The Pond’s Extract story is thoroughly entwined with the shrub hamamelis virgiinics, or “witch hazel.” It’s early reputation as a medication was summarized like this in the January 3, 1906 edition of a publication called “Printers Ink.”
The shrub hamamelis virginics, popularly known as “witch hazel,” is native to North America alone, and found in quantities only in New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York State. Long before the Whiteman came it was a medicinal herb valued by the Indians, and when New England was settled the whites soon learned to value it too. For years “witch hazel” held a place among the home remedies, grandmother’s “yarbs” being prepared by boiling in tea kettles. In the 40’s this remedy was taken in hand by (Theron T.) Pond at Utica, N. Y., a place where the shrub was then found in abundance, and converted into a stable liquid through distillation and the use of a preservative. For distilled witch hazel spoils after a few days unless fixed with alcohol, the preservative used in Pond’s Extract.
Around the same time, an address by John V. Shoemaker, M.D., delivered April 26, 1905 before the Danbury Medical Society on the “Practical Value of Old Remedies,” provided this turn of century view of witch hazel’s therapeutic value.
Witch Hazel, an excellent old-time remedy, has a well-defined range of usefulness within which it is without a rival. Externally and internally it is sedative and astringent. It is used as lotion and ointment in many diseases and injuries of the skin, in leg ulcer and varicose veins and varicocele.
The distilled extract of hamamelis is a valuable application to sprains and bruises. Hamamelis is very useful in checking epistaxis, bleeding sockets after the extraction of teeth, bleeding hemorrhoids and many other forms of hemorrhage. An ointment containing witch hazel is of service in burns, eczema, erysipelas, sunburn, seborrhea , acne, etc. A diluted fluid extract of hamamelis makes an effective lotion in hyperidrosis. A witch hazel lotion or ointment is an excellent application in fissure of the anus. When given internally this remedy exerts the same astringent and sedative action and is highly valued in the treatment of acute and chronic diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhage from internal organs, purpura, hemorrhagic, varicose veins and ulcers and varicocele.
Today’s uses, while toned down quite a bit, still run along the same lines. According to webmd.com,
Applying witch hazel to the skin is the most common way it is used – and the safest.
Witch hazel may bring some relief from hemorrhoids or skin irritations and lessen minor bleeding. Witch hazel extracts contain antioxidant compounds that may protect against sunburn and aging from the sun.
Under the Pond’s name a witch hazel extract was on the market for just about 100 years from the mid 1840’s up through the late 1940’s.
So, with that as background the Pond’s Extract story begins with a man named Theron T. Pond. It’s a story that quite possibly may never have been told except for the actions of a quick thinking Hudson River boat captain. The details appeared in the November 3, 1830 edition of the “Poughkeepsie Journal.”
The Steam Boat North America. – By the following article it will be seen that an accident which might have led to serious consequences, occurred to the North America on Thursday… On her passage from New York to Albany, when opposite Sing Sing, it was observed that the boat rolled more than usual. The captain perceiving it, immediately ran an examination and found in the hold a considerable quantity of water, which he discovered to be increasing, notwithstanding the free use of the force pumps. He then resolved to avail himself of the first landing to secure the safety of his passengers. The water continuing to increase, he, without hesitation, ran her on the flats at Grassy Point a short distance below Stony Point. Shortly after the steam-boat Gen. Jackson hove in sight, a signal being made Capt. Van Wart came immediately alongside and received the passengers , and afterwards landed them at Newburgh, where they remained until the New Philadelphia arrived from New York, when they proceeded on to their respective destinations.
At a meeting of the passengers held on board the Gen. Jackson, a vote of thanks was unanimously passed to Capt. Benson and all the officers attached to the boat, for their skill, prudence, presence of mind and attention to the comfort of their passengers which was displayed on this occasion.
The vote of thanks was signed by 16 passengers, one of whom was Theron T. Pond.
