Hilda Clark

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Hilda Clark
An 1890s advertisement showing model Hilda Clark in formal 19th century attire. The ad is entitled Drink Coca-Cola 5¢.
Born	1872 Leavenworth, Kansas
Died	May 5, 1932 Miami Beach, Florida
Occupation	Stage actress, model

Hilda Clark was born in 1872 in Leavenworth, Kansas. Her parents were Milton Edward Clark and Lydia Clark. Milton Edward Clark worked as a baker in Leavenworth. As a young adult she moved east to Boston to become a popular music hall songstress and actress. However, Clark became famous as a model in 1895 when she became the first woman to be featured on a tin Coca-Cola tray. Hilda Clark remained the advertising "face" of Coca-Cola until February 1903 when she married Frederick Stanton Flower in New York. Flower was a nephew of New York Governor Roswell P. Flower. Hilda Clark had been an active socialite in Boston but retired from the stage when she married. Frederick Flower was a millionaire, involved in banking concerns and director of several railroads. Frederick S. Flower died in December 1930. Hilda Clark died on May 5, 1932, in Miami Beach, Florida.

[edit] Bibliography

Pendergrast, Mark. For God, Country & Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It. New York: Basic Books, 2000. ISBN 0465054684