Asa Griggs Candler

Lore & Background

Asa Griggs Candler was born on December 30, 1851, in Villa Rica, Georgia, one of eleven children raised by a merchant and property owner who had served in the South Carolina legislature and fought in the Creek War of 1836. Working as a druggist in 1888, Candler encountered John Stith Pemberton and became interested in a sweet, carbonated beverage Pemberton had created. Candler purchased the formula for Coca-Cola—a drink originally made from brewed coca leaves, caffeine, carbonated water, and sugar—for a rumored $2,300. He founded the Coca-Cola Company in 1892, trademarked the brand the following year, and soon distributed the first dividends to shareholders. By 1895, the drink was sold nationwide across the United States; exports began to Cuba in 1899 and to Europe two years later. Candler devised the famous "$1 contract," selling the rights to bottle Coca-Cola in the U.S. for a single dollar. Early advertising promoted the beverage as a remedy for mental and physical fatigue and headaches. In 1903, he removed the cocaine from the coca leaves before mixing them into the drink, selling the extracted cocaine to pharmaceutical companies. By 1911, annual advertising spending had reached $1 million. In 1915, the Root Glass Company created the iconic Coca-Cola bottle. After being elected mayor of Atlanta in 1916, Candler stepped away from daily management of the company; in 1917, the company halved the drink’s caffeine content. In 1919, he gave most of his Coca-Cola stock to his children, who then sold their shares to a consortium led by Ernest Woodruff. As a civic leader, Candler completed the 17-story Candler Building in Atlanta in 1906, then the city’s tallest structure, and opened a Candler Building in New York in 1912. As mayor from 1917, he balanced the city budget, coordinated rebuilding after the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 destroyed 1,500 homes, and made personal loans to develop Atlanta’s water and sewage infrastructure. A major philanthropist, he gave $7 million to Emory University and funded Candler Hospital in Savannah, Georgia. Candler suffered a stroke in 1926 and died on March 12, 1929, at Wesley Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and is buried at Westview Cemetery.

Reader's Guide

Asa Griggs Candler’s significance stems from his transformation of a single medicinal syrup into a nationally distributed brand and a major corporation. A druggist in 1888, he purchased the Coca-Cola formula from its inventor and founded the Coca-Cola Company in 1892, trademarking the brand and issuing the first shareholder dividends the following year. By 1895, the drink was sold across the United States; exports began to Cuba in 1899 and to Europe two years later. Candler’s business strategy included a famous contract that sold the U.S. bottling rights for one dollar, and by 1911 the company’s annual advertising budget reached one million dollars. He also removed cocaine from the coca leaves used in the drink in 1903, selling the extracted substance to pharmaceutical firms. In 1915, the iconic bottle shape was created by a bottling company. After his election as Atlanta’s mayor in 1916, Candler ended daily management of the company. Two years later, the caffeine content was halved. In 1919, he gave most of his stock to his children, who then sold it to investors. Candler’s civic impact included balancing Atlanta’s budget, coordinating rebuilding after a major fire, and making personal loans for water and sewage infrastructure. He also built several notable buildings in Atlanta, New York, Kansas City, and Baltimore. His philanthropy funded schools, universities, and a hospital, and he paid to relocate Emory University to Atlanta.

Did You Know?

• Candler gave a total of $7 million to Emory University and paid to relocate it to Atlanta.
• Candler Field, named after him, is the site of the present-day Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.