Description: Ca 1915 Smith Brothers Restaurant MENU & MAP Poughkeepsie, NY No date noted but founded ca 1847 and menu states..'Now in its 67th year' The Smith family made its way from Scotland to Quebec, where William Wallace Smith (1830–1913) and Andrew Smith (1836–1895) were born; they moved to Poughkeepsie in 1847. Their father, James, opened a restaurant and ice cream shop called James Smith and Son. In 1852, legend has it, fate introduced him to a salesman with the delightfully Dickensian name of Sly Hawkins, who sold him a recipe for a cough drop. Smith the elder cooked it up in the restaurant kitchen, called it “James Smith & Sons Compound of Wild Cherry Cough Candy,” and pitched it “for the Cure of Coughs, Colds, Hoarseness, Sore Throats, Whooping Cough, Asthma, &C, &C.” That was a stretch of snake-oil proportions. But the concoction did offer actual benefits: It increased salivation and soothed irritated throats, a symptom common to upstate New Yorkers then and now. And it tasted like candy. William and Andrew helped make the drops and sell them on the streets of Poughkeepsie. When their father died in 1866, they shifted their attention to the growing cough-drop trade, and renamed the company Smith Brothers. The drops were immensely popular throughout the region; as American Heritage magazine put it, “There, on the banks of the Hudson River, two canny Scots made the throat lozenge an American institution, rivaled in popularity only by the town’s next most widely known product, Vassar girls.” Success spawned competition. Companies called Schmidt Brothers, Schmid Brothers, Original Smith Brothers, Improved Smith Brothers, and Smith Sisters tried to muscle in on the action. So in 1872, William and Andrew, marketers well ahead of their time, put their hirsute visages on their wrappers. They also got their trademark a mere seven years after the U.S. Congress first passed legislation providing for the registration of trademarks. “Other trademark portraits followed in various lines of consumer goods,” American Heritage wrote, “but no indicia of ownership produced more millions of dollars’ worth of free publicity than the chin whiskers of Trade and Mark, subjects of countless editorials, favorite topics of newspaper columnists, standard fare for funny fellows from the days of vaudeville to the coming of the standup radio comic. At one time the company kept sets of whiskers and wigs to outfit cutups who wished to attend costume parties as Trade Smith or Mark Smith. Knowing they had a good thing going, the brothers never shaved.” Thus was a major brand born. Opens to 6 1/2 x 12 inches See photos for condition details. Due to high loss in shipping to certain countries, insurance is required for shipping to a location that does not provide tracking NOTE: If purchasing multiple items, please do so by using the Ebay Shopping Cart, then select "Request Total for Seller" for the corrected shipping on a new invoice. Do not pay for the items before receiving this corrected invoice.
Price: 39.99 USD
Location: Albany, New York
End Time: 2025-01-08T21:39:29.000Z
Shipping Cost: 4.63 USD
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Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
