Cold Bath

April 30

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Pennsylvania Evening Post (April 30, 1776).

“Apply for tickets … at a Pistole each, or one Shilling each time bathing.”

With the arrival of spring in 1776, Joseph Jewell opened the “COLD BATH, AT Bathtown, in Second-street, about a quarter of a mile from the Barracks in the Northern liberties” on the outskirts of Philadelphia.  Readers sometimes encountered promotions for spas, baths, and mineral springs as they perused newspapers in the decade before the Revolutionary War, including the “Cold-Bath at Jackson’s Mineral Well” in Boston and a “NEW and CONVENIENT BATH” in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.  The New-York Chronicle carried an advertisement for the “Chalybeat Springs, in the Borough of Bristol, in Pennsylvania.”  The facility “answers the Description of the celebrated GERMAN SPAW.”  In addition to the bath and mineral spring at Perth Amboy, residents of Philadelphia who read local newspapers encountered invitations to partake of “ABINGTON MINERAL WATER” when they visited the “most healthy Part of the Province of Pennsylvania.”  The “COLD BATH, AT Bathtown,” however, was a more convenient location that offered greater access to those who wished to purchase admission.

In an advertisement in the April 30, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, Jewell announced that the facility was “now in the possession of the subscriber,” indicating a transfer of ownership since the previous season.  William Drewet Smith, an apothecary, previously operated the bath.  Regardless of who ran it, the “COLD BATH” was “in complete order, and fit for immediate use.”  Jewell instructed “[l]adies and gentlemen who are inclined to make use of it for the season” to acquire tickets directly from him or “at the bar of the London Coffee-house,” a popular place for socializing and conducting business in the bustling urban port.  Just as advertisers frequently enlisted printers in supplying additional information to readers who followed directions to “enquire of the printer,” some also made arrangements for the proprietor of the coffeehouse to act as their agent.  Such convenience likely increased sales.  Jewell charged the same amount for a season pass, “a Pistole each,” as Smith had the previous year, but he also allowed for day passes at “one Shilling each time bathing.”  Smith may have done so as well, though he did not promote it as an option in his advertisement.  Jewell may have hoped that highlighting a less expensive option would stimulate greater demand and more visitors to the “COLD BATH.”

April 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Pennsylvania Evening Post (April 1, 1775).

“The COLD BATH, At BATH TOWN.”

William Drewet Smith, a “Chemist and Druggist,” diversified his business interests in the spring of 1775.  He operated a shop “At HIPPOCRATES’s HEAD” on Second Street Philadelphia, selling a “general Assortment of Druggs and patent medicines, surgeons instruments, [and] shop furniture.”  In an advertisement in the March 25 edition of the Pennsylvania Ledger, he promoted one of those patent medicines, “Baron SCHOMBERG’s Grand Prophylactic LIMIMENT” to prevent venereal diseases and treat the symptoms of those who did not practice prevention soon enough.  In that same issue, he inserted a second advertisement, that one hawking “Baron Van Haake’s royal letters pattent composition, for manuring land” to farmers and gardeners.

A week later, Smith ran yet another notice to announce that he was now the proprietor of the “COLD BATH, At BATH TOWN.”  The facility, he reported, “is completely fitted up, with every Conveniency, and ready for immediate Use.”  Those seeking entry needed to buy tickets (“without which no Person can be admitted”).  The apothecary sold them for “a Pistole each” at his “MEDICINAL STORE.”  Those who intended to travel to Bath, about sixty-five miles north of Philadelphia, could obtain their tickets before making the trip.  Rather than a single admission, each ticket entitled the bearer “to the use of the Bath [throughout] the Summer Season,” but they had to pay the entire balance “at the Time of subscribing.”  Smith did not allow guests to avail themselves of the amenities at his spa on credit.

Advertising in both the Pennsylvania Evening Post and the Pennsylvania Ledger, Smith joined the ranks of eighteenth-century entrepreneurs who marketed health tourism in America.  The apothecary probably figured that it made sense to branch out in that direction.  When clients visited his shop in Philadelphia, especially clients of means who had the leisure to travel, he could recommend the rejuvenating waters at the “COLD BATH” and the benefits of being away from the bustling urban port to supplement the medicines that he supplied.  He likely believed that his reputation and experience as a “Chemist and Druggist” made him a trustworthy provider of other health services in the eyes of the public.