The Columbus Collective Museums

By Natalie Downey

Driving down Hamilton Road, it’s hard to miss the Royal Crown Cola sign adorning the River Market Antiques building – the giant dinosaur crouched over the building and red sign are sure to turn your head. But if you’ve never taken the time to explore the inside of this local treasure, you’re missing a massive homage to antique lunch boxes, the Columbus cola wars, and a whole lot more.

The Columbus Collective Museums is actually seven museums in one spot. In addition to the famous Lunch Box Museum, the collective also includes The Royal Crown Cola Museum, The Chero-Cola Museum, The Nehi Drink Museum, The Tom Huston Peanut Museum, The Georgia Radio Museum, and The Car Museum.

Founded by Columbus native Allen Woodall, The Lunch Box Museum began in 1990 when Mr. Woodall purchased a collection from a widow and wrote a guidebook about pricing antique lunch boxes. A lifelong collector of interesting things, Woodall’s reputation as an antique lunch box collector and expert grew. He was contacted by the Smithsonian Museum after the publication of his lunch box guide and helped them build their own lunch box exhibit.

Today, Woodall’s collection of lunch boxes is a sight to behold, stirring up memories that have been tucked away since grade school. Do you remember your first lunch box? At first I vaguely remembered that mine was yellow. By the time I left, I remembered it clearly: yellow with Cabbage Patch Dolls on it. Searching for a familiar design, perhaps the one your best friend or sister had, is a fun walk through time. The lunch box museum feels a little more personal in this sense: these are forgotten items from our own childhoods. Someone carried that lunch box to school each day. While all museum artifacts are relevant and important, the lunch boxes invoke a nostalgia many of us can relate to. It may seem like a simple thing, but in its simplicity, it is profound. Perhaps that’s why people come from all over the world just to see the collection.

Owner - Allen Woodall

Woodall’s granddaughter Kaitlynn Etheridge is following in the footsteps of her grandfather and couldn’t be prouder of both him and the Collective. She possesses a wealth of knowledge and an enthusiasm for preserving history, and enjoys leading groups through the exhibits and telling them the stories she and her grandfather are working so hard to preserve.

Some of the stories that are being preserved at Columbus Collective Museums are stories of a young Columbus. “Nobody was doing anything for RC Cola,” Kaitlynn explains. “It was made right here in Columbus. So we’re telling that story.” It’s the story of the people behind the brand, the development of the products, and how the company has influenced our city.

Cola wars in Columbus, GA were a real thing back in the early 1900’s, and the Columbus Collective Museums tell the stories of the drama, the legal disputes, the lives of the people involved, and the resulting brands that we still enjoy today.

It’s one thing to read about history. It’s another thing to walk through it, or to feel as if you are. A life-size replica of Hatcher Grocery Company gives you the chance to walk through an old country store from the early 1900’s as you learn about Claude Hatcher, the inventor of RC Cola, Chero-Cola, and Nehi.

Each part of the museum has its own place in the collective story. Allen Woodall once owned radio stations, and antique radios line the walls of the section dedicated to them. They’re displayed, as much of the museum’s pieces are, in an approachable and comfortable way. Visitors are able to take a good look at items they wouldn’t be able to see anywhere else, spend time browsing, and learn interesting facts from the curators who clearly are passionate about what they do.

“This is a true national treasure in Columbus, Ga,” Kaitlynn says. Each museum has been painstakingly curated by Woodall and put together in a way that tells stories and paints a vivid picture of the history of our city.

While the stories and artifacts are astounding, the passion for preserving the stories in an approachable and respectful way is what sets the Columbus Collective apart and makes it a place worth visiting time and time again. The Columbus Collective Museums offer the opportunity to travel back in time, dig deeper into the past, and learn something new about the place we call home.

The Columbus Collective is located at 3218 Hamilton Road. Their current hours are 10:00 am - 6:00 pm Mondays - Saturdays.