South Pittsburg rededicates Coca-Cola mural after more than a year

By Elena Vasquez

South Pittsburg rededicated a Coca-Cola mural on Thursday morning after more than one year of planning and preparation. The original mural was commissioned in 1937. The mural covers the side of the historic Old Cameron-Patton Hotel at Cedar Avenue and 3rd Street. City officials joined several representatives from The Coca-Cola Company.

What did the restoration recover?

Cedar Avenue between 3rd and 4th Street closed for the gathering. An antique Ford stood in front of the hotel with Coca-Cola signage and old-style bottles. The Coca-Cola Pola Bear mascot walked among residents and dignitaries. People posed for photographs with the mascot. The South Pittsburg Marching Band opened the ceremony with the National Anthem.

Marion County Chamber of Commerce's Wesley Brewer said the project took more than one year of planning and preparation. Artists Skip Bondur and Logan Flint restored the mural in their third mural restoration for The Coca-Cola Company, following earlier restorations in Panama City, Florida, and downtown Calera, Alabama. The company has also worked with communities and artists across the country on mural restorations.

Ian Smith, Director of Franchise Leadership at The Coca-Cola Company, said: “Historic murals tell the story of Coca-Cola’s connection to hometowns across America.”

He continued: “We live in a digital age, but I love paint, especially paint on bricks restoring this iconic mural. Coca-Cola has had a historic year celebrating 140 years as we also celebrate American’s 250th anniversary.”

The rededication restored one South Pittsburg landmark while extending a company mural program with commissions elsewhere.

How did Coca-Cola shape South Pittsburg?

Mayor Shawn Henson is a South Pittsburg native. He said: “In 1913 Hunt Keith set out to open the first Coca-Cola bottling plant here in South Pittsburg.”

He added: “It opened in 1914 one block away from where we stand now, on Elm Ave. where the Library Building stands now.”

Henson remembers standing before the plant as a child. He looked through its window at the bottling carousel. “Watching those bottles spin around on the carousel,” he said. “I thought that was the best thing in the world.”

According to Henson, the plant moved to Cedar Avenue between 4th and 5th Street in 1940 because it had outgrown its first location, and the operation continued until 1966.

South Pittsburg native Jerry Wynne said he grew up at the bottling plant. His father, 99-year-old Leonard Wynne, attended the ceremony. Leonard served as bottling plant manager for South Pittsburg Coca-Cola for 50 years.

“I remember being inside and seeing all the bottles,” Wynne said.

His father began at the plant as a teenager. He first maintained the grounds outside. He learned many positions and rose to management.

Jerry Wynne said he learned that the original mural was commissioned in 1937.

The mural’s 1937 commission came within a local bottling history that began in 1914 and ended in 1966.

What does the hotel’s phased restoration involve?

Building owner Jimmy Layne bought the hotel in January 2025. He planned to restore it to its historical beauty. Layne said he was thrilled with the mural restoration.

“It’s going to take some time, and we are doing it in phases,” building owner Jimmy Layne said. “Phase one is complete. The restoration of this mural was part of phase two.”

The building began as the Central Hotel in the early 1900s. Around 1911, investors A.A. Cook and C.C. Moore replaced it with a 30-room hotel with a dining room and front and side entrances. They named it the Cookmoore Hotel.

Years later, it became the Robert E. Lee Hotel. It then evolved into the Cameron-Patton Hotel.

Three local storefronts occupy the first floor. The second and third floors have sat vacant for years. When the building was the Robert E. Lee Hotel, those floors housed 18 hotel rooms and six bathrooms.

The mural forms part of phase two, leaving the hotel’s vacant upper floors as its largest restoration challenge.

What changes after the rededication?

After the ceremony, the community gathered to cut the ribbon. They rededicated the mural to the community. First-floor businesses remain in place. Each attendee received a commemorative Coca-Cola with South Pittsburg named on the label.

With the street-facing mural restored, the broader test is whether Layne’s later phases can bring the long-vacant second and third floors back into use.