For 40 years, Tom Smith Jr. has been collecting anything associated with Coca-Cola. He started his collection when he was 10 and interestingly, he wanted to have a museum.
The Soda Museum & Arcade is located at 126 North Main Street in the historic section of St. Charles, Missouri. Admission is $20 per person and free for those under age 5.
I didn’t think a museum of soda pop could be more than kind of interesting, but this place blew me away. (Yelp reviewer.)
Photo byThe Soda Museum via Facebook.
An old building dating to the late 1890s where the J.C. Penny Department Store used to be is now filled with soda memorabilia. The main floor, mezzanine, and top floor contain the soda memorabilia and there’s lots of it. The arcade is in the basement. Even though the building is a very large space, only about a third of Smith’s collecion is there.
Smith’s collection began with a 1937 serving tray. Smith was drawn to the marketing artwork of Coca-Cola. Do you remember the old soda vending machines or when Coca-Cola was only sold in bottles? The museum has a wide variety of vintage advertising signs too. Some items date back to the 1880s.