Pond would go on to hold several unrelated occupations before beginning what would be a six-year stint manufacturing and selling his witch hazel extract in Utica, New York. Embossing on the subject bottle suggests he began its manufacture in 1846.
During this time it was advertised in newspapers under several different names. The first ad I can find appeared in a number of November, 1847 editions of the “New York Tribune” referring to it as “Pond’s Pain Destroyer.” By that time Pond had engaged several wholesale agents in New York City so the 1846 start date embossed on the bottle is certainly within the realm of possibility.
A year later newspaper advertisements added “Healing Extract,” sometimes “Vegetable Healing Extract,” to the title as evidenced by ads found in the “Buffalo Daily Republic” on May 25, 1848 and the “Fayetteville (N.C.) Weekly Observer” on January 23, 1849.
In 1852, six years after the introduction of his Pain Destroyer and Healing Extract, Pond passed away. At some point prior to his death he had become acquainted with Dr. Frederick Humphreys who some internet sources suggest was his personal physician. According to a story in the June, 1906 edition of “The Practical Druggist” Pond sold the rights for his healing extract to Humphreys. The story goes on to suggest that it was Humphreys who came up with the idea of adding alcohol as a way to stabilize the mixture.
Over fifty years ago Dr. Frederick Humphreys, whose reputation for his system of homeopathic medication is universal, removed to Utica, N.Y., where he practiced medicine successfully. Here he came in contact with a Dr. Pond, who interested him in the subject of manufacturing an extract of witch hazel. Pond already had an extract in the local field which had quite a reputation in the vicinity. Dr. Humphreys devised the means of fixing the virtues of this preparation, its ephemeral condition being its chief drawback. Dr. Humphreys bought the rights of manufacture and the name and entered into the systematic production of Pond’s Extract, retaining the name for its apparent trade-mark value.
Humphrey’s days as a physician also date back to sometime in the 1840’s as evidenced by this advertisement that appeared in the May 22, 1849 edition of the “Buffalo Daily Republic.”
In 1855 Humphreys, then located in Auburn, New York, was selling a number of what he called Specific Homeopathic Medicines. That year, this advertisement touting his medicines appeared in several July and August editions of the “Buffalo Daily Republic.”
The ad went on to list 15 medicines that targeted specific conditions such as fever pills, diarrhea pIlls headache pills, etc. and stated:
The MEDICINES are prepared in the form of MEDICATED SUGAR TABLETS, neatly put up in boxes properly numbered and labeled. Fifteen such boxes, containing many hundreds doses, are enclosed in a neat portable case, enclosing a manual, giving a precise description of the diseases treated, and directions for giving the medicines, diet, etc….
F. HUMPHREYS & CO., Auburn, N.Y
By 1858 Humphreys had partnered with Azariah Palmer and moved his operation from Auburn, New York south to New York City where the 1858 – 1859 directory listing for Humphrey & Palmer made it clear the partnership was selling both Humphreys Specific Homeopathic Medicines and Pond’s Extract at 562 Broadway in Manhattan.
Palmer was a friend of Pond who, according to several internet sources also claimed rights to Pond’s Extract.
The partnership was short-lived and by 1860 Humphrey & Palmer had been replaced at the 562 Broadway location by Humphreys & Co. with Palmer no longer mentioned. The business operated under the F. Humphreys name from 1860 to 1864 during which time they continued to advertise the remedy, now typically as Pond’s Extract of Hamamelis, as evidenced by this January 9, 1862 “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” ad.
Things changed in 1865 when, according to New York State Appellate Court records in the case of “Frederick Humphreys against Francis W. Hurtt,” the business incorporated in March of that year as the Humpherys’ Specific Homeopathic Medicine Company, with Frederick Humphreys, Francis Hurtt and Abia Selover all equal share holders. Later that year things changed again when Palmer re-entered the picture and Selover was bought out. According to the court records, in December, 1865:
by a mutual concession of stock by them made to one Azariah S. Palmer, the latter became a member of said corporation and that Humphreys and Hurtt afterwards, by purchase, became the owners in equal proportions of the remaining interest of Selover in the stock and assets of the company.
