1877
IT HAPPENED IN…1877
President Rutherford B. Hayes ended
Reconstruction by withdrawing the last federal troops from the
South, no longer protecting the rights of African Americans.
Strikes accompanied by violence promoted the
growth of labor unions.
A strike by railway employees resulted in the deaths of nine people
in Baltimore and 19 in Chicago and threatened to bring U.S. trade to
a standstill.
Thomas A. Edison filed to patent his phonograph.
Edison made the first sound recording by reciting “Mary had a
little lamb.”
Flag Day was observed for the first time.
Newly introduced products included toilet paper.
May 12, 1877 –
Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
Vanilla Bean, Mexican Prime
An ordinary in store and for sale by Charles E.
Hires, importer, No. 9 Letitia St.
May 19, 1877 - –
Public Ledger, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania: an advertisement for Dr. Van Dyke’s Sulphur Soap lists
Charles Hires as a wholesale druggist handling the product.
After being introduced to
“homemade root beer” by a New Jersey farmer’s wife in 1876, Charles E.
Hires described the evolution of Hires Root Beer as requiring a “great
deal of experimenting” (Printers’
Ink, 1913), and also “I experimented for two years, off and on, in
the effort to produce a pure herb drink which would be entirely neutral
in its effects. After
making almost innumerable changes and additions I arrived at a formula
which has stood the test of time pretty well, as it remains unchanged
today. The package of dry
herbs (as it was then) from which the housewife could brew her own root
beer sold pretty well over the counter of my Spruce Street store, and
gradually it was introduced to the trade in and around Philadelphia.”
(Printers’ Ink, 1921).
These recollections suggest it was 1877 before Hires Root Beer
was made available for public consumption.
Additional primary resource documentation supporting
1877 as the year Hires Root Beer was first introduced to the public
includes these sources:
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“In 1877 he commenced the manufacture of root beer of a superior quality, this beverage having since became famous all over the country. This enterprise proving such a decided success, Mr. Hires abandoned his drug business and devoted his attention entirely to the new industry.” (Cope and Ashmead, 1903)
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U.S. Trade Mark registration for “HIRES ROOT BEER AND ROOT-BEER EXTRACT (AND THE DRY INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING ROOT BEER)” – First Use: 1877, First use in commerce: 1877. Filing date November 4, 1905. Registration date June 26, 1906. Owner (Registrant) Charles E. Hires Company, the corporation, Pennsylvania, 210, 212, and 214 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Description of mark: The trade-mark of said company consists of the words "Hires Rootbeer." These have generally been arranged as shown in the accompanying facsimile the word "Rootbeer" having a period after it and composed of the letters forming the two words "Root Beer." The letters are colored in black, the first letter of each word being in capital letters and the remaining letters small. Other forms of type may be employed or other colors used without materially altering the character of said trade-mark, the essential feature of which is the words "Hires Rootbeer."
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In 1923 the Charles E. Hires Company published From Rum Running to Soft Drinks, a booklet that includes a table listing sales of glasses of Hires Root Beer from 1877 to 1922. The table lists 1877 sales as 11,520 glasses, the earliest known reference specifically detailing annual sales of Hires Root Beer.
CHARLES E. HIRES STARTS ADVERTISING HIRES ROOT BEER
Charles E. Hires included the following comments in
“Some Advertising Reminiscences 1869-1913,” the article he authored for
the July 24, 1913 issue of
Printers’ Ink:
"Mr. Hires," he said, "why don't you advertise that root beer extract of yours? It is good stuff."
Here’s a slightly different description of the same
incident that Charles E. Hires penned for an article first published in
the April, 1921 issue of the
Printers’ Ink Monthly journal:
“One morning in 1877, on my way to the store, George W. Childs, the editor and proprietor of the Public Ledger sat down beside me in the Market Street cable car.
“’Mr. Hires,’ he said to me, ‘why don’t you advertise
that root beer of yours?’
“’How can I, without any money?’ I asked him.
“’Advertise to get money,’ he replied.
‘It certainly will pay you, for you have a good article.
You come around to the
Ledger office, and I’ll tell the bookkeeper not to send you any
bills until you ask for them.’
