Excelsior Stomach Bitters – Rose’s Drug Store
Westminster, Maryland
04 January 2019 (R•041019)
Here is an advertisement below for a possibly unlisted Excelsior Stomach Bitters that I came across during research for the Excelsior Stomach Bitters post from St. John, Iowa. This bitters is late and was advertised in 1904, came in three sizes (25c, 50c and $1 bottles) and could be purchased at Rose’s Drug Store in Westminster, Maryland. Westminster is northwest of Baltimore City. Being from Baltimore, I was curious.
Excelsior Stomach Bitters at Rose’s Drug Store, Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, March 5, 1904
The new listing by Bill Ham for the forthcoming Bitters Bottles Supplement 2:
Advertisement
E 65.7. Excelsior Stomach Bitters, Roses Drug Store, Westminster, Maryland
Advertised in 1904, came in three sizes (25, 50 and 75 cents)
John J. Rose was a druggist who advertised his concern as Rose’s Modern Drug Store primarily due to having one of the first soda fountains in the region.
John J. Rose
At first I pictured a more matronly “Rosie the Riveter” type lady behind the druggist counter doling out drugs but it turns out that we are talking about John J. Rose, a life-long druggist born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 9, 1869. He was the youngest son of George and Eliza Rose. His father and older brother were butchers in Baltimore.
By 1900, at the age of 31, he purchased A. H. Huber’s long-standing drug store and opened his drug store at 183 East Main Street in Westminster, Maryland. Huber had started his own drug store in 1865 and was the successor to Huber and Royer at No.2 Carroll Hall in Westminster. They sold drugs, chemicals, patent medicines, fancy articles and perfumery. One of their main products was Hering’s Compound Syrup of Blackberry Root.
Soda Fountain, circa 1905
Rose’s first newspaper advertisement in 1900 asks the reader to “Try My Ice Cream Soda” drawn from his new soda fountain at Rose’s Modern Drug Store. He was also selling crushed fruit, pure fruit juices, ice cream, mineral waters, pure drugs, chemicals, toilet articles, soaps, patent medicines, perfumery, shoulder braces and trusses, cigars, Kodaks and photo supplies and stationery etc. Of course he was filling prescriptions too. As noted above, he would sell the Excelsior Stomach Bitters in 1904. Rose would guarantee in his ads that the bitters would give great relief or a cure for dyspepsia, indigestion, biliousness, constipation and sour stomach.
We can’t say for certain that this is his bitters but it probably was, as we find no reference in this time period and region of a maker of Excelsior Stomach Bitters. I am not aware of any surviving bottles.
Rose would operate his drug store up until his death in January 1918. At this point, Randolph Wehler, from Washington, D.C. opened a new drug store that was formally occupied by Rose’s Drug Store.
5c Trade Token from Rose’s Drug Store, Carroll County, Westminster, Maryland
Main Street Post Cards, Westminster, Maryland
A.H. Huber (Successor to Huber & Royer) (John J. Rose would buy this concern in 1900, see below), Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, December 21, 1865
Try My Ice Cream Soda at Rose’s Drug Store (formerly Huber’s), Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, December 29, 1900
Ex-Sheriff wins the handsome doll at Rose’s Drug Store, Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, December 29, 1900
Rose’s Phosphatic Emulsion of Norwegian Cod Liver Oil being sold at at Rose’s Drug Store, 185 E. Main Street, Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, November 7, 1903
Soda Fountain just installed at Rose’s Drug Store, Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, June 30, 1911
Rose’s Drug Store robbed on East Main Street in Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, June 29, 1917
New Drug Store formally occupied by Rose’s Drug Store, 183 East Main Street, Westminster, Maryland
The Democratic Advocate, October 4, 1918
