NuGrape Soda | A flavor you can't forget Grape juice, sugar, water, tartaric acid Certified artificial color |
T
his photograph is of an advertising sign that was used to cover a basement window of the Davis General Store which was built in 1869 on the original town square in Warrensburg. The store is still standing but no longer operational. In the years following the Civil War there was a tunnel that started in the basement and went to the railroad to smuggle former slaves out of the town.
Of course I have no direct knowledge of when the NuGrape sign was nailed to the window. NuGrape was first bottled in 1921, and the store was still open in the early 1960”s, which does not narrow the time of its placement.
Initially sodas were touted as health aids; bubbly water and sweet syrups were added to help make bitter-tasting medicinal tonics more palatable. When the makers found that people liked the sweet taste of the soda as a beverage they dropped the medicinal angle. To promote their brands and contend in a competitive market, advertising was heavily employed. Here the advertising became functional as an architectural building material.
I got a Nugrape nice and fine
The rings around the bottle is a-genuine
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
I got a Nugrape nice and fine
Got plenty imitation but there's none like mine
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
'Way down yonder in the promised land
A-run and tell your mama here the Nugrape man
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
Little childrens in the backyard playing in the sand,
A-run and tell your mama here the Nugrape man
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
(Humming)
When you're feeling kinda blue
Do not know what's ailing you
Get a Nugrape from this stall
Then you'll have the blues no more
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
What's that make your lips go flipp-i-ty
Flop a-when you drink a Nugrape you don't know when to stop
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
If from work you come home late
Rollin' pin waits at the gate
Smiling, bribe her with Nugrape
Then you'll sneak through in good shape
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
Sister Mary has a beau
Says he's crazy, loves her so
Buys a Nugrape every day
Know he's bound to win that way
I got your ice-cold Nugrape
(Humming)