“I thought it over for a few days, and finally
accepted the offer. A young
man in the Ledger office
prepared the copy, and the advertising ran every day in one-inch
single-column space.
“Sales increased slowly at first, and then more rapidly, until I felt justified in asking the Ledger for a bill. It amounted to more than $700! I nearly had heart failure, for while I knew that advertising cost money, I had no idea that it cost that much. That was really the turning point of my career as an advertiser, for I found courage enough to let the advertising go on running while I was paying off the $700.
For the next ten years I put every penny of profit
from the root-beer business back into advertising.
I was the first advertiser for whom Mr. Childs consented to break
the columns of the Ledger in
order to run a big type head all the way across the page.
By and by I made a contract for five lines in quite a sizable
list of newspapers, and a little later asked several advertising agents
to give me estimates on one-inch spaces in these newspapers and certain
magazines in addition. I
have since then O.K.’d appropriations for $200,000 a year with less
anxious consideration than I accorded that estimate covering my first
venture in advertising on a national scale.
Although the details of Charles E. Hires’ discussion with George W.
Childs differ slightly between these two accounts, the end results
match. Charles E. Hires
first initiated newspaper advertising for his Hires’ Root Beer Package
in late May, 1877:
May 23, 1877 –
Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (front page, second
column):
Five (5) Gallons for 25 cts.
Hires’ Root Beer Package, made from Pipsissewa,
Sarsaparilla, Dandelion and other Medical Roots.
A delicious beverage, possessing properties which will change
any morbid action of the stomach, liver and kidneys, and keep them
in a healthy condition, promoting strength and vigor to farmers and
laboring men; it is indispensable in warding off the effects of heat
and prostration during the summer months.
Manufactured only by C. E. Hires, Wholesale Botanic Druggist,
No. 9 Letitia st., and for sale by all Druggists.
June 2, 1877 – Public Ledger,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (two separate, back-to-back listings, front
page, second column):
Five (5) Gallons for 25 cents
The most cooling and delicious drink made from
Hires’ Root Beer Package.
Only 25 cents.
The Most Healthy Drink is
That made from Hires’ Root Beer Package, 25
cents. Makes 5 gallons.
This small newspaper advertisement was placed on the
front page of the Public Ledger
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania June 9, 1877:
(Figure 1877-01, Public Ledger, June 9, 1877)
The same advertising copy also ran in a different
format in the Bucks County
Gazette, Bristol, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1877:
(Figure
1877-02, Bucks
County Gazette, June 14, 1877)
Here’s a more legible version of the advertising
copy:
HIRES’
Root Beer Package,
MAKES FIVE GALLONS OF DELICIOUS BEER FOR 25
CENTS, made from
Pipsissewa, Sarsaparilla, Dandelion and other medical roots.
A delicious beverage, possessing properties which will change
any morbid action of the stomach, liver and kidneys and keep them in
a healthy condition, promoting strength and vigor.
To farmers and laboring men it is indispensable in warding
off the effects of heat and prostration during the summer months.
Manufactured only by C. E. HIRES, wholesale Botannical
Druggist, No. 9 Letitia Street, Philadelphia.
Ask your druggist for it.
829
The
August 21, 1913 issue of
Printers’ Ink, “A Journal for Advertisers,” included the following
full page advertisement placed by the Public Ledger Company, publishers
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s
Public Ledger newspaper.
In order to illustrate the value of advertising (in the
Public Ledger, of course) the
Ledger profiled long-time
customer Charles E. Hires.
Although the illustrated September 1, 1877 advertisement was purported
to be Hires’ very first printed advertisement for Hires Root Beer, that
is not true, evidence the preceding advertisements from May and June,
1877. Also, the June 14,
1877 advertisement published in the
Bucks County Gazette in
Bristol, Pennsylvania proves Hires was in fact utilizing other
publications. These errors
may have been due to the passage of 30+ years, or because newer staff
members at the Ledger
composed the 1913 advertisement.
The comments detailing the growth and ultimate success of Hires’
advertisements are factual.
(Figure
1877-03,
Printers’ Ink, August 21, 1913)