Warner’s Safe Cure: The American Reformer (1884)

Masthead of The American Reformer (1884)

Having done this blog now for the last 3 1/2 years, I have found that I often go looking for one thing, but find something completely unexpected and oftentimes wonderful. Such is the case with The American Reformer. My initial research was to try and find out more about a fairly obscure Warner product called “Throatine”, which was produced in the early 1880′s and was the predecessor of the more well-known and equally rare Safe Asthma Cure/Remedy. I will save the particulars of Throatine for a subsequent post, but suffice it to say that I have yet to see a photograph of the product and no collector, that I am aware of, has an example of this product in their collection.  So, “rare” would be a gross understatement.

In any event, my search started with Google, which, in turn, directed me to a publication called The American Reformer. Thanks to Google, the masthead is displayed above. Like most, if not all, of you, I had never heard of The American Reformer. The publication is subtitled “A Journal of Reform” and was published from the Tribune Building in New York City and commanded an annual subscription price of one dollar.  My reading of excerpts of this publication revealed that it was essentially a newpaper devoted to the Temperance Movement with selected news and commentary devoted to the advancement of that movement.  For those of you who are still scratching your head, the Temperance Movement advocated the prohibition of alcoholic beverages and ultimately reached its high water mark with the adoption of the 18th Amendment making Prohibition the law of the land. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.

At this point, you are wondering what this has to do with Throatine. Well,  it seems that Mr. Warner took a liking to The American Reformer or perhaps thought that it would help him reach new customers. I mean, who needs alcohol when you have Safe Cure? The 1884 editions of the Reformer contain a series of terrific full page ads for Warner’s Safe Cure products, including the elusive Throatine. Given the size of the ads, one would suspect that Mr. Warner was one of the Reformer’s  best advertisers. Indeed, when Warner unveiled his new Safe Remedies Building in January, 1884, the Reformer devoted four and a half columns to the event under the headline “A Magnificent Business Block – Warner’s New Safe Remedy Building”. Clearly, they wanted to keep one of their top advertisers happy. The article appeared in the January 19, 1884 edition as follows:

The American Reformer - January 19, 1884

The article has no byline and it would not be difficult to imagine that it was generated as a press release by the Warner Safe Remedies Company. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the detail provided on every aspect of the building. It is not short of praise for Mr. Warner. Indeed, in discussing his sagacity in erecting the new Safe Remedies Building on the site of the former Central Hudson Depot, the Reformer says:

Nothing was more logical, therefore, than that Mr. H. H. Warner should early secure the best location on [North St. Paul Street], and should plan to erect thereupon an edifice surpassing all of its neighbors in size and appearance, and in cost. It is the way of the man. He sees large opportunities as by telescope, while they are yet far off; he comprehends their promise with singular clearness; he acts with marvelous promptness and unfaltering decision.

The remainder of the article strikes a similar tone. The really amazing thing is that all of this appears in the pages of a temperance paper. In upcoming posts, I will feature some of the advertisements from the Reformer and discuss them in greater detail.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Closing the Deal

 

 

Warner’s Safe Remedies Envelope

For all of the money that Warner poured into advertising in its various forms, he was not unmindful of the impact of personal communication with potential and existing customers. In the 19th Century, much the same as in the 21st, people respond best to marketing on a personal level.  This may have been even more important in Warner’s time, because people actually sat down and wrote letters to one another. Consequently, receiving personal correspondence from a merchant might well help close the deal. The above picture is an example of what one might have received in response to a letter to the Warner’s Safe Remedies Company. As you can see, very little space is wasted and the envelope is emblazoned with the image of the Safe Remedies Building, perhaps second only to the “Safe” as Warner’s trademark.

Undoubtedly, this envelope contained  yet more information to entice the prospective purchaser. This flow of information was designed to establish a personal connection with the recipient. After all, you are more likely to buy something from someone you know and trust than from a complete stranger. Warner knew this and exploited it as well as any other patent medicine manufacturer of the era. He wanted his potential customers to see Warner’s Safe Remedies as a source of helpful information that might not be readily available to them otherwise. This explains why his annual almanacs were so popular. They were crammed full of information (some of it accurate, but a lot that was not) and offers of assistance.

