John Thomas Lupton

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title: "John Thomas Lupton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1862-births", "1933-deaths", "american-lawyers", "american-philanthropists", "american-businesspeople-in-the-drink-industry", "coca-cola-people", "businesspeople-from-chattanooga,-tennessee", "lawyers-from-chattanooga,-tennessee", "university-of-virginia-school-of-law-alumni"] description: "American lawyer and businessman" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Lupton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American lawyer and businessman ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	John Thomas Lupton
image	John-thomas-lupton.jpg
birth_date
birth_place	Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Brevard, North Carolina, U.S.
alma_mater	Roanoke College University of Virginia
occupation	Lawyer, industrialist and philanthropist
spouse
children	Thomas Cartter Lupton
signature	Signature of John Thomas Lupton (1862–1933).png
::

| name = John Thomas Lupton | image = John-thomas-lupton.jpg | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Winchester, Virginia, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Brevard, North Carolina, U.S. | alma_mater = Roanoke College University of Virginia | occupation = Lawyer, industrialist and philanthropist | spouse = | children = Thomas Cartter Lupton | signature = Signature of John Thomas Lupton (1862–1933).png John Thomas Lupton (1862–1933) was an American lawyer, industrialist and philanthropist who along with Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead, obtained exclusive rights from Asa Candler to bottle and sell Coca-Cola.

Early life

Lupton was born near Winchester, Virginia, and received his undergraduate degree from Roanoke College in 1884 follow by his law degree from the University of Virginia. After a visit to the home of a fellow student, he settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1887.

Lupton soon met Elizabeth Patten, daughter of Chattanooga Medicine Company founder Zeboim Cartter Patten, and they married on November 14, 1889. They had a son, Thomas Cartter Lupton, to whom they left the bulk of their combined wealth.

Career

After his marriage, Lupton took a job as legal counsel to the Chattanooga Medicine Company (now Chattem), eventually becoming company vice president and treasurer.

Lupton, Whitehead and Thomas were the primary investors in the Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company, the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the United States. Following the business' rapid success, the partners divided the country into territories and gave various family members responsibility over them and began selling bottling franchises. By 1909, nearly 400 bottling operations had been opened.

John Thomas Lupton died in Brevard, North Carolina on July 31, 1933.

Lupton's grandson, John T. Lupton II, sold the family's bottling operations back to Coca-Cola in 1986 for $1.4 billion in cash.

Philanthropy

Lupton was a significant contributor to a number of southern schools, colleges and universities; Baylor School in Chattanooga, Oglethorpe University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga all have named buildings on their campuses in his honor.

References

References

1. Arnold, Dean. (2006). "Old Money, New South". Chattanooga Historical Foundation.
2. Irwin, Ned L.. (1998). "John Thomas Lupton".
3. Wilson, John. (1986). "The Patten Chronicle". Chattanooga News Free Press.
4. (1933-08-01). "John L. Lupton, Capitalist, Dies in N.C. Hospital". Winchester Evening Star.
5. Goodman, Peter S.. (May 19, 2010). "John T. Lupton, Creator of a Coca-Cola Bottling Empire, Dies at 83". The New York Times.

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