W.H. Styer Druggist

     Mariettan Ross Thomas showed me an old apothecary bottle and said, "See what you can find out about it." The quart-size glass bottle has a cork and a label: "Wm H. Styer, Prescription Druggist, 240 Front Street, Marietta, Ohio."  The label included space for the name of doctor and prescription number.

Photo of Styer bottle by author. CLICK TO ENLARGE

     Collecting old bottles is popular. There is a Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors, one of many organizations of collectors. Just so you know, their national convention this year is in Reno NV.

   This bottle has a story to tell. I found another W. H. Styer bottle for sale (shown below) at worthpoint.com. It is smaller but with a beautiful inscription and monogram. I was impressed that a small-town local business would have such distinctive glassware.

               3 1/2 inch bottle “W. H Styer, the Leading Druggist” from Worthpoint.com. 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

     William H. Styer was a druggist, entrepreneur, and business leader. An excerpt from the 1900 Century Review of Marietta, Ohio: "Styer commenced laboratory work in 1865, clerked in a drug store for several years and in 1881 opened a store at his present quarters 240 Front St…Mr. Styer started a branch store at 124 Putnam st. in 1888, which he still controls. He carries a large line of drugs, medicines, paints and sundries, in fact the full line kept by druggists generally excepting wallpaper. He is a vice president of The Dime Saving Society and Stevens Organ and Piano Company."

       W. H. Styer Drugstore at 240 Front St. CA 1900 copied from Century Review Marietta, Ohio

     Drugstores were a mainstay of retail business and healthcare from the late 1800s to today. A 1903 directory listed ten drugstores: Curtis & Hutchman, A. J. Richard, W. H. Styer, H. N. Curtis, Beagle & Lytle, Union Drug Co., Chas. R. Buchanan, Will Richardson and J. L. Mason. 

     Drugstores filled prescriptions and sold over-the-counter supplements, remedies, and cure-alls for every possible ailment. Some medicines were legitimate; many were not. There was no Food and Drug Administration to monitor contents and no Federal Trade Commission to prevent outlandish claims.

     You could buy many other convenience store-type items, even home improvement goods like paint and wallpaper. Starting in the early 1900s many drug stores added soda fountain counters which dispensed flavored carbonated drinks and milkshakes. No mention of that for Styer, though he opened a "branch" store on Putnam Street which may have had one.

     Ads for drugstores, often a dozen or more in a single edition, were common in newspaper editions. Some examples from late 1800s and early 1900s in the Marietta Register newspaper:

• Beagle and Lyle's Drug Store sold Halstead's Pepsin-Fruit syrup for babies to "regulate their bowels." 
• Dr. Bull's cough syrup would cure pleurisy and pneumonia. 
• Celery King was advertised for constipation and much more. 
• Multiple drug stores advertised a sale for dozens of remedies: "The Greatest Patent Medicine Sale in the History of Man." 
• W.H. Styer’s Putnam Street Drugstore sold "Styer's Sarsaparila...a blood purifier." 
• J. W. Dysle & Co druggists sold Chamberlain's Cough Remedy and....wallpaper, "the prettiest papers ever brought to the city." 
• Sexine Pills would make you "Strong Again!, New life, strength, and vigor." 
• Curtis and Hutchman in Marietta sold Dr. Mott's Nerverine Pills which offered to restore "failing or lost manhood,” and 
• Dr. Peals Pennyroyal Pills would provide "relief for ladies," presumably from menstrual cramps.

     History can be endlessly fascinating. Every single artifact – such as an antique bottle, person, and building has a story to tell.

       

 

Cliff Crane - Man Overboard!

 This is an abbreviated version for newspaper of an earlier post titled “Man Overboard on the Steamboat Carrie Brooks.” To see the entire article, click here.

     The steamboat CARRIE BROOKS chugged along down the icy Muskingum River one frigid winter day in the 1870's. Engineer Cliff Crane was on duty in the engine room. Near Malta-McConnelsville, Ohio, Crane stepped out on the stern to oil the bearings of the paddlewheel shaft. Spray from the paddlewheel had left a coating of solid ice. He slipped and fell overboard. A potential disaster was unfolding.

     Crane floundered in shock from the freezing water, struggling to stay afloat in his heavy clothing. The CARRIE BROOKS steamed on without slowing, unaware he was overboard. Crane began shouting frantically for help as he struggled toward shore. He wondered who could possibly hear him in the middle of January when farm fields were deserted. Miraculously, James Loughridge heard Crane and found him clinging to willows along the shore.

     Loughridge helped the shivering Crane to his house. Most people would have been relieved to be rescued and in a warm house. But Crane was babbling, panicked that his absence placed the CARRIE BROOKS in danger. Loughridge tried to calm him. Crane asked if there was a horse available. He had to catch up with his boat before it was too late.

Image of CARRIE BROOKS from a postcard. Viewed at https://historical.ha.com/itm/transportation/nautical/real-photo-postcards-nine-ohio-river-steamers-total-9-items-/a/6092-39099.s# CLICK TO ENLARGE

     Danger? Before it was too late? Crane knew his absence was a danger. As the engineer, he played a critical a role. The steamboat pilot steered but relied on the engineer in the engine room below to change speed or direction. Steamboat pilots communicated with the engine room using a system of bells. The on-duty engineer upon hearing a bell, rang back an acknowledgement to the pilot and made the changes requested. But without Crane, there was no one to slow the boat for the stop at Hooksburg, just upriver of Windsor (now Stockport). Imagine the peril of a vehicle cruising at full speed with the accelerator to the floor - and no brakes.

     The CARRIE BROOKS pilot steered around a bend in the icy river towards the dock at Hooksburg. He rang a bell to slow for docking. No answer. What? Anxiously he rang the stopping bell to stop the engines. No answer. For the first time, he realized no one was in the engine room. Heart pounding, he lunged at the pilot wheel, steering the boat out into the river to avoid the dock and yelled for another crew member to slow the boat. The CARRIE BROOKS swung slowly around, barely missing the dock.

     The crew now knew engineer Cliff Crane was missing. The boat turned back upriver to search for him. All eyes scanned the water and shorelines for hours. They found nothing. With heavy hearts, they called off the search and continued down river.

     Meanwhile, Crane was given dry clothes and a horse drawn carriage. The race was on to catch the CARRIE BROOKS at Windsor lock. The CARRIE BROOKS approached the lock. The crew saw the lock tender cranking open the lock chamber. And there was another man standing there. It was Cliff, the missing-and-presumed-dead engineer! The crew were amazed and overjoyed at seeing Cliff Crane whom they had given up for lost. 

Stockport (formerly Windsor) Lock today looking downriver. CARRIE BROOKS would have entered the area between the two walls to continue her trip after finding Cliff Crane.

     Steamboat travel could be hazardous to boats, crew, and passengers. Boiler explosions, mechanical breakdowns, damage from obstructions ("snags") in the river, and collisions were all too common. The CARRIE BROOKS once experienced mechanical failure and was damaged on the Ohio River when she struck a barge.

     But that day on the CARRIE BROOKS, it was a happy ending. Tragedy was averted. There was no damage to the boat. Like the biblical story of the prodigal son, Cliff Crane was "lost but was found."