One of the perenial  offers that appears in Warner’s Safe Remedies advertising was for a urine analysis. For example, in his 1890 Almanac entitled “Safe Points,” Warner again extended this offer to his customers:

1890 Warner’s Safe Remedies “Safe Points” Almanac

It is impossible to say whether a drop of the gallons of urine that showed up at the Safe Remedies Building was ever really analyzed. More likely, the recipient received a form in response to his or her submission that detailed the dire state of his or her health. Fortunately, a return to good health was within grasp provided the person promptly purchase and consume a bottle (or bottles) of Safe Kidney & Liver Cure or Diabetes Cure or whichever Warner’s Safe Cure pertained.

This offer of help and information required an investment of time and money on the part of the consumer, but, at the same time, helped Warner close the deal. In effect, he was saying “I will help you, provided you follow my advice.” Many thousands of consumers did just that, making Warner a very wealthy man.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Rochester Cityscapes (1904)

In my ongoing research of all things Safe Cure, I have had occasion to stumble upon some interesting material. Frequently, that material deals with the city where H. H. Warner chose to build his empire – Rochester.  He certainly made his mark on the city in a number of ways: the Warner’s Safe Remedies Building on St. Paul’s Avenue was opened in 1884, the Warner Observatory in 1883 and the Warner Mansion on East Avenue was finished in 1879. By 1887, Warner reached the apex of his success as the first president of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and by 1893, his empire was in ruins.

In 1904, the Rochester Chamber of Commerce published a book with the not so remarkable title “Rochester in 1904.”  As one might expect, the book is a profile of the city, its history and flourishing business community.

 

Two things caught my attention in this book. The first was a series of wonderful skyline views of the city. The second was the almost complete absence of any reference to H. H. Warner or Warner’s Safe Cure. In the decade that followed the Panic of 1893 and the financial collapse of Warner, his previously indelible mark on the commercial face of Rochester had faded to nothing. The only mention of him in the book was the listing of his name as a signatory of the original Chamber of Commerce Certificate of Incorporation in June, 1888.  What a difference a decade makes. Here are a few of the Rochester cityscapes as they appeared in 1904.

Warner’s Safe Remedies Building: Living History

If you are a Warner’s Safe Cure collector, you owe it to yourself to visit the center of the Warner universe, Rochester,  New York.  I did so in 2001 and have written about it before in this blog.  During my visit, Jack Stecher and I were able to go into the building, but found that much of the space was carved up into commercial uses and undoubtedly bore little resemblence to the hustle and bustle of the patent medicine business that flourished there in the late-19th Century. Nevertheless, the fact that this wonderful piece of Victorian architecture was still standing for us to admire was no small thing. Rochester has lost more than its fair share of wonderful buildings to the wrecking ball, including other structures associated with H. H. Warner, such as his mansion and the Warner Observatory.

I was delighed recently to find that the Warner’s Safe Remedies Building has found yet another adaptive reuse in the form of the  H. H. Warner Lofts. Although I had not been back to the building to tour these new residential spaces, they appear to make wonderful use of  unique architecture of this building and will hopefully ensure that it lasts for many more years.

Best of all, the developers of this project have been mindful of the significance of the building’s history and its progenitor and have included photos of Warner’s Safe almanacs and trade cards on their website. I say “Bravo” to the H. H. Warner Lofts. If I lived in Rochester,  I might be considering a new address.

Warner’s Safe Cure: A Chronology

I thought I would take a shot at creating a time line that summaries the significant events in the existence of the Warner’s Safe Cure Company and its founder, H. H. Warner. I’m sure that I will miss something and welcome any suggestions. This will likely be a work in progress, but here goes:

• 1842    Hulbert Harrington Warner born near Syracuse, New York in a small town called Warners, which was named after his grandfather, Seth, who had moved there in 1807 from Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

• 1864     Warner marries Martha L. Keeney, a prominent young woman from Skaneateles, New York. Like Warner, she was born in 1842, but died suddenly in 1871. The marriage produced no children. 

