Description

Mission soda pop bottle. Blue label with white lettering. Believed to date from 1960's. The Mission Orange Soda was made by a company in California. They made a concentrated syrup in several flavors and sold it to distributing/bottling companies across the U.S. In 1939 or 1940, Gus got a contract to bottle and sell Mission products in the Anoka area. While root beer, lemon line, and cola flavors were available, it was the Mission Orange that became a trademark brand for Grosslein. It is believed the name, Mission, came from the original formula of the soda pop being developed in one of the California missions. These early settlement missions often ran some kind of business such as ranching, vegetable farming, wineries, etc., to support the mission and its people. The Mission soda pop is believed to be a result of one of these mission enterprises. Gus bottled and distributed Mission Orange in a variety of sizes, changing bottles with the company through the years. When the Mission Company began a switch over to ready to drink cans in the mid-1950's rather than selling their syrup for local bottling, the idea went flat. The increased shipping costs and a lack of acceptance of the cans by the public meant the end of Mission Orange in Anoka County.

Geographic Names

Anoka, Anoka, Minnesota, United States, NA [45.27324,-93.24645] [id:5016452]