Rubbing It In, the Father of Vicks: Lunsford Richardson-- Part 2

Of interest, at one time William Sydney Porter worked for Richardson, who went on to become short-story writer O. Henry.

Lunsford Richardson continued to experiment with a wide variety of medicinal concoctions, including Vick's Chill Tonic, Vick's Turtle Oil Liniment, Vick's Little Liver Pills, Little Laxative Pills, Vick's Tar Heel Sarsaparilla, Vick's Yellow Pine Tar Cough Syrup and Vick's Grippe Knockers.

Personally, I'm not sure I would have tried some of these.  These sold with varying degrees of success, but soon it was apparent that the best-seller was Vick's Magic Croup Salve, which he came out with in 1894.  This would be for babies with a lot of coughing and congestion.

In 1911, his son suggested dropping all the other concoctions and going with just the Magic Croup Salve and changing the name to Vicks VapoRub, and he did.

After that, there was heavy marketing.  In 1919, as the Spanish flu was spreading across the nation and world, Lunsford got sick and died.  His son, Smith, took over, buying out other companies until Procter & Gamble bought them out in the 1980s.

During the years Vicks continued adding new products including cold remedies, cough drops, nose drops, nasal spray  (watch out for these as I've been hooked on them two different times), inhalers, and cough syrup.  Formula 44, NyQuil are also their products.

Well, the Next Time I Get the Croup.  --Cooter

Rubbing It In, the Father of Vicks: Lunsford Richardson-- Part 1

From the December Our State Magazine by Jimmy Tomlin.

You know the smell.  You know the goop.  Personally, I like hetting my fingers in it about as much as I enjoy getting them into suntan lotion.  And you know its effective.  That would be Vicks VapoRub.  Your mom made you feel better with it.  I haven't used it in years, but know about it.

But, very few know anything at all about its inventor, pharmacist Lunsford Richardson of North Carolina.

His salve helped the world breathe easier during the influenza pandemic of 1918 and during countless colds and flus during childhood.

So, then, why did his name not become famous?  Mostly because it wouldn't fit on the jar, according to one story.  Originally he planned to call it Richardson's Croup and Pneumonia Care Salve.  Way too long for the squat jars he was putting it in.  He changed it to honor his brother-in-law, Dr. Joshua Vick.  (Never heard of him either, other, of course, than the Vick name.)

He was born in Johnston County, NC, in 1854 and loved chemistry.  In 1880, he moved to Selma to work with Joshua Vick and began handling the pharmacy duties and began to experiment with recipes which would eventually become Vicks VapoRub.  In 1890, he moved to Greensboro and that is when everything took off.

"Rub It In, Rub It In"  Billy "Crash" Craddock.  --Cooter