NeHi Soda Bottle from Harrison Michigan

Before the Hayes Township Civic Center was built, Bob Miller was working on a cleanup crew pulling stumps and clearing brush with heavy equipment. On his lunch break he happened to look down and find a bottle.

It was a Nehi bottle, bottled right here in Harrison, Michigan. At the time, Jeannie Morton told him the plant was in the old meat packing plant in the area of the new city hall and fire department just west of Harrison today.

Nehi (pronounced knee high) was a flavored soft drink (we call it pop!) first made in 1924 by the Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works. They were found in Georgia by a grocer named Claud Hatcher. IN 1928 they adopted the name the Nehi Corporation. In 1955 they became the Royal Crown Company after the success of the RC Cola product. In April 2008, Nehi became a brand of Dr Pepper Snapple Group (now known as Keurig Dr Pepper) in the United States.

You can still find flavors of Nehi today in orange, grape, and peach. Mr. Miller is donating this bottle to the Clare County Historical Society.

If you know anything else about the Nehi bottling operation in Harrison please contact the Cleaver at 539-7496.

 Clare Sentinel, 8 May 1931

A.M. Henderson has his Ne-hi bottling plant nearly completed. He will be ready to deliver from the local plant the middle of the week.