In the late 1800s, Dr. James Thompson Wilson stood at his kitchen stove heating and mixing ingredients to create a formula that he would dispense to his patients. Thus was the beginning of a business empire that can be traced back through the history of Blair County.
Dr. Wilson was a prominent physician in Tyrone. His concoction was named White Cloverine Brand Salve. The salve was an emollient used for soothing irritated skin. In 1885, Dr. Wilson’s son, George C. Wilson Sr., founded the Wilson Chemical Company and began manufacturing and marketing the salve.
George Wilson did not have a lot of money with which to market the product, and he came up with a unique sales technique. He placed ads in comic books, newspapers, and magazines. The ads stated that anyone who could sell the product could choose to keep a percent of the profit or they could earn premiums such as BB guns, cameras, or even a live pony.
The ads attracted young entrepreneurs, and soon the company had over 300,000 salesmen. Sixty percent of the salesmen were kids. Another unique marketing feature was that each customer received a free colored print with the purchase of a tin of salve. They would frame and display the prints in their homes. The Wilson family commissioned artists to paint the pictures expressly for the company, and the prints could not be purchased elsewhere. The family reproduced the pictures with their own printing equipment in the same factory where the salve was produced. These prints are collectibles still today and often turn up at flea markets and antique shops.
The Young Salesmen
My father, Charles Glasgow, was one of those young salesmen. He is seventy years old now, and he recently talked with me about his experience. “As a young boy, I pulled a wagon and sold products door to door. I sold buttermilk from our farm, packs of seeds in the spring, and I also sold Cloverine Salve. I learned of the opportunity to sell the salve when I discovered an ad in a comic book. I had a choice of being paid a percent of my sales or earning prizes. I usually chose the prizes.”
A similar story is shared in a magazine article by Joyce Scaggs, of Paris, Texas. “When I was ten years old, I came across an ad that I couldn’t resist. You see, all I needed to do was sell one dozen boxes of Cloverine Salve and I could earn a box-type camera! With no money down — just a request — the company would ship the product to me. What’s more, a dozen pretty colored pictures would be included with my order. Never mind that my sales territory encompassed a radius of several miles — all of it to be covered on foot, of course! I eventually accomplished my goal and earned the camera. I am still grateful today to Cloverine Salve for my start in sales.”
Charles Niles and his brother, of Janesville, Wisconsin, also were attracted by an ad. “‘Sell Cloverine Salve and earn valuable prizes,’ read the ad in our favorite magazine, The Open Road for Boys. My brother and I decided to give it a try. We placed an order and anxiously awaited its arrival. When it arrived, our mother magically found a quarter and became our first customer! We pored over the catalog of prizes and set our minds on earning a Magic Lantern projector. We needed to sell thirty-six cans in order to earn the projector. After spending our summer selling the tins of salve, we still had four cans left. Our father purchased those to use as Christmas gifts, and we proudly sent the money to the company and placed our order for the magic projector. The projector arrived just before Christmas and it helped to make it the best Christmas ever!”
These are just three stories, but there are countless others from all across the country who had similar experiences as “agents” for Wilson Chemical Company. For many of them, the sales opportunity was a bright spot for them during the depression years.
Impact on Tyrone
The existence of the chemical company in Tyrone had a huge and lasting impact locally as well. Thousands of people earned a living there over a period of almost a century. The plant typically employed 125 people or more, and a lot of other jobs were related in connection with the business, including the loading of railroad cars and the providing of supplies of materials that were needed by the plant.
The volume of mail order business generated by the company was so great that it put Tyrone on the map. By the year 1916, the company was responsible for over $100,000 of postage business at the Tyrone post office. The continual and large volume of mail generated by the plant enabled Tyrone to receive designation as a first-class post office, resulting in a new post office being built and allowing for home delivery of mail to Tyrone residents free of charge.
The FTC Ruling and Decline
After many successful years, the local company suffered a major setback in 1967 when the Federal Trade Commission dealt the Cloverine Salve company a crushing blow. The FTC objected to the advertising methods used to attract young salesmen. The case was sent to court and the company lost. The loss of the case was a tremendous financial setback to the company. In addition, the company no longer could depend on their previous and successful methods of marketing their product. The loss of the court case, in addition to other factors such as a change of the times along with increases in manufacturing costs and postage fees, contributed to the decline of the business.
In the name of progress, the original plant eventually was forced to move when the property was taken over by the state for the construction of the Route 220 bypass (now Interstate 99). The business continued to operate at a different Tyrone location until 1985. The life span of this family-owned business was over ninety years. The local business eventually closed in 1985, but the salve still is being produced and sold today. The business was acquired by Medtech Laboratories, Inc., in Cody, Wyoming, and the product is now sold primarily through mail-order catalogs and drug outlets. The original cost of a one-ounce tin of salve was twenty-five cents.
On February 12, 1985, a local radio show, “WTRN Insight,” featured a farewell tribute to the chemical company and the family who owned it. A quote from that show is as follows: “For the first time in nine decades, we will soon have no White Cloverine Salve being manufactured here in Tyrone. The Wilson Chemical Company will be closing, and its manufacturing equipment and printing equipment will be sold. The people of Tyrone owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to G. C. and Honey Wilson, the current owners of the company. Thousands of people in Tyrone have earned a living at Wilson business enterprises over the last century. In addition, the Wilson family faithfully served every worthwhile community endeavor in Tyrone. We pay tribute to the Wilson family, as they end their business operations here in Tyrone, and we wish them the very best in the future. It just won’t seem the same without the name that made Tyrone famous… Wilson’s White Cloverine Brand Salve. It will be greatly missed.”
Editor’s note: This article is reprinted, with permission, from the August 2003 issue of The Mansion, bulletin of the Blair County Historical Society.
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