Dr. Pepper was invented in 1885 at the Old Corner Drugstore at 4th Street and Austin Avenue by pharmacist Charles Alderton, and the drugstore’s owner, Wade Morrison, patented it. The Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company was formed in 1891 to manufacture and bottle Dr. Pepper, and in 1905 it purchased this property at the corner of 5th Street and Mary Avenue. Designed by local architect Milton Scott and opened in 1906, the building housed offices, an artesian well, and a bottling line on the first floor, syrup-making facilities for Dr. Pepper, Circle A Ginger Ale, and other soft drinks on the second floor, and purified water operations and sugar storage on the third floor. The building served as the company’s national headquarters until 1923, when the company moved to Dallas, though it continued as a bottling franchise. In 1953 an F5 tornado that heavily damaged downtown Waco destroyed part of the west wall, and the scar remained visible from Mary Street. During the 1960s, soft drink production moved to Franklin and New Road, and the building became storage space for the company and Baylor University. In 1985, Waco community leaders partnered with the Dr. Pepper Company to create a public soft drink museum here, and the Dr. Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute opened to the public in the building on May 11, 1991. Today the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Home of Dr. Pepper.