Sheboygan’s beverage history includes an acclaimed chocolate soda made by Lakeside Bottling Company

SHEBOYGAN — Beer is not the only beverage bottled in Sheboygan through the years. Carbonated beverages were also very popular in the early 20th century.

According to Sheboygan Press articles provided by Beth Dippel of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, the Robert Schultz Bottling Works was located at 715 N. Fifth St. in Sheboygan. Owner Robert Schultz, born in 1874, immigrated from Germany and arrived in Sheboygan when he was 16 years old. It is not clear when Schultz began the company, but he sold the business in 1921 to E. Jansen and Emil Albl, formerly of Port Washington. At that time it became known as Lakeside Bottling Company. In 1922, the new owners touted new equipment and offered 14 assorted drinks.

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One of those new flavors included a chocolate soft drink in 1925 that at the time, according to a Sheboygan Press clipping, "Those who have not tasted the new chocolate drink are missing something good." Company executives also attributed the quality of their drink to a new artesian well drilled at the company. Lakeside claimed the water was far better from that well than from the chlorinated city water that came from Lake Michigan.

However, life did not end well for the original founder of the bottling works. Robert Schultz had been in poor health for months. He took his life by suicide at his home in 1925 after working his elevator operator job at the Foeste Hotel. The Press at the time told the details of his death in a most gruesome manner.

In 1922, Lakeside Bottling Works bottled orange, lemon and lime crushes, along with a variety of syrups and ciders. Strong business enabled Lakeside Bottling Company to grow into a new $13,000 building in 1932 at 2121 Calumet Drive, which then became known as the Lakeside Coca-Cola Bottling Company. In 1940, Lakeside Bottling Company became a Pepsi-Cola franchise, which remains today in its lineup of beverages. Where that building stood is today where the RCS Empowers, Inc., complex is located.

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Today, the company, known as Lakeside Pepsi, operates out of Sheboygan Falls and handles distribution of Pepsi products in Sheboygan, Calumet, Manitowoc and Ozaukee counties. That original building on North Fifth Street today appears to be used as apartments. In recent years, that Fifth Street building also housed a law firm.

Gary C. Klein can be reached at 920-453-5149 or gklein@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @leicaman99.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan bottling company made chocolate soda in the 1920s: History