Although Coca-Cola originated in Atlanta, GA, it was in Vicksburg, MS, that it was first bottled. Originally Coca-Cola was sold only in concentrate form for use in drugstore soda fountains. It was originally marketed as a temperance drink and a patent medicine; amongst the many ailments it was claimed to cure were indigestion, nervous disorders of various sorts, headaches, morphine addiction, and impotence.
To serve customers who lived out of town in the many rural communities around Vicksburg, the Biedenharn Candy Company began bottling Coca-Cola in 1894, only seeking permission to do so once they established a thriving business, and thereby proving the concept. Five years later, large scale bottling was begun in Chattanooga, TN, by a completely different company. The Coca-Cola company itself had no interest in bottling their product, a decision that led to many difficulties for them in the decades that followed, and even today most bottlers around the world are independent of the Coca-Cola company, which merely sells the concentrated syrup to regional and national bottling companies.
Today, the site of the original Biedenharn Candy Company drugstore in Vicksburg is a museum, dedicated to the history of bottled Coca-Cola, including this display of some of the many different styles of Coke bottles that have been produced worldwide over the years.