Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
GANTZ, John J. Sr.
Gantz, John J. Sr. (Dubuque, IA, July 31, 1922--Dubuque, IA, Nov. 20, 1994). Businessman. Gantz was the chief executive officer of the Lime Rock Springs Company which did business as the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Dubuque. The Lime Rock Springs Company was begun by Gantz's father, John, in the early 1900s as a producer of flavored soft drinks. In the 1930s, the company obtained the Pepsi franchise and maintained an exclusive distributorship of the product within a fifty mile radius of Dubuque.
Gantz started Vendors Unlimited in 1948. With his family, he was involved in the purchase of the West Virginia Belle in Charleston, West Virginia, and Noah's Ark Water Amusement Park in the Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.