If you’re from Michigan, we all have some type of memory or story about Vernor’s Ginger Ale, America’s oldest continuously produced soft drink.  Ours goes back to the Saunders store that once operated in Dearborn’s Westborn Mall.

Vernor's Ginger Ale is America's oldest continuously produced soft drink. A lecture on the history of the drink is being held at the Dearborn Historical Museum on March 4.

There patrons could order a tasty Vernor’s float while sitting at the horseshoe shaped counter. My pals and I would go there there after our paper routes. Those days are long gone but the tasty drink remains, albeit minus the glass bottles which somehow always made Vernor’s taste better.

The Dearborn Historical Museum is hosting a free public lecture about the history of Vernor’s at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4. If you have time, it could prove to be an interesting lecture.

Vernor’s is a great American story whose history goes back before Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Hires or Moxie.

It was James Vernor who created the drink. Vernor opened a pharmacy in Detroit and then a barrel of ginger ale extract he had created before the Civil War, which he returned from, the story goes, in 1866.

He discovered the four years of aging had mellowed the taste to perfection. A new deliciously different flavor had been created and Vernor’s Ginger Ale was born. From a small drugstore in Detroit to a product enjoyed across America and Canada. The lecture will bring to life the story of a small back-room product turned into a highly successful brand.

At more than 140 years old, Vernor’s remains America’s oldest continuously produced soft drink. Lecture attendees will be taken on a journey from pharmacy to factory, from entrepreneur to franchised corporation.

For more information about the lecture at the McFadden-Ross House, 915 Brady Street, call 313-565-3000.