 Roanoke is approximately east of the hometown of Dr. Charles T. Pepper, which is Rural Retreat, Virginia, and east of Christiansburg, Virginia, home of Dr. Pepper and Morrison referred to in the census information above.John William "Bill" Davis opened the first Dr. Pepper plant east of the Mississippi in Roanoke in 1936; subsequently the city was named the "Dr Pepper Capital of the World" and broke world records for its mass consumption of Dr Pepper in the late 1950s.Dr Pepper donated a portion of its sales revenue in the Roanoke area to finance restoration of a circa-1950s neon Dr Pepper sign, which has the company's "10–2–4" logo from the time, in downtown Roanoke.