Food / Business & brands
James Vernor
1843–1927 · pharmacist, creator of Vernors ginger ale
Detroit druggist whose barrel-aged Vernors ginger ale, sold from a Woodward Avenue soda fountain, became one of America's oldest surviving soft drinks.
- Born
Albany, New York- Died
Grosse Ile, Michigan
aged 84- Also known as
- James Vernor Sr.
- Detroit years
- 1850s–1927
- Field
- Food, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Vernor grew up in Detroit and was working at Higby and Sterns' drugstore when he began experimenting with ginger ale. He served with the 4th Michigan Cavalry in the Civil War, reaching second lieutenant. The company later claimed he had stored his syrup in an oak cask before leaving for the war and found it transformed on his return, but his son and later company records indicate the formula was developed after the war. He opened his own drugstore on Woodward Avenue at Clifford Street and sold the ginger soda at its fountain, officially from 1880. In 1896 he and his son closed the pharmacy and opened a soda fountain near the river ferry docks, adding a bottling plant. Vernors became a Detroit institution; its riverfront plant tours drew crowds, and the gnome mascot Woody appeared on bottles. He was one of the first members of the Michigan Board of Pharmacy. He died on Grosse Ile in 1927.
Highlights
- Served in the 4th Michigan Cavalry, 1862–1865
- Sold Vernors ginger ale from his Woodward Avenue drugstore
- Opened a riverfront soda fountain and bottling plant with his son in 1896
- Original member of the Michigan Board of Pharmacy (1887)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1860s–1896
Vernor's drugstore (Woodward Avenue and Clifford Street)
Demolished · 1896
His pharmacy, where Vernors was first sold at the soda fountain; the building no longer stands.
Founded · 1896–1927
Vernors riverfront soda fountain and plant (site)
Demolished
The soda fountain and later full-block bottling plant near the ferry docks; the company moved in the late 1950s to make way for riverfront civic projects.