Coca-Cola was First Bottled in Vicksburg in 1894

Constructed in 1890 by Joseph Biedenharn and his father, Herman, the structure that houses the museum was initially used by the Biedenharn family as a wholesale candy company and a shoe store. Biedenharn was approached by Asa Griggs Candler, founder of The Coca-Cola® Company, just a few years after the building’s construction. Candler recommended that Biedenharn’s candy company supply the area with Coca-Cola® syrup.

Biedenharn agreed to this proposal, according to a letter he penned in 1939, and shortly thereafter, he decided to bottle the drink as a response to its presence only in cities where soda fountains could be found. Bottling made the beverage considerably more accessible to country residents. Upon electing to bottle the beverage – the demand for which was quickly increasing – Biedenharn sent a case of the bottled Coca-Cola® to Candler, who gave his blessing for the operation. Coca-Cola was first bottled in 1894 in downtown Vicksburg,

First African-American Woman in the entire United States to become a doctor
in Education: Dr. Jane Ellen McAllister

McAllister was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi to Flora McClelland McAllister and Richard McAllister. Her father was a postman that worked in Vicksburg, and her mother was a Vicksburg public school teacher. Her mother and father both graduated from Jackson State College. Jane was extremely smart in school, and as a second-grader she even helped to teach first graders. Her school was ill-equipped, so her parents helped her learn the necessary language and math prerequisites for college by tutoring her at night using books her father borrowed. Jane graduated high school at age 15. Jane enrolled in Talladega College in Alabama, and graduated with honors in 1919. She went to the University of Michigan and earned her M.A. in 1921. In 1929, she earned her doctorate in Education from Columbia University, and was the first African American woman in the United States to earn her doctorate in education. She had one sister and one brother. After her retirement in 1969, she lived in her home in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where she also cared for stray animals and for her sick neighbors. She died in 1996.

One of the First Female Rural Mail Carriers in America was from Vicksburg: Mrs. Mamie Thomas

In 1914, Mamie Thomas became one of the first female rural mail carriers in the United States. Until then, only men were rural mail carriers. She would meet the train, load her mail on her horse and buggy, and she would deliver the mail to residents in Vicksburg.