The court records go on to say that when the dust settled, both Humphreys and Hurtt each owned 44% of the company and Palmer the remaining 12% with the company itself consisting of the following two branches of business:
The exclusive right of manufacturing and selling a medicine called “Pond’s Extract” and a similar right in a certain medicine called “Humphreys’ Specific Homeopathic Medicine.”
Humphreys was named president with Hurtt serving as treasurer and general manager. Palmer remained in upstate New York and several internet sources suggest that his stake in the corporation was in exchange for him giving up any claim he had to the Pond’s name.
During this time the abbreviated name of simply “Ponds Extract,” most often appeared in their advertisements, as evidenced by this 1868 advertisement that touted both Humphreys Specific Homeopathic Medicines and Ponds Extract. (Note Humphreys’ medicines had more than doubled in number from 15 to 34)
The appellate court records go on to say that in December, 1872 Humphreys and Hurst, not getting along, agreed that the two branches of the business should be separated and the assets divided equally between them, reserving the rights and interests of Palmer. As a result, Humphreys retained possession of the homeopathic medicine piece of the business while Hurtt acquired possession of Ponds Extract. (It was disagreement on the value of each business that resulted in the referenced court case.)
Hurtt didn’t waste any time and by 1873 – 74 his Pond’s Extract Company was initially listed in the New York City directory with a lower Manhattan address of 98 Maiden Lane. That same year he also opened a London, England location as evidenced by this early advertisement that appeared in the “Walsall Advisor” of West Midlands, England on December 30, 1873.
In 1879 – 1880 the company moved its New York City location to 18 Murray Street, also in lower Manhattan. Certainly their office location, by then the company also listed a factory location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at First (later Kent Ave.) and South Sixth Streets as well as a distillery in Chester, Connecticut. A story in the July 3, 1879 “Rutland (Vt.) Daily Herald” briefly described the operation at the time.
Their great distillery is located in Chester, Conn., where the shrub grows in abundance. It is manufactured from half-inch twigs and brought here (to Brooklyn) in barrels. From these it is poured into large tanks, refined and conveyed by hose to the automatic bottle-fillers, run by machinery and tended by girls, who place the bottles and remove them when filled.
When one looks at these ponderous tanks filled with the healing remedy, they can form some idea of the gigantic proportions to which this enterprising and reliable company have grown…
The story went on to say that the company’s product menu had significantly increased by that time.
It is scarcely supposable that there is another being in the United States who does not know about Pond’s Extract as an antidote for pains and aches which arise from various causes. But there are, doubtless, many who do not know about the toilet articles which they manufacture from this valuable extract. A fine and beautifully perfumed toilet cream which softens the skin and imparts fairness to the complexion is one of the products of this company. A large portion of the toilet cream is composed of Pond’s Extract in a condensed form. Liquid dentrifice, lip salve, toilet soap, ointment, plasters and catarrh remedy are other specifics which the Pond Extract Company have originated and made a success of…
Each of these items, as well as a few more, were included in this price list found in the December 19, 1880 edition of the “Poughkeepsie Journal.”
In 1880, after a failed effort to co-locate the office and manufacturing ends of the business the company moved its New York offices to 14 West 14th St. while at the same time maintaining their Brooklyn factory. The company’s reasoning was included in a May 3, 1880 edition of “The Daily Graphic.”
Our occupation of No. 18 Murray Street during the past year was only temporary, hoping that we might be able to find suitable accommodations to again unite our Counting-room and Manufactory. But our business has grown so rapidly since we began to manufacture a line of articles having POND’S EXTRACT for the basis, and so much room and power are now required that we have concluded to establish ourselves with Advertising Department, Factory, Laboratory, etc., in our building, so conspicuous to travelers on the East River, corner First and South Sixth Streets, Brooklyn, E.D., and have taken permanently for our Office and Sales rooms, No.14 West 14th Street.
