Pierce City soda fountain finds new home in Monett
By Jessica Breger cassvilleads@gmail.com
A new 1900s artifact may soon give the Monett Historical Society and Museum some visual pop.
The Historical Society gathered for its monthly meeting on Jan. 21 to learn about the museum’s newest addition — an early 1900s soda fountain.
The fountain has made its way through multiple owners from Pierce City to its new home in the event center of the Monett Historical Society and Museum.
Sitting diagonal toward the back of the large room, the new artifact is “not just for looks” said museum volunteer, Mark Henderson.
Henderson said the soda fountain is not fully functional yet, as it is missing the carbonator in the dispensing unit, which mixed carbon dioxide and water, supplying the fizz in the drinks. The unit can still be used for a food counter at events, and guests are encouraged to sit and embrace the soda fountain experience.
“They were social centers like saloons were,” Henderson said.
He explained that what set soda fountains apart was the perceived safety. Although saloons were not nearly as rowdy as movies would lead one to believe, women and children could frequent soda fountains with less risk which helped lead to their rise in popularity.
The soda fountain was once housed in Potter’s Drug Store in Pierce City.
“It was located on the west side of the last standing building of Pierce City on the north side of the street where there’s now an antique store,” Henderson said.
Murray Bishoff, Historical Society member, noted the Pharmacy once belonged to George Bennett, one of the first businessmen in Pierce City in the early 1870s.
The Potter family purchased the fountain in the 1920 or 1930, according to Henderson, until the store was bought in the early 1960s and the fountain removed.
The unit sat in pieces in a barn until Becky Golubski, who was the Arts Council President in Pierce City, along with others, arranged for a loan that would allow the unit to be put on display in the building that would become “Artopia” in 2016.
“That particular venue did not work out so the unit sat in the space there until last year,” Henderson said.
When volunteers went to the location to pick up another artifact that had been donated to the museum, they saw the soda fountain and knew they wanted to bring it to Monett, as well.
“We went there, and this was peeking out from behind boxes,” Henderson said.
Henderson said they knew they had to have it in the museum.
“We transported it here in pieces,” he said. “It took five people, a trailer, two cars, and two pick-up trucks to get it over here.”
Volunteers assembled and cleaned the piece, which required Henderson and others to scrape grime from the tiles, as it would not come off with cleaners alone.
It took several months to restore the unit, and Henderson commented on the unforeseen complications in its installment.
“It wouldn’t fit where I thought it would go to start with,” he said.
The original plan had been to place the unit in the upstairs hallway, however completed size was larger than anticipated.
“We had no concept of how much space it would take out since it wasn’t fully assembled,” Henderson said.
As audience members admired the soda fountain now in its new home, many reminisced about the times they each spent at this fountain and others in Pierce City during the heyday of soda fountains in America.
Henderson ended the presentation with an invitation to explore the unit, saying that he likes to straighten the chairs each time he passes by so that when they are turned, he knows somebody has been there to enjoy the fountain.
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