To Market - To Market, Continued
Orange Blossoms Tea
- H.S. Melcher Company, Portland, 1900.
Civil War buffs will note that Holman S. Melcher, the owner of this wholesale grocery firm, was a member of the famous 20th Maine Infantry regiment. After the war, Melcher became a successful businessman and was prominent in civil affairs, serving two terms as Mayor of Portland in 1889-90.
Multi - A Game of Multiplication - David Page Perkins, Portland, 1896
This children's educational game is the only product whose trademark was registered by its publisher, David Page Perkins. Perkins is not listed in the Portland City Directories of this period; and it could not be determined how the game was played. Does anyone remember playing "Multi" on a rainy afternoon.
Shaker Brand Pickles, Etc. - E.D. Pettengill and Company, Portland, 1892
After the death of her husband E.D. Pettengill, Sarah Pettengill purchased all interest in the company and carried on the business herself. the Pettengills had an exclusive arrangement with the Shaker religious community at Sabbathday Lake through which they distributed Shaker-made products for the retail market.
Paris Sugar Corn - Burnham and Morrill Company, Portland, 1890
Another award-winning Burnham and Morrill product.
Lafayette Bug Killer, B.W. Cote, Augusta, 1904
An early business entrepreneur and politician from Augusta's Franco-American community, Mr. Cote identified his French heritage by using the Marquis de Lafayette as his trademark. He also manufactured other household products, indluding laundry blueing and "Made in Maine Magic Water."
Turner Centre Creamery (butter) - Turner Centre Dairying Association, Turner Center, 1898
The Turner Centre Dairying Association was at one time the largest commerical creamery in Maine, and one of the three largest in New England. Founded in 1882, by the turn of the century the Association marketed 23% of all cream and 35% of all butter commerically produced in the State and employed 32% of all dairy factory hands in Maine. The firm had 41 branch offices in New England and Canada, with an additional processing plant in Boston. In 1917, it manufactured the first commerical ice cream in New England; and the association's founder, Edwin Leavitt Bradford, is credited with the invention of the celebrated "Eskimo Pie," although many other ice cream manufacturers around the country have made the same claim! Later in the century, control of this family business was gained by H.P. Hood & Sons.
Pure Diamond Spring Water, George F. Temple, Augusta, 1896
The area within a half-mile radius of the Maine State Archives once contained a network of brooks, ponds and underground springs that surfaced at numerous points, sometimes in people's back yards. Mr. Temple, whose spring was evidently located in this immediate neighborhood, saw commercial possibilities in the local geography. He delivered fresh spring water to customers all over Augusta and in surrounding towns.
Dana's Sarsaparilla, Kilgore and Wilson, Belfast, 1888
A year after this trademark was registered, G.C. Kilgore and others organized the Dana Sarsaparilla Company. By 1891 they had built a five-floor factory for $17,000, each floor measuring 26,600 square feet; and were employing 35 people. It was said that Dana's Sarsaparilla "wrought many wonderful cures."
Arabian Elixir - Charles S. Marsh, Dexter, 1894
Mrs. E.A. Lowd's Vegetable Liniment - Eliza A. Lowd, Denmark, 1885
Jamaica Ginger - Kilgore and Wilson, Belfast, 1888
St. Anthony's Extract of Elder - Mary Collins and Company, Westbrook, 1895
An astonishing number of early trademarks were filed for patent medicines, cure-alls, elixirs and potions that claimed to remedy all sorts of ailments. Some wre manufactured by retail druggists, whose profession required them to personally mix medicines to a greater degree than is common today. Others were produced by individuals, presumably in their own kitchens. A few of these descriptive trademarks have been selected for this display to give you the verbal flavor of the numerous benefits claimed for such nostrums. Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with a taste of their actual flavor.