Two years later, in March, 1882, much of the company’s Brooklyn factory was seriously impacted by fire. According to an April 12, 1882 story in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch:”
The destruction of the Pond’s Extract Building by fire on the 18th of March is little short of a national calamity. The building which served as the laboratory, printing, lithographing, advertising and shipping departments of the company was one of the best known in New York, and its burning incurs the loss to Brooklyn of a great monument to trade, and the temporary stoppage of a great industry. Fortunately a schooner loaded with Pond’s Extract had arrived on the night before the fire, too late to discharge its cargo and this supply of the Extract was enough to carry the company over until the distillery at Chester, Connecticut was put to work at full blast. The loss was almost entirely covered by insurance and although the calamity occurred at a time when the orders for the Extract and the toilet articles and specialties also manufactured by the company were large consequently entailing a little temporary embarrassment, every exertion was made to shorten the delay in their execution to a period of two or three days only. This, at least, as regards the Extract itself; the provision of new machinery for the manufacture of the toilet and special preparations delayed the fulfillment of the orders of this department for a week or ten days…
Four months later the factory had not only been re-built, but enlarged as well. This description of the new construction was included in the “Brooklyn Daily Times” on July 6, 1882.
Immediately after the disastrous fire in March last that nearly destroyed the Pond’s Extract Manufactory at the corner of South Sixth and First Streets, the company determined to reconstruct and enlarge the building. The walls were built in a most substantial manner and the greater part of them stood as firmly after the fire as before. All the floor beams throughout the building were removed and new ones put in. The walls were run up another story so now the building is five stories high, each with a floor area of 75 x 100 feet. An Otis elevator has been placed in the building. A powerful engine supplies an abundance of power for the entire building and it is now as fine a manufactory as any fronting on the East River.
Changes occurred in the mid to late 1880’s when by 1885 the company had vacated both the Brooklyn factory and their West 14th Street Manhattan location, consolidating their operation at 76 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan where it took up much of the block between 13th and 14th Streets. Later in the decade a fire in their Chester distillery resulted in a move to Clinton, Connecticut.
These changes were all reflected in this turn of the century description of their operation that appeared in the February 28, 1902 edition of the “Hartford Courant.”
The distilleries of the Pond’s Extract Company are substantial structures located in the heart of the Hamamelis country. During the late fall and winter months, the outlying districts awake to activity, and large numbers of workmen are engaged in cutting the brush and hauling it to the stills. This gives employment to many farmers, and constitutes one of the leading industries of this section. In the seclusion of these mysterious stills the “extract” is prepared, then shipped by car-load to the company’s extensive laboratory in New York, when its preparation is completed.
Here is the depot of the Pond’s Extract Company, and in the big court, enclosed by the walls of their two large buildings at 76 Fifth Avenue, and No. 1 West 13th Street, carloads of barrels rise high as the winds above. The next day the contents of these same barrels will have been scattered in bottles to every part of the civilized world.
Although they were manufacturing other products, up through the first decade of the twentieth century Pond’s Extract was certainly the company’s marque product. With its 60 plus year reputation they continued to stress its medicinal qualities, referring to it as “The Old Family Doctor.”.
They were even promoting a “Pond’s Extract Accident Case” that included a bottle of their extract along with bandages and other first aid items as evidenced by this advertisement that appeared in a 1905 magazine advertisement.
By then, with their curative claims having been toned down, Pond’s Extract was also being promoted as an “after shave” as evidenced by this 1904 advertisement in “Harper’s Monthly.”
In 1906 or 1907 the company moved out of their long time New York City location on Fifth Avenue, relocating to Manhattan’s Hudson Street. As part of the move it appears they relocated their bottling operation to their Clinton, Connecticut facility. According to the State of Connecticut’s Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Report for the Year Ending November 30, 1906.
