Chicago has always surpassed other cities in medicine and industry, making it a natural center for medical product manufacturing. In fact, Chicago has been home to numerous world-changing innovations, including the development of antibiotics, blood transfusions, and more. We’ll explore how the pharmaceutical industry began in the city and who the key players were at chicago1.one.
Pharmaceutical Drugs Created in Chicago
The city’s pharmaceutical sector was born in the 1800s. Chicago’s first apothecary, Philo Carpenter, arrived in 1832 and opened a drugstore on Lake Street. Another notable figure was Frederick Thomas, Chicago’s first barber-surgeon, who retailed drugs in addition to performing bloodletting and pulling teeth.
The real development of pharmaceuticals in Chicago arguably began in 1844, when David Smith opened a pharmacy that soon became a national distributor of homeopathic medicines.
The founding of Rush Medical College in 1837 made Chicago a center for medical education, and in 1859, the Chicago College of Pharmacy was established on Dearborn Street. It struggled through difficult times in the 1860s and closed, only to reopen in 1870. However, less than a week after classes began, the college was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire. Thanks to donations, a new building was constructed on State Street, and it reopened in 1872. Another institution, the Illinois College of Pharmacy, was founded in 1886 and became a school of Northwestern University five years later.
What Did the First Pharmacists Do?
In early Chicago, the retail drug business consisted mainly of elixirs and powders, which were constantly advertised in newspapers in the 1830s. Small pharmacies, like the one run by Edmund Kimberly, began to appear in the suburbs, creating stiff competition for bookstores, many of which held franchises to sell certain medicines.
The Civil War created a huge demand for medicinal drugs and spurred the growth of the retail trade. Soon, several drugstores were operating in every city block.
By the late 19th century, the retail drug trade was flourishing, thanks to industry and science. The Industrial Revolution, with its manufacturing methods that could be applied to mass-produce medicines, coincided with numerous scientific developments that led to new derivative compounds.
Although European firms dominated drug manufacturing, the catalog of the Chicago company G. D. Searle listed about 400 fluid extracts, 150 elixirs, 100 syrups, 25 tinctures, and other medicinal forms. Many of these were sold at the first Walgreen’s pharmacy. Its shelves also featured soaps, tooth powders, herbal tonics, perfumes, and pills for various ailments. Along the aisles stood cabinets and racks of medical goods. At the far end of the store was a wooden partition where pharmacists prepared prescriptions, hidden from customers’ view. In general, drugstores were rather gloomy and uninviting places, yet they played a central role in every neighborhood. The corner druggist, often called “doc,” would diagnose illnesses and compound remedies from various ingredients.
After the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, pharmacists spent less time compounding medicines and, thinking more about their bottom line, began stocking their stores with a wider variety of goods.
Chicago’s Pharmaceutical Giants
By the end of the 19th century, pharmaceutical manufacturing had also become a vital part of Chicago’s economy. One of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Abbott Laboratories, was founded in 1888. Around this time, Dr. Wallace Abbott began producing alkaloidal granules that allowed for precise dosages of medicine. In 1900, the enterprise was incorporated as the Abbott Alkaloidal Company and was renamed Abbott Laboratories in 1915. In the 1920s, it opened its manufacturing plant in North Chicago. In 1936, its scientists developed the drug Pentothal, and in 1942, the company became one of the top five in the U.S. to begin producing penicillin. In the latter half of the century, its important products included new antibiotics and hypertension medications. In 1996, Abbott Laboratories began worldwide sales of the drug Norvir for AIDS patients.
In 1890, an Omaha druggist named Gideon Searle moved to Chicago, where he began manufacturing remedies for syphilis and amoebic dysentery. In 1908, he founded G. D. Searle & Co., which over the century developed medications for constipation and motion sickness and released the first oral contraceptive pill in the United States.
By the beginning of the 21st century, Chicago’s largest medical and pharmaceutical manufacturers were operating outside the city, with large headquarters and production facilities located in the suburbs.
Manufacturing and Sale of Surgical Instruments
Throughout the 19th century, American physicians either designed their own surgical instruments or ordered them from Europe. In the 1880s, the Chicago firm Charles Truax & Co. revolutionized the production of surgical instruments by creating simplified, standard designs and applying mass-production methods to what had previously been an individual craft. Charles Truax moved to Chicago in 1884, having opened a medical supply store in Iowa in 1878. Within five years, his surgical instrument sales grew twentyfold. Truax recognized the new importance of antiseptics in medicine, creating the first line of aseptic surgical instruments that could be sterilized. In addition to its innovations in design and production, Charles Truax & Co. was known for its patenting and marketing practices. Its catalog was 1,500 pages long, and its products were so popular that physicians visiting the World’s Columbian Exposition made a point to visit the company’s headquarters. Charles Truax secured an honored place in medical history by publishing a major work in 1899 that became the first to establish a standard nomenclature for surgical instruments.
By the time Charles Truax & Co. dissolved in the 1920s, Chicago had become the nation’s leading center for medical manufacturing. City directories at the turn of the century listed 74 manufacturers of surgical and dental instruments. The leading firm in the city at that time was V. Mueller & Co., which sold medical instruments and was founded by Vincenz Mueller in 1898. In addition to surgical instruments, Chicago manufacturers produced other medical goods such as prosthetics and pharmacy scales. Medline Industries, a manufacturer of nurse gowns founded in Chicago in 1910, is today the largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare supplies in the U.S. Its more than 70,000 products include bandages, gowns, and wheelchairs.
A true giant in Chicago’s medical manufacturing industry is Baxter International. In 1929, Dr. Donald Baxter developed a method for producing safer intravenous (IV) solutions, which medical staff had previously mixed themselves. With two partners, he founded Baxter International in 1931 and soon opened a large production facility in a former garage. The company’s success was driven by both innovative research and development and the elimination of competitors. The company’s efforts to achieve a dominant position in the medical supply industry began in the 1950s when it acquired laboratories that produced plasma and blood products.