Pemberton House, Columbus

Photo: Ken Owens Photography, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Dr. John Stith Pemberton, the Columbus pharmacist who later created Coca-Cola in Atlanta, bought this cottage in 1855. For years it was a house museum, but Historic Columbus sold it in 2012 and it is again a private home, so it can’t be toured. You can see it from the street in the Columbus Historic District, and the Pemberton collection is on display downtown.

• Built1855, Victorian cottage
• Address11 7th St., Columbus (private home; view from the street)
• National RegisterListed 1971
• See the exhibitHistoric YMCA, 118 E. 11th St.

Pemberton in Columbus

Pemberton was born in 1831 in Knoxville, Georgia, grew up in Rome and trained in medicine and pharmacy at the Reform Medical College of Georgia in Macon. He settled in Columbus in the early 1850s and married Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis; their only child, Charles, was born the next year. On November 20, 1855, he paid $1,950 for this house, the first home he owned, and lived here until 1860. While here he ran drug businesses nearby and a laboratory that made medicines, photographic chemicals, hair dye and perfumes; his “Sweet Southern Bouquet” was a local favorite.

From Museum to Private Home

In 1969 the Coca-Cola Company gave the house to the Historic Columbus Foundation, which moved it to 11 7th Street and restored it, with an apothecary shop in the original kitchen outbuilding. Historic Columbus deaccessioned the house in 2012, and it returned to private ownership. Please respect the owners’ privacy.

The Pemberton exhibit now sits on the first floor of the historic Marble YMCA building at 118 East 11th Street, which also houses the Columbus visitors bureau and chamber of commerce. It includes period apothecary bottles and tools, commemorative Coca-Cola bottles, portraits of Pemberton and his family, advertising, and a rare Tufts soda fountain. Check with Visit Columbus for viewing hours.

Pemberton HouseEarlier photo

Coca-Cola MemorabiliaNow in the YMCA exhibit

More in Columbus: Columbus historic sites and Presidential Pathways museums.