CLINTON
A two-story frame addition to its plant was built by the Pond’s Extract Company. It is 30 x 100 feet and cost $4,500. A bottling department, heretofore carried on elsewhere, was also added. It is of frame construction, two stories high, 45 x 80 feet, and cost $5,500.
Other changes were also in the works during this time, as evidenced by a feature on the company published years later in the December 30, 1930 edition of the “Hartford Courant”
Until 1906 Pond’s Extract was the only important product manufactured by the company. During that year, however, Pond’s Vanishing Cream and Cold Cream were introduced in this country.
This began what was certainly a shift in the company’s philosophy away from their witch hazel based medicinal products and toward skin care and beauty products; a shift illustrated by the following two advertisements.
In this 1910 ad found in several editions of a magazine called “The Book News Monthly,” both Pond’s Extract and Pond’s Vanishing Cream were advertised together. In fact, Pond’s Extract was the headliner and it’s bottle pictured.
Less than ten years later, in the late teens, most of the company’s advertisements feature women extolling the virtues of both their Vanishing Cream and Cold Cream without even a mention of Pond’s Extract. The following ad that appeared in the January 21, 1917 edition of the “New York Times” was typical.
The advertisement went on to include quotes from several famous women of the day including motion picture actress, Norma Talmadge who said:
I have found Pond’s Vanishing Cream wonderful as a base for make-up. It leaves my skin fresh and clean.
Another, along the same lines was found in the October, 1921 edition of a British magazine called “The Strand.”
The 1930 Hartford Courant feature also noted that by then more skin care products had been added to their menu.
In 1927 the Pond’s Extract Company introduced two new products to be associated with the creams – Pond’s Cleansing Tissues and Pond’s Skin Freshener.
As the product line increased, so did the Pond Company’s facilities. By 1930 the “Hartford Courant” story noted that the company had added a paper mill in Seymour, Connecticut to manufacture their cleansing tissues, while at the same time it was expanding their Clinton, Connecticut facilities:
In 1929 a large modern fire-resistant building was erected to become the main manufacturing plant of the company being connected to the old building by fire-proof bridges and a tunnel.
The new laboratories where Pond’s creams are manufactured are as immaculate as a modern dairy and the most modern of machinery and devices are used for filling. labeling and packing the creams. Hands do not come in contact with the creams during their preparation or packing.
An image of their new plant was included in the October, 1931 edition of a magazine called “Autocar Messenger.”
On a side note, the “Autocar Messenger” also included the following photo…
…whose caption read:
The Pond’s Extract Company’s Model NC Autocar makes scheduled trips between plants in Seymour and Clinton, Conn. It has a wheelbase of 218 inches, semi-van body and Autocar de Luxe Cab. Under the hood is an Autocar Blue Streak Engine.
By 1930 the company’s reach was certainly world-wide.
Two subsidiary companies – Pond’s Extract Company, International, Ltd. and Pond’s Extract Company of Canada, Ltd., conduct the business of the company outside of the United States.
Throughout the 1930’s the number of skin care and beauty products produced by the company continued to increase, with the company’s advertising devoted almost exclusively to these products. That being said their Pond’s Extract, though not advertised to any great extent, remained on the market through much of the 1940’s.
As late as 1942 Pond’s Extract was included in this January 22nd advertisement for their vanishing cream found in a grocery store advertisement published in the “Pasadena (California) Post…”
… and it was sporadically named in local drug store advertisements throughout much of the decade. The latest one I can find appeared in an August 29, 1947 “Tulsa (Oklahoma) Tribune” ad for Skagg’s Drug Center where you could buy the 25 cent size for 21 cents.
As far as I can tell, all newspaper references pertaining to the sale of Pond’s Extract disappear prior to 1950.
