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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, June 18, 2023, pg. 6 Occasionally I like to feature an Albion collectible item in my column. I recently acquired a patent medicine bottle from the J. W. Brant Company of Albion, a late 19th and early 20th century patent medicine manufacturer. The J.W. Brant Company was located at 214 E. Mulberry St., on the southwest corner of Monroe and Mulberry for over fifty years. The firm had come to Albion from Hillsdale in the late 1880s, and was incorporated in 1889. The Brant Company called themselves "Manufacturing Chemists," and their main product was "Dr. Wheeler's Nerve Vitalizer." Their advertisements at the time stated, "It seems to be an accepted fact among the gifted medical experts that nearly all diseases are more or less the result of a disordered or weakened nervous system." The firm originally been founded in 1848 by Dr. J. W. Brandt (who else?). Owner of the firm in Albion was James W. Shanley, who eventually served as Albion Mayor in 1901. He is the only Albion mayor we don't have a photograph of. Business partners with Shanley included C. A. Bolster, and James H. Ford. The Company was later acquired by J. Clifford Smith and Robert W. Baldwin, who operated it until World War II, when it was purchased by none other than Albion's state senator Warren G. Hooper (1904-1945). After his untimely death, his widow Callinetta closed the place and sold what remained of the inventory out of her home for a short period. As you can well imagine, the J. W. Brant Company produced all sorts of patent medicines to "fix" whatever ailed you. Occasionally people will dig up their bottles in yards, or find them in attics or barns, etc. They are not rare, but do provide us with a glimpse of what over-the-counter medicines looked like a century ago.
 J.W. Brant Bottle. From our Historical Notebook this week we present one such bottle, for Brant's Pulmonary Balsam. This measures 6 1/2" high, 2 1/4" wide, and 1 1/4" thick. I am fortunate that this bottle still has the original label glued to it. The text states: "Brant's Pulmonary BALSAM. Shake Bottle well before Using. Dose for adults: 1/2 to 1 teaspoonful three to six times a day, the last dose upon retiring at night. For child 8 to 12 years old, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoonful; 3 to 8 years old, 6 to 10 drops; infants, not to exceed 5 drops. For Croup: give two or three-times usual dose, repeating until phlegm loosens so child throws it off." The same text appears at the bottom, but in the German language! Nowadays it would have been the Spanish language, of course. In looking through the text, I didn’t notice any mention of the ingredients in this concoction. I wonder what the ingredients were? Even without the paper label, Brant bottles are highly identifiable. The raised lettering on the glass throughout the bottle states: "BRANT'S, ALBION, MICH. J.W. BRANT CO." How many of our readers have a J.W. Brant bottle in their collection? Bottom's up! All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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