Warner’s Safe Cure: Thousand Island River in Stereo

Recently, I posted some advertising for a product endorsed by H. H. Warner called “Adamant Plaster,” which was apparently used in Warner’s Cottage on the St. Lawrence River. The advertisements were sent to me by Kevin Taft along with some other interesting material, including some stereoscopic slides that purport to show the Warner Cottage as it existed in the 1880′s. I believe that Jack Stecher also chanced upon these views and actually visited Warner Island back in the 1990′s. It seems that Warner Island was originally called ”Surveyor’s Island” in recognition that it served as a base for the American Commission overseeing boundary mapping vis a vis Canada. Warner renamed the island and erected his cottage there. The island was later referred to as Jewell Island and currently as Stoney Crest. It seems that a good many of the thousand islands were destroyed courtesy of the St. Lawrence Seaway Project in the 1950′s that also claimed Warner’s cottage.

These views show Warner Island and life on the Thousand Island River as it existed when Warner used it as his playground. Indeed the photograph of the cottage bears a striking resemblence to the image on the sheet music “Thousand Island River.” The cards are titled “Scenery among the Thousand Islands on the River St. Lawrence” from Crossmon House Photographic Studio, Alexandria Bay, Jefferson County, N.Y., A.C. McIntyre & Co., Artists. On the line marked “View” is written “Warner Island.”

The description of the scene on the back of the card reads as follows:

“‘The Thousand Islands’ of the St. Lawrence have long been regarded one of the most delightful resorts for rest, healthful recreation, and recupration anywhere to be found in the counrty. The river in the neighborhood of the Bay is in places fairly crammed with beautiful islands, nearly all of them covered with trees and shrubs, the pure water from the Great Lakes running between and around in channels large or small, swift or slow, and frequently into the bays or coves where fishing parties love to linger. Some of the shores are rocky and precipitous, and others slope gently to the water’s edge.  There are at least a dozen different kinds of trees on these islands, and the deciduous and evergreen are pleasantly intermixed. The spacious and elegant hotels erected at Alexandria Bay two years since, together with the increased faciities of reaching the locality, have attracted thither many thousands of visitors from every section of the country. The Crossmon House, in all its appointments, takes rank among the first hotels in the State. Excursion tickets are issued via Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburgh R. R. to Alexandria Bay and retun. This Company offers to pleasure travel, via the St. Lawrence River, advantages and comforts superior to any other route, and by which the Pleasure Seeker can have a view of the Thousand Islands and rapids by daylight, and enjoy a delightful sail of 30 miles on steamer Faxton from Cape Vincent to Alexandia Bay. The Utica & Black River Railroad connects at Utica with the N. Y. Central for Morristown and Clayton, and at latter place with Steamers for Alexandria Bay.”

Warner’s Safe Remedies Building Endures

Construction of the Warner’s Safe Remedies Building began 130 years ago in 1883 and was completed in time for H. H. Warner’s 42nd birthday. Not many people get a building for their birthday, but Warner was not most people. His medicine empire was taking off by that time and the money was rolling in. The Safe Remedies Building became a symbol of his success and, unlike the Observatory and his Mansion, it survives to this day.

Engraving of Warner’s Safe Remedies Building

 Through the years, the Safe Remedies Building has been captured on film, which makes for an interesting retrospective.

Warner’s Safe Remedies Building in 1884

View of Warner’s Safe Remedies Building from Intersection of St. Pauls and Mortimer Streets in 1899

Warner’s Safe Remedies Building in 1924

View of Warner’s Safe Remedies Building from the Intersection of St. Pauls and Andrews Streets in 1949

Warner’s Safe Remedies Building in 2009

Advertisement for Warner Lofts

By 2009, the Safe Remedies Building was looking pretty shabby. All of the buildings that had been constructed around it had been demolished.  One had to wonder if a similar fate awaited the Safe Remedies Building. Fortunately, the building has since been renovated into residential housing known as the Warner Lofts. Here’s hoping that this landmark and one of the last standing monuments to H. H. Warner endures for many years to come.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Safe Asthma Remedy

 Just in case you were snoozing over the past week, a nice little Warner’s Safe gem surfaced on eBay and was not lost to one lucky collector. A Warner’s Safe Asthma Remedy came up for bid and, in the end, fetched $636, which ain’t too bad for a medicine tin. Few of these tins survive due to the fact that proper use of the product called for its contents to be burned, which, in turn, destroyed the packaging.

I have always been under the impression that the Safe Asthma Remedy and Safe Asthma Cure were marketed exclusively for consumption in the United States. And that may well be true. However, a close look at the fourth photograph shows that one of the side panels appears to be in German. Which begs the question – “Why?” I don’t have an answer, but one could wonder if any of this product was shipped over to Warner’s Frankfurt Office. That may be a question without an answer, at least for now. In the meantime, this is yet another example of a pretty rare Warner’s item surfacing on eBay.

