John Pearson Soda Works

The John Pearson Soda Works, also referred to as the Placerville Soda Works, is a historic building in Placerville, California. It currently houses a coffee shop, Cozmic Café. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on December 12, 1985.

Scottish immigrant John McFarland Pearson built the lower portion of the building in 1859 as a commercial ice house. He chose to build in front of an idle mine shaft so he could use the underground rooms and tunnels to store ice at controlled temperatures. In addition, the walls of this section were made 22 inches (0.56 m) thick to keep the ice cool in the storefront. Pearson later expanded into soda water; his sons added the brick second story in 1897 to house the bottling operation. They added a water-driven elevator to transport the product from each level. The store also sold other groceries such as eggs and beer.