Caleb Bradham
B. May 27, 1867 – d. February 19, 1934
Caleb Davis Bradham invented the soft drink Pepsi-Cola. He was a pharmacist, born in Chinquapin, Duplin County, North Carolina, May 27, 1867.
Circa 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After returning to North Carolina, he was a public school teacher for about a year, and soon thereafter opened a drug store in New Bern named the "Bradham Drug Company" that, like many other drug stores of the time, also housed a soda fountain.
This drug store, located on the corner of Middle Street and Pollock Street in downtown New Bern, is where Bradham in 1898 invented the recipe -- a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and "rare oils" -- for what was initially known as "Brad's Drink," but that soon was renamed Pepsi-Cola. Bradham named his drink after a combination of the terms "pepsin" and "cola", as he believed that his drink aided digestion much like the pepsin enzyme does, even though it was not used as an ingredient. (Full article...)