The Mentholatum Company, Inc. is a maker of non-prescription health care products founded in 1889 by Albert Alexander Hyde in the United States. It was bought out by Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., a Japanese health care company, in 1988. The Mentholatum Company is known for its top three products, Mentholatum Ointment, Mentholatum Deep Heating Rub (branded as "Deep Heat" outside of the United States), and Mentholatum Lip Care. The Mentholatum Company also produces Fletcher's Laxative, a product line purchased in 1984 from

Sterling Drug Sterling Drug was an American based global pharmaceutical company. It was also known as Sterling Winthrop, Inc., after the merger with Winthrop-Stearns Inc. which itself resulted from the merger of Winthrop Chemical Company Inc. and Frederick Ste ...

. The Mentholatum Building in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2017.

History

Beginning (1889–1935)

The beginning of The Mentholatum Company started when Albert Alexander Hyde left the real estate market in 1889. With the collapse of the market, Hyde established a new partnership called The Yucca Company, located in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, which focused on manufacturing and marketing shaving creams, laundry soap, and toilet soap. The Yucca Company was the beginning of The Mentholatum Company. When The Yucca Company started manufacturing a cough syrup containing a blend of

camphor Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel (''Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the kapu ...

and

menthol Menthol is an organic compound, specifically a Monoterpene, monoterpenoid, that occurs naturally in the oils of several plants in the Mentha, mint family, such as Mentha arvensis, corn mint and peppermint. It is a white or clear waxy crystallin ...

, named Vest Pocket Cough Specific, Hyde became intrigued by the soothing and anti-inflammatory effects of

. After 4 years of research and experimentation, the company introduced the original "Mentholatum Ointment" in December 1894, which consisted of a combination of

and

petrolatum Petroleum jelly, petrolatum (), white petrolatum, soft paraffin, or multi-hydrocarbon, CAS number 8009-03-8, is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons (with carbon numbers mainly higher than 25), originally promoted as a Topical medication, topica ...

. The product was so successful that in 1903, Hyde opened a second office in Buffalo, New York, to handle sales and distribution east of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. In 1906, The Yucca Co. officially incorporated the name "The Mentholatum Company" after its flagship product, and no longer sold soap. In 1909 a new factory was built in

, and in 1919, a second factory was built in Buffalo. The Wichita factory was closed after Hyde's death in 1935, and the corporate offices were moved to

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, in 1937 and later to Buffalo in 1945.

Japanese expansion and acquisition (1913–1988)

Their products spread to Japan through the missionary work of the American, William Merrell Vories. Vories acquired the rights to sell Mentholatum products in Japan in 1913. From 1920, he imported and sold "Mentholatum" through his company The Omi Sales Company. Business continued to thrive in Japan even after Vories died in 1964, but eventually went bankrupt in 1974. In 1975, a Japanese pharmaceutical company Rohto Pharmaceutical Co. gained trademark rights to ''Mentholatum'' from The Mentholatum Company, leading to the manufacture and successful sales of Mentholatum Ointment and Mentholatum Medicated Lip Stick. Rohto acquired The Mentholatum Company Inc. in June 1988. * Online version:

International expansion (1988–1999)

In October 1991, The Mentholatum Zhongshan Pharmaceuticals was founded in

Zhongshan Zhongshan ( zh, c=中山 ), alternately romanized via Cantonese as Chungshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is n ...

Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, as a joint venture company as well as the headquarters for Chinese expansion. In May 1996, Mentholatum's eye drops began local production and sales in China. P.T. Rohto Laboratories,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and a new Tokyo Branch Office was also established in September and December 1996, respectively. In 1998, Mentholatum moved its headquarters to Sterling Drive in

Orchard Park, New York Orchard Park is an incorporated Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Erie County, New York, United States. It is an outer ring suburb southeast of Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 census, the po ...

. In the mid-1999, the company released a new eye product called Zi, which is designed to cool and refresh the eyes with natural

and pH-balanced purified water solution. Later that year, Zi for Eyes was named "Best New Eyecare Product" in the 1999 Superdrug Health & Beauty Awards. The company continued to manufacture new products, such as Migraine Ice (chill pads for migraine sufferers), Softlips Lip Protectant, Deep Heating Rub, Natural Ice Medicated Lip Balm, Pain Patch, Fisherman's Friend cough drops, Fletcher's Castoria, Red Cross Toothache Remedy, Red Cross Canker Sore Medication, and of course, its original Mentholatum Ointment. By the end of 1999, Mentholatum alone had roughly more than $150 million worth of annual sales.

Mentholatum in the 21st century

As of 2005, the company sells its products in more than 130 countries. Mentholatum acquired the Oxy Skin Care branding (but not all the product formulas) from

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

in December 2005, and targeted the younger, teen audience with new diversified offerings, packaging, and scents. The company further acquired the

Phisoderm Phisoderm is a skin detergent which assists persons who are allergic to soap and Phisohex, a detergent and sudsless cleanser which prevents the spread of infections. In the 1950s, both Phisoderm and Phisohex were manufactured by Winthrop Laborator ...

brand from Chattem Inc. for $9.6 million on November 30, 2005. In September 2014, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary.

The Mentholatum Company Buildings

The Mentholatum Company Building, also known as the Garrett Leather Building, is a historic

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

building located in Buffalo,

Erie County, New York Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York (state), New York State. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the population was 954,236. However, in the 2023 census, the Erie County population was 946,147 ...

. The original section was built in 1919, and is a four-story,

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

daylight factory building. It has a rectangular plan and is eight bays wide by five bays deep and has a flat roof. A one-story garage / loading dock addition was constructed in 1947, and expanded in 1966. The Mentholatum Company operated out of the building until 1997. ''Note:'' This includes an
''Accompanying photographs''
/ref> The building has been redeveloped as an apartment building known as The Mentholatum.

The Mentholatum Company Building at 1300 East Douglas in Wichita, Kansas is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places ( National Register of Historic Places listings in Sedgwick County, Kansas). It was designed by Wichita architect U. G. Charles and built by the Wurster Construction Company in 1908. It is associated with the founder of Mentholatum, A. A. Hyde.

References

External links

Mentholatum - The Official Global Corporate websiteThe Mentholatum apartment buildingBuffalo Rising: First Look: Mentholatum (August 2017)Buffalo Rising: Construction Watch: Mentholatum Conversion Underway (February 2017)Buffalo Rising: Ciminelli Ready to Start Mentholatum Conversion (January 2017)Buffalo Rising: Done Deal: Ciminelli Buys Garrett Leather Building (February 2016)
{{Authority control Pharmaceutical companies of the United States Pharmaceutical companies established in 1889 1889 establishments in Kansas Health care companies based in New York (state) Companies based in Erie County, New York American subsidiaries of foreign companies Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Industrial buildings completed in 1919 Buildings and structures in Buffalo, New York National Register of Historic Places in Buffalo, New York Rohto Pharmaceutical