 

• 1865    Warner avoided service in the Union Army in the Civil War. He moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where he and a partner were engaged in the stove and hardware business.

• 1870     Returned to New York and settled in Rochester as a dealer in fire and burglar proof safes. He was a dealer for the predecessor of the Mosler Safe Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. (See New York Daily Graphic, May 10, 1888; Rochester Union & Advertiser, April 27, 1883).

• 1872     Warner marries Emily Olive Stoddard (born 1847 in Michigan). It appears that this second marriage produced one child, a daughter, Maud. It also appears that Emily predeceased Warner.

• 1879     Following his recovery from Bright’s Disease, Warner purchases the rights to Dr. Charles Craig’s Kidney Cure and promptly begins to market it as Warner’s Safe Kidney & Liver Cure. In addition, he offers four other products: Safe Pills, Safe Nervine,  Safe Bitters and Safe Diabetes Cure. The company operates initially out of a building on Exhange Street in downtown Rochester.

• 1879     Warner is introduced to “Doctor” Lewis Swift, who was by vocation a partner in a hardware store and by avocation an astronomer who has discovered several comets. It was rumored that Swift was leaving Rochester, because he believed his talents were not sufficiently appreciated.

• 1882     Warner opens his Toronto Office and offers his cures in the 3-Cities bottles.

• 1883     Warner opens his London Office and begins offering his cures in a spectacular array of colored bottles.

• 1883     The Warner Observatory is completed and fitted out by January at a cost to Warner of $100,000. It boasts a 16″ telescope that was 22 feet long donated by the citizens of Rochester. It becomes a focal point of much of Warner’s advertising.

• 1884     The Warner’s Safe Remedies Building is opened on Warner’s 42nd birthday in January on St. Paul’s Avenue in Rochester. The iron front building was also marketed as the Warner’s Safe Yeast Building and in its eight stories housed Warner’s manufacturing, shipping and marketing operations. The fascade is graced with the monograms “W” and fitted out with first class details. The building remains today as the last vestige of Warner’s patent medicine empire.

 

• 1885     Warner adds his Safe Rheumatic Cure, Animal Cure and Safe Throatine to his product line. In addition, he introduces his Tippecanoe Bitters in two grades, “The Best” and “XXX” and phases out his Safe Bitters.

• 1887     Warner introduces his Log Cabin Remedies line of products, which included Log Cabin Sarsaparilla, Log Cabin Hops & Buchu Remedy, Log Cabin Cough and Consumption Remedy, Log Cabin Extract, Log Cabin Rose Cream, Log Cabin Hair Tonic, Log Cabin Plasters and Log Cabin Liver Pills.

 

• 1887     Warner opens his Frankfurt, Germany and Melbourne, Australia Office expanding his patent medicine empire onto three continents.

• 1888     Warner delivers his inaugeral address as president of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce in January.  Warner had been elected president in 1887 winning out over George Eastman, the owner of a little known camera company. Warner is perhaps at the peak of his prosperity with business failure and bankruptcy looming on the horizon.

• 1888     Warner opens his Pressburg, Hungary Office, which remains open only two years. Bottles from the Pressburg Office are particularly prized by collectors because of their rarity.

 

• 1891     Warner opens his Kreuzlingen, Switzerland and Dundein, New Zealand Offices. No Warner bottles embossed Kreuzlingen have ever surfaced. The bottles from the Dundein Office have become known as 4-Cities bottles because they bear the names of four of Warner’s offices at the time: Rochester, London, Toronto and Melbourne.

• 1893     In what would become known as the Panic of 1893, the American securities market crashed in February. Warner was overextended and when his creditors began to call his loans, he scrambled to raise cash. Warner’s longtime business partner, Arthur G. Yates, was unable to cover all of Warner’s debt. Warner was left to travel the country trying to offer his shares in H. H. Warner & Co. Ltd. as collateral for his debts. While some creditors accepted the shares, others did not, and Warner was forced into bankruptcy  on May 8. He lost his mansion on East Avenue, his Observatory, his yacht, his retreat on Warner Island in the St. Lawrence River and, most importantly, his reputation.

