Dr. Sylvester Andral Kilmer became a household name in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He’s written about quite a bit now, in fact, but it’s not due to medical achievement.
Dr. Kilmer truly believed in his remedies, although they sound funny to us today. Swamp Root, Autumn Leaf Extract, and Ocean Weed Heart Remedy were just a few.
–Of note: Dr. Kilmer sold the last of his business to his brother and nephew in 1892, who ramped up advertising
with exaggerations of the medicines’ benefits. In 1906, The Pure Food and Drug Act came out: “While this act caused the demise of many patent medicines, the Kilmer Remedies remained mostly unaffected since it did not contain many of the harmful ingredients commonly found in their competitors’ concoctions. However, some of their more far-fetched claims were removed.” [U.S. National Park Service]–
Dr. Kilmer also opened several health locations, including a “Sanitarium and Hydrotherapium” and “Cancertorium.”
His remedies were only locally known until his brother, Jonas, joined the company in 1878, and Jonas’s son, Willis, began an intense advertising campaign that eventually brought the Dr. Kilmer brand national recognition.
As I said before, in 1892, Jonas and Willis bought out Dr. Kilmer’s shares in the company, giving them complete control. From that point on, Dr. Kilmer didn’t participate in the company.
The huge claims Willis made were eventually removed due to the Pure Food and Drug Act.
But this is the kicker: When Dr. Kilmer was no longer part of the company, people were still writing to him to ask medical advice and request prescriptions. Jonas and Willis falsely responded as Dr. Kilmer.
Dr. Kilmer took them to court over using his name falsely, and he won. But – get this – at a later date, that decision was overturned by the State Appellate Court!
So there was no justice there, unfortunately.
As a final word, when Willis was asked what Swamp Root was good for, he once replied, “About a million dollars a year!”
“By 1909, Willis Kilmer was a millionaire who bought a 1,000-acre horse farm.” [Center for Inquiry] Willis is a whole other story, as you can imagine!
Sources
- “Dr. Kilmer’s Medicine Bottle,”U.S. National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/dr-kilmer-s-medicine-bottle.htm
- “Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root,” National Museum of American History, https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_714581
- “Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root & The History of How Relic & Kilmer Got Their Name,” The Middlesex County Museum & Historical Society, September 25, 2020, https://www.middlesexmuseum.com/post/dr-kilmer-s-swamp-root-the-history-of-how-remlik-kilmer-got-their-name
- Lifson, Amy, “Dr. Kilmer’s Curious Cure-All,” Humanities, Spring 2021, Volume 42, Number 2. https://www.neh.gov/article/dr-kilmers-curious-cure-all
- Nickell, Joe, “Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp Root,” Center for Inquiry, December 4, 2016. https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/dr-_kilmers_swamp_root/