Coca-Cola Bottling Plant

The Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Frederick operated in its North Market Street location for more than 60 years before permanently closing in 2008.

Built in the late ’40s, the plant moved from another location in town where it had been since the 1920s “on the north bank of Carroll Creek” on East Patrick Street, according to the Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties form found on the City of Frederick’s website.

The inventory form described the property as a “well-preserved example of the small, local franchise bottling and distribution plants constructed in the 1930s – 1940s by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in towns and cities throughout the United States as the popularity of bottled soda skyrocketed through the middle of the 20th century. Built in 1947, the attractive industrial plant was a very late use of the Art Deco architectural style, a distinctive Coca-Cola bottling plant design found in a number of Mid-Atlantic towns and cities.”

Originally, the building was a bottling plant with a warehouse in the back; in later years, the property served as a distribution center.

In October 2015, after several hearings, the city’s Board of Aldermen approved a mixed use arrangement on the property to feature a multi-family building consisting of 86 units and commercial or office space. Because of the building’s history, the project developer will preserve the facade of the main building of the property.

Bygone Fact: The Coke bottle sculpture that used to don the top of the warehouse can now be found at the Hagerstown plant.

Sources: Maryland Historical Trust Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties form found at https://www.cityoffrederick.com/DocumentCenter/View/3796; The Frederick News-Post, October 1, 2015