A Visit to Baltimore (2013)

As we have come to expect, the Baltimore Antique Bottle Show was a terrific show!  Plenty of nice Warner’s Safe Cures to choose from this year, including, in my humble opinion, the best of show pictured above. Your eyes are not deceiving you, it is, in fact, a Warner’s Safe Diabetes Remedy that starts as aqua at the base, turns greenish amber and then finally green at the neck and lip. This sweet bottle was on Ron Rainka’s table and had lots of folks drooling over it. Some of the other nice Warner’s Safe Cures included Tonic, Tonic Bitters, Bitters, 4-Cities Rheumatic Cure, Frankfurt and Pressburg Safe Cures, Log Cabin Hops & Buchu, Sarsaparilla, Extract and Cough & Consumption Remedies to name but a few.

In addition to all the great Warner’s, I got a chance to visit with some of the great collectors and dealers, including Jack Stecher, Terry McMurray, Rich Peal and Ferd Meyer of Peachridge Glass. The Baltimore Show never disappoints and 2013 was yet another good one. Here are a few more photographs from the show:

Warner’s Safe Cure: Labelled Safe Cure Free Samples

Recently, thanks to Mike Seeliger and Dan Cowman, I was privileged to get some photos of some exceptionally rare Warner’s Safe Cures. In this case, they were Warner’s Safe Cure Free Samples. Back in May, 2008, I devoted a post to Free Samples and included several photographs of a labelled Safe Remedy sample in my collection that includes not only the labelled sample, but also the cardboard mailer in which it was shipped.

Although the Safe Cure samples from Rochester are fairly common, the Safe Remedy Samples are scarce and to find one that also has a label is downright rare. Mike and his wife, Alice, were visiting with Mike and Kathie Craig, who have a very nice Warner’s collection. That collection includes a labelled Safe Remedy sample of which, Mike provided a picture.

As the label reveals, this particular bottle was distributed after the enactment of the Pure Food & Drugs Act in 1906 by the Warner’s Safe Remedies Company. For whatever reason, there just seem to be fewer Safe Remedy samples out there for collectors. It may simply be the result of the fact that when H. H. Warner ran the business, he made sure that the market was saturated with free samples. His successors, after 1893, may not have considered that a priority.

Yet another rare sample comes to us courtesy of Dan Cowman. Dan has, perhaps, one of the best collections of labelled Warner’s in existence. He has been kind enought to share one of his recent acquisitions with me – a labelled London Safe Cure sample. As many of you know, the London sample bears no resemblence to its American counterpart and actually looks like a tiny bottle of Safe Cure. The London samples fetch a nice price by themselves and Dan’s is the first example of a labelled London sample that I have seen. It may be one of a kind.

Thanks to Mike Seeliger and Dan Cowman for the photographs and to Mike and Kathie Craig for a peak at their impressive Warner’s Safe Cure collection.

Mike and Kathie Craig with Mike and Alice Seeliger with the Craig’s Warner’s Safe Cure collection.

 

Warner’s Safe Cure: Life and Death of An Observatory

 

The Warner Observatory in 1883

The Warner Observatory may, perhaps, be the best graphic representation of the rise and fall of the Warner’s Safe empire. I wrote about it in two parts back in May and June, 2008. It was both a symbol of Warner’s success and, ultimately, of his downfall and destruction, although the Observatory lasted far longer than Mr. Warner.

Recently, with the help of Jack Stecher, I was able to find some old photographs of the Observatory housed in the Monroe County Library. The photographs are part of the Albert A. Stone Collection of vintage Rochester images. Although I had seem some of the images before, including the one above from 1883, when the Observatory first opened, there were several others that I had not seen.

The Warner Observatory in 1910

The Observatory was opened in 1883 and the photograph from that year shows a gleaming new facility with a manicured landscape. A decade later, Warner filed bankruptcy and lost control of his medicine empire. By 1910, the Observatory was beginning to show its age and signs of neglect. It had ceased to a functioning facility and vines had begun to appear on its outer walls. 

The Warner Observatory in 1926

By 1926, the Observatory is essentially abandoned. Its windows are boarded up and it appears to exist as but a shell of its glory days. By that time, both Warner and its former resident astronomer, Lewis Swift, were dead. It seems as though the observatory itself was waiting to be dispatched and in 1939 that is exactly what happened. The last photograph shows the demolition of the structure with workers stacking the stone and lumber is it is removed from the building. The life cycle of the Warner Observatory was complete. Although it outlasted the Safe Cure business and both Warner and Swift, it ultimately met the same fate. Special thanks to the Monroe County Library for the use of these images.

The Demolition of the Warner Observatory in 1939

Warner’s Safe Cure: London Safe Nervine Half Pint in Ice Blue

Warner’s Safe Nervine – Half Pint – London

Every so often, a really rare Warner’s Safe Cure surfaces for sale or auction and, if your timing is right and your wallet is well-endowed, it’s yours for the right price. You are looking at one such bottle. The Safe Nervine Half Pint from London in aqua or ice blue is on my “‘A’ List” of top shelf Warner’s. This particular gem was in the recently completed Glassworks auction. I wish I could say that I was the successful bidder, but, alas, I was not. I hope it ended up in a nice Safe Cure collection. Thanks to Glassworks for the use of this photograph.