Ultimately, the Pond’s Extract Company merged with the Cheesebrough Manufacturing Company in 1955. The April 28th edition of the “Buffalo News” announced the merger like this:
Directors of Cheesebrough Mfg. Co., makers of vaseline products, and Pond’s Extract Co. approved an agreement of merger today. The name of the new company will be Cheesebrough-Pond’s, Inc…
Cheesebrough-Ponds was later acquired by Unilever in December, 1986. Subsequently, 25 years later, in 2011, Unilever announced they were closing the former Pond’s plant in Clinton, Connecticut. The announcement appeared in the July 15, 2011 edition of the “Hartford Courant.”
Unilever is closing its manufacturing plant in Clinton next year, laying off 184 workers who make Vaseline Petroleum Jelly and other body care products at the facility…
The Clinton plant manufactures Vaseline, Pond’s and Dove face-care products; Axe, Dove and Suave hair styling products; Dove lotion, shampoo and conditioner; and other hair and skin products. The work will be transferred to other Unilever plants…
The plant had certainly closed by late the following year as evidenced by this auction notice that appeared in the November 11, 2012 edition of the “Hartford Courant.”
The bottle I found is embossed “PONDS EXTRACT” vertically on one face while the date “1846” is embossed on the base. Mouth blown, it likely dates sometime around the turn of the century before the advent of machine made bottles. It was almost certainly packaged in what the company referred to as a “buff wrapper” as evidenced by this March 15, 1900 Louisville, Kentucky “Courier Journal” advertisement.
This June 11, 1905 advertisement published in the St. Louis “Globe Democrat,” noted that at the time it came in four sizes.
The subject bottle is almost certainly the small size. Other sizes sold around that time were pints (medium) and quarts (large). I’m not sure how big the emergency size was however based on the above pricing it couldn’t have been much more than an ounce or so.
ON A FINAL NOTE:
The Brooklyn factory building utilized by the company between the late 1870’s and mid 1880’s owns a sliver of little known (at least to me) New York City history. Located right along the shores of the East River its clock tower was visible to the River’s boat traffic. After the 1882 fire the clock was replaced by one of, if not the largest clock in the United States at the time. It was described like this in a June 6, 1882 “Brooklyn Daily Times story:
One of the principal features of the remodeled structure is the clock tower which rises at the southwest corner of the building to a height of nearly 199 feet above the sidewalk, being surmounted by a mansard roof and a flag staff. The old clock destroyed by the fire was well known to passengers on the ferry boats and steamboats along the river; for it could could be seen at a distance of several miles and was always a reliable time piece. The new clock is much larger, and its manufacturers the Seth Thomas Clock Company, claim that it will prove itself to be a better clock. It is one of the largest, if not the largest, clocks in the United States, for there are none in the country that can boast of a dial plate fifteen feet four inches in diameter, with figures two feet in length and hands in proportion. There are other clocks in the country, that have more dial room on account of having four dials, the Pond’s clock has but two, but none with a dial of as great diameter. A TIMES reporter lately visited the clock-tower of the Pond’s Building in which the works of the clock are located. The mechanism of the great clock is highly finished, a great pendulum nearly fifteen feet long and extending down two stories, swinging back and forth with dignified regularity. It consists of a great polished iron bar, at the end of which is a large cylinder of solid iron weighing about 800 pounds. The weights that keep the clock in motion weigh nearly one thousand pounds, and have a fall of about twenty feet. The clock will run eight days after being wound up.
As far as I can tell, after moving out in 1885 the Pond’s Extract Company ultimately sold the building in 1889. That being said, it continued to be referred to as the Pond’s Building until 1897 when it was demolished to make way for the Brooklyn approach to the Williamsburg Bridge. A December 22, 1897 “Brooklyn Daily Times” story provided the final chapter.
…the big Pond’s Extract building at the foot of South Sixth Street and Kent Avenue, is in rapid process of demolition and other buildings are being quickly torn down to make way for the approach to the new bridge. It is expected that the work of sweeping away the Pond’s building will be completed within a week. The old clock in this building which has been for so long to the thousands of people going to New York and coming from it a landmark, will also have to go in the process of clearing the buildings in the way of the new bridge.
The Williamsburg Bridge opened to traffic six years later on December 19, 1903.