Henry Brenwasser, according to 1920 census records, was born in Hungary circa 1884 and arrived in the United States in 1895. In December, 1904 the “Pharmaceutical Record’ announced that he was one of 81 applicants who “passed the recent Board examination held in the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy.”
The first mention of Henry Brenwasser in the NYC Directories that I can find is 1908/1909, when he’s listed as a druggist with the 226 Ninth Avenue address embossed on the subject bottle. Around this time he apparently went into business with Frank N Pond.
The business of Pond & Brenwasser (Frank N Pond & Henry Brenwasser) was listed in the Trow NYC Copartnership and Corporation Directories from 1908 to 1914 at the 226 Ninth Avenue address. The business was not listed in the 1906 Copartnership and Corporation Directory. By 1914 Pond and Brenwasser was listed as dissolved.
According to the February 3, 1913 issue of “Industrial World” and an issue of the “Paint, Oil and Drug Review” around the same time, Brenwasser was an incorporator in a new business called Glycola Co, Inc. The company was listed as “chemists, dry salters, oil and color men. Capital $75,000. Incorporators: Jeheil H Patrick, 333 Ninth Avenue, Furman K Ruff MD, 343 W 23rd St and Henry Brenwasser, 226 Ninth Avenue. The 1915 – 1916 Directory of Directors in the City of New York list Brenwasser as the Secretary and Director of the Company, still located at 226 Ninth Avenue. The company is not listed in the 1918-1919 Copartnership and Corporation Directory.
In the 1921 and 1922 editions of the ERA Druggist Directory of the US, Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Manila and the Hawaiian Islands, Henry Brenwasser (No Pond) was listed as a retail druggist at the Ninth Avenue address. This suggests that he likely remained in the retail drug business while also participating in Glycola, or they were in essence, one and the same. Brenwasser was still listed in the Manhattan telephone book with the occupation “pharmacy” as late as 1949.
The Brenwasser pharmacy was still located at the Ninth Avenue location for much, if not all of the 1960’s. Now appearing as H. Brenwasser, Inc., the pharmacy was included in an advertisement for Squibb’s Vigran Vitamins in the January 3, 1964 edition of New York’s “Daily News.”
Later, as late as July 11, 1968, the “Daily News” included the pharmacy on a list of New York State Lottery outlets.
Frank N Pond also maintained other businesses associated with the 226 Ninth Avenue address before (Pond & Bowes), during (Pond Pharmacal Co.) and after (Pond Prescription Pharmacy) the Pond & Brenwasser era of 1908 to 1912. It’s not clear whether Pond and Brenwasser remained associates or not but it appears they shared the building or at least the address until at least 1916. There appears to be no connection with the more famous Pond’s Extract Co.
Today 226 Ninth Avenue no longer exists. The location is now part of a large apartment complex.
The bottle I found is a small (3 oz) mouth blown medicine bottle with a tooled finish. Embossing on the base indicates it was made by Whitehall Tatum Company (W.T. Co). The fact that there’s no ampersand (between the T and Co) indicates it was made after Whitehall & Tatum incorporated in 1901. Coupled with the fact that that Henry Brenwasser’s name is embossed on the bottle, not Pond and Brenwasser, suggests it was likely manufactured after Pond & Brenwasser was dissolved in 1914.