Frank Mason Robinson

Frank Mason Robinson (September 12, 1845 – July 8, 1923) was an important early marketer and advertiser of what became known as Coca-Cola.

Career During the winter of 1885, Robinson and his business partner, David Doe, came to the South in order to sell a machine they invented called a "chromatic printing device" which had the capability to produce two colors in one imprint. Upon arrival in Atlanta, Robinson and David Doe approached Dr. John S. Pemberton, a chemist and pharmacist, and struck a deal. In 1886 Frank Robinson officially settled in Atlanta where a new business was made called the Pemberton Chemical Company consisting of Robinson, Pemberton, David Doe and Pemberton's old partner, Ed Holland. The name Coca-Cola was also chosen "because it was euphonious, and on account of my familiarity with such names as 'S.S.S; and 'B.B.B'" said Robinson himself. Robinson served as treasurer and secretary and changed the Coca-Cola syrup formula so as not to include any faint traces of cocaine by the time of the Pure Food and Drug Act initiated by the Federal Government in 1906. Hand painted oil cloth signs were put outside stores displaying the Coca-Cola brand name with catchy words such as "Drink" in order to inform customers and other people passing by about the new medicinal beverage that was also a soda fountain drink. First year sales showed an average of nine bottles sold per day.

Personal life Originally from Maine, as a young man he was in Iowa where he married Laura Clapp. Robinson had a home in Druid Hills, an early suburb of Atlanta. He also had a country home on the Cobb County banks of the Chattahoochee River. The property had been a southern fortification defending the railroad bridge. The property is currently the Frank Mason Robinson Nature Preserve. He owned six residences which were occupied rent free by family and friends.

Robinson taught a large Bible class at the First Christian Church of Atlanta. A large English stained glass window dedicated to his memory is above the pulpit of Peachtree Christian Church. He was a Republican in national politics but a Democrat in state and local politics.

Robinson died in July 1923 and was buried in Atlanta's Westview Cemetery.