American History

American History

A&W Root Beer Owns a Couple of Interesting "Firsts" in the American History

A&W Root Beer owns a couple of interesting "firsts" in American history.  Not only was one A&W location a drive-in long before any other restaurant (and before most people even owned cars) but A&W was also one of, if not THE first fast food restaurants to build their chain through franchising.

A&W Beginnings

Some time in the "teens", Roy Allen, a refurbish-er of old hotels (seriously), met a pharmacist (whose name is lost to history) who had perfected a recipe for making root beer.  

Root beer is called "beer" because until this time it had been brewed --like beer.  True root beer still is.  If you ever get the chance to try some, do not pass it up.

But this pharmacist had created a recipe to "make" root beer -- a practice still used by all soft drink manufacturers.  

It is also interesting to note that almost all of the early soft drinks were created by pharmacists.  Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi were are created in drug stores.  

Anyway, Allen bought the root beer recipe and on June 20, 1919, opened a stand in Lodi, California ("Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again.")  

He offered frosty mugs of root beer for a nickel.

His first stand was a success and in short order, he opened stands in Stockton and Sacramento.  One of these may have been a drive-in.  In 1919!

Putting the A & W in A&W

In 1920, Frank Wright, became Allen's partner and they combined their initials to form A&W Root Beer.

Additional A&W stands were soon opened throughout California, Utah, and Texas.  After Allen bought out Wright he conceived of the idea of franchising to grow the company and thus became one of if not the first fast food franchise operations.

A&W Today

A&W is owned by YUM Brands of Louisville, KY a division of PepsiCo.

Today A&W has more than 1000 restaurants and 120+ joint establishments with Long John Silver's and KFC, also owned by YUM.

About the Author

Cast Aluminum Outdoor Furniture Sets provide many advantages over traditional outdoor furniture.  It is incredibly strong but lightweight, lasts forever and can be left out year-round.

Find out if Cast Aluminum Outdoor Furniture Sets are right for you and your yard or patio and find the best deals at http://patio-furniture-sets.net

What Early American should I write about for history 101?

Ive been brainstorming and have not thought of annything inspirational. I need to do a 15 page power point presentation about a person or even from american history, 1700-1865. It would be great if I could find an online primary source document about the subjct. Any ideas? Nothing to general or "overdone".

Benjamin Franklin - a humongous contribution to the Enlightenment, politics, science, and the American image
James Madison - mainly for his contribution to the Constitution, his presidency kinda failed
Washington, obviously - revolutionary, Constitutional leader, and president; time and again he led the nation
Lincoln - dedication to the American Union
Frederick Douglass - cause for abolition
James Monroe - established the general American foreign policy until 1941 with Monroe Doctrine

Better yet, do a presentation about President William Henry Harrison - they told him to wear a coat at his inauguration but he didn't listen and caught pneumonia, and died in a month. Then his VP Tyler took office, and his dedication to Manifest Destiny led to annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War (states up to California).

American History X parte1