Answer Man: Some 50-plus years ago, on the southeast corner of Division and National there was business known as Walt's Pop Dock. It's where Springfieldians of the day bought soda pop by the case under the ‘Walt's' name. What's the history of it? Who owned it and what happened to it? — Bill Blevins, of Springfield
The “Walt” in “Walt's Pop Dock” was Walter B. Loveland. His main residence was in Sedalia.
Loveland sold his own brand of soda, Walt's, which he made in a multitude of flavors, then sold it by the case in his own stores where shoppers put purchases on a conveyor with rollers and rolled the soda to the cashier.
It's hard to imagine, Mister Cola tells me, but there once was a time in the United States when there were thousands of small cola companies. Eventually, most would be gobbled up by Coke and Pepsi.
Mister Cola, also known as Robert Shepard, says that decades ago there were eight little cola companies in his very own hometown of Clinton, a city of 9,200 people.
Shepard has a collectibles website featuring cola products and other items.
Three children remember bits and pieces
Walter Loveland died in 2009 at 75.
I found his obituary, which led me to his three children. I spoke to each of them. None live in Springfield.
Loveland was a Marine, a member of the Sedalia VFW Post No. 2591 and he was a Mason, a Shriner and a long-time employee of Coca-Cola, rising to the executive level in the Midwest.
Loveland married into the beverage business. His first wife was Barbara Dunn. Her father was Les Dunn, who owned a soft drink distributorship in Sedalia.
Walter and Barbara's three children remember bits and pieces of Walt's Pop Dock. Part of the problem in constructing the narrative is that their parents divorced when they were young. The children lived mostly with their mother in Arizona.
‘New idea in soft drink marketing comes to SGF'
The first ad I could find in the Springfield News-Leader for Walt's Pop Dock ran May 8, 1969.
An ad that month states:
New Idea in Soft Drink Marketing Comes to Springfield, Mo
Walt's Pop Dock is open for business at 650 S. Scenic Drive.
A 24-bottle case sold for $1.29, plus the deposit for the bottles.
I found an August 1980 police brief that recounted how two cases of soda were stolen from the business, at 1462 N. National Ave. That was the last mention I found of Walt's Pop Dock in the newspaper's archives.
The three children were surprised to learn the business was still operating in 1980.
Many years before 1980, their father had been hired by Coca-Cola, where he rose through the ranks.
Father had seen a ‘Pop Dock' in Illinois
David Loveland, 64, is the oldest of the three children. He said his dad parted ways with his father-in-law and started Walt's Pop Dock in Kansas City.
He later opened the store in Springfield, where his second wife, Laurie Clifton, resided. She was a dental hygienist.
There was an overlap in Walter Loveland's employment when he still ran Walt's Pop Dock in Springfield while working for Coca-Cola, David Loveland says.
The idea for the Pop Dock was not original. His father had seen a similar shop in Decatur, Illinois. The business was run by a friend working for Vess Cola.
For the Springfield operation, Loveland bought the equipment needed to make his sodas, including diet versions.
“Dad had probably 15 to 20 different flavors,” David Loveland says. “Strawberries, root beers, cream sodas, lemon lime, lemon, black cherry. He had his own cola. You name it, he had it.”
David Loveland recalls his father using a Springfield company called Buckner Bottling.
John Loveland, 57, of Sedalia, recalls the conveyor belts used in stores.
“The customers would walk through as if it were a smorgasbord,” he says.
A 1972 ad listed four locations for Walt's: 607 W. Sunshine, 650 S. Scenic, 400 W. Kearney and the corner of Grant and Division.
Son still owns building where the last Walt's stood
The final Walt's Pop Dock was the one at 1462 N. National — which is the southeast corner of National and Division. The business there today is Mo Auto Motors LLC.
On the front in faded letters it says, “Safe-Lite Auto Glass.”
David Loveland still owns the building.
A man named Joe C. Davis was a business partner in Walt's Pop Dock. His name appears in a 1973 news story.
A Springfield patrol officer shortly after midnight caught two 20-year-old men stealing five cases of empty soda bottles. Each bottle was worth a few cents in deposit money.
Davis signed the complaint against them. The two offenders were in a car; the driver also was charged with driving while intoxicated.
The business came to its end when Davis became ill, David Loveland says.
Walter Loveland father dropped the Pop Dock, because by this time he was engrossed in living the vida Coca-Cola.
This is Answer Man column No. 55.