 

• 1917     Christina de Martinez Warner (born 1878 in Mexico) was never officially married to  Warner, but apparently resided with him and served as an officer to the Nuera Remedy Company in Minneapolis in the 1930′s to early 1940′s. She resided at his address of 1311 Blaisdell Avenue in Minneapolis between 1917 and 1948.

• 1923     Warner dies in Minneapolis having never regained the economic prominence he enjoyed when the the Warner’s Safe Remedies Company was at its peak. To his credit, he never quit trying to reestablish his former renown. Warner is buried next to his first wife, Martha, in her family’s plot at Lakeview Cemetary in Skaneateles, New York.

• 1929     The Warner Mansion on East Avenue in Rochester is razed to make way for a parking lot.

Warner’s Safe Advertising: Trade Cards

Perhaps one of the most impressive things about the Warner’s Safe empire is that he had such presence in the marketplace. In future posts, I want to focus on his array of inducements to buy his products; however, for now, I will start with the simple. Like most merchants of the day, Warner distributed an untold number of trade cards depicting his products usually along with a caricatured Victorian scene on the front and some bit of wisdom on the reverse. Trade cards were the direct mail of their day and whole websites are devoted to collecting them.

Most of Warner’s trade cards were designed to sell his Safe Cure and his Safe Yeast and most are generally available to interested collectors on eBay or at shows and range in price from $5 – $20. The exception would clearly be the Battle of Tippecanoe cards that fetch well in excess of that price, if you can find them. On occasion, you will see someone attempting to sell the front or back cover of a Warner’s Safe almanac as a trade card. Whether intentionally or merely as the result of ignorance, such offerings are dishonest. Not only are these clippings not trade cards, they are scraps of a damaged almanac or pamphlet. So, caveat emptor.

Warner’s Safe trade cards are a great addition to any Warner’s collection, because they illustrate a part of what made Warner successful in his business. That is, the ability to reach into the homes of Victorian America and convince them that his products were essential to a life well-lived.

Warner’s Safe Yeast

I think it’s safe to say that most of us associate yeast with baking bread or some other culinary endeavor and not with medicine. Although I have no figures to back this up, I would venture to say that second only to advertising related to his Safe Cure, Warner featured his Safe Yeast, which, according to him possessed medicinal qualities. Mike Seeliger has opined that Safe Yeast was Warner’s largest seller.

Warner’s Safe Yeast hit the market in  about 1885. It was packaged initially in a cylindrical container in a large and small size. After April 1, 1890, the packaging changed to square container. The product retailed for 10 cents per package. Unfortunately for collectors, the Safe Yeast product was packaged in a cardboard container rather than glass bottles, which accounts for the relative rarity of Safe Yeast containers available. I have attached an image of an invoice for the purchase of Safe Yeast dated May 28, 1887. The description of the product is worthy of note:

1 Case containing 1 doz. boxes large size and 1/2 doz. boxes small size of Warner’s Safe Yeast. Each case also contains sample packages of two (2) cakes each for free distribution for all of which we make no charge. Future supplies of Warner’s Safe Yeast can be obtained from any Wholesale Grocer in cases of 3 doz. boxes of both large and small sizes at $1.75 and $1.00 per case, respectively.

Warner’s Safe Yeast Co.

Officially, Safe Yeast was manufactured and distributed by the Waner’s Safe Yeast Company, which, conveniently, was located in the same building as the Warner’s Safe Cure business. However, some advertising refers to the building as the Warner’s Safe Yeast Building.

Warner was clearly a pioneer in the “proof of purchase” marketing business. Depending on which ad your read, cutting out and sending 10 front package covers featuring the safe and 10 two cent stamps or 15 top covers plus the same postage entitled the sender to a copy of the Warner’s Safe Cookbook that included 500 pages of the “choicest recipes, all tested and tried by experts, who pronounce them the ‘best’”. The Warner’s Safe Cookbook went through a number of editions and many survive to this day, demonstrating the popularity of the promotion.