The Smith Brothers Cough Drop
box portrays one of the world’s most famous trademarks. The two
bearded gentlemen are affectionately known to generations as Trade and
Mark. Not well known, however, is the fact that the Smith Brothers
really existed. Their names were William (Trade) and Andrew (Mark) and
they helped found Smith Brothers in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1847.
William and Andrew were sons of
James Smith who moved to Poughkeepsie from St. Armand, Quebec in 1847
to establish a restaurant. Though James was a fine carpenter by trade,
he was an even better candy maker and a businessman. The story of the
birth of the first Cough Drop is a good example. The
story goes like this... a journeyman stopped at the Smith restaurant
and gave James the formula for a delicious and effective cough candy.
James saw a need for such a product in the cold part of the country
where he lived and immediately mixed up a batch on his kitchen stove.
 Smith
Brothers Cough Drops were a quick success and demand for the
"cough candy" grew fast. Only a few years later, in 1852,
the firm’s first advertisement appeared in the Poughkeepsie paper,
inviting all "afflicted with hoarseness, cough or colds" to
test it. Young William and
Andrew were active in the new business from the start. They helped mix
the family secret formula in their father’s kitchen and busily sold
the product in the streets of Poughkeepsie. The two boys inherited the
fast growing business on the father’s death in 1866, and the company
officially became known as Smith Brothers. As
sales grew their success was met with a whole flurry of imitators
-"Schmitt Brothers", "Smythe Sisters" and even
other "Smith Brothers" appeared with imitative product. The
real Smith Brothers, by this time having long, flowing beards, decided
to place their own pictures on their product packaging, which
consisted of glass bowls for a counter display and small envelopes
into which the shopkeeper counted the Smith Brothers Cough Drops for
each sale. By chance, the word
"Trade" appeared under the picture of William and the word
"Mark" under that of Andrew. Thus, it happened by a mere
coincidence that the famous Smith Brothers’ trademark was born and
the Smith Brothers became known to generations of Americans as Trade
and Mark. |
