970s, the museum’s former executive director Gary Libby said.
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Information from: Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal, http://www.news-journalonline.com

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