The Bottle, Alabama is a community located in the northern corporate limits of Auburn, Alabama

Auburn, Alabama

Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2010 population of 53,380. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area...

. The Bottle is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 280 and Alabama Highway 147, five miles (8 km) north of downtown Auburn, and adjacent to the Auburn University

Auburn University

Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...

 North Fisheries Research Complex.

The Bottle is located at 32°40'34"N 85°29'11"W; its elevation is 760 feet (231.6 m).

The Bottle is named for the bright orange wooden replica of a Nehi

Nehi

Nehi is a flavored soft drink that originated in America. It was introduced in 1924 by Chero-Cola/Union Bottle Works. The "Nehi Corporation" name was adopted in 1928 after the Nehi fruit-flavored sodas became popular. In 1955, the company changed its name to Royal Crown Company, after its RC...

 soda bottle which stood in the location for nine years during the 1920s and 1930s.

History

Built in 1924, and billed as "the world's largest bottle", The Bottle (sometimes referred to as The "Nehi Inn") was built by John F. Williams owner of the Nehi Bottling Company in Opelika, Alabama. The Bottle stood 64-feet (19.5 m) tall, and measured forty-nine feet (14.94 m) in diameter at the base, and 16 feet (4.88 m) at the cap. The ground floor was a grocery store and service station, and the 2nd and 3rd floors were living quarters and storage. The neck of the Bottle had windows so it could be used as an observation tower where you could see miles of countryside. The "bottle cap" was the roof. Inside there was a spiral oak stairway. Fire consumed the Bottle in 1933, destroying the largest bottle in the world and ending an era of a gathering place for tourists and local men to swap yarns around a potbellied wood stove, BBQs and a party every Friday night on the balcony above the service station.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stopped briefly at The Bottle after visiting Auburn. So did comedienne Minnie Pearl

Minnie Pearl

Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,...

.

Even though the Bottle structure no longer exists, the name does and is still on Alabama maps listing the area as "The Bottle."

Today

Currently, in The Bottle's former location stands only an empty lot. The property was put on sale in 2005 by First Realty of Auburn

Auburn, Alabama

Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2010 population of 53,380. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area...

. The land was purchased in early 2006 by The Hayley Redd Development Company