UNC alumnus was known as ‘Bromo-Seltzer King’

One of the most iconic and colorful graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was Isaac Edward Emerson, Class of 1879. Color him cobalt blue…like the old glass bottles of Bromo-Seltzer. 

Emerson, a pharmacy major in college, became a druggist in Baltimore, Md., and invented Bromo-Seltzer in 1888 to relieve headaches and other ailments. He was marketing genius.

 

An early slogan for the effervescent antacid and analgesic, proclaimed: “If you keep late hours for Society’s sake, Bromo-Seltzer will cure that headache.” 

Erik Hesselberg, writing for the Hartford (Conn.) Courant, said: “A ‘bromo’ was the ubiquitous cure for a hangover. In the movies, bleary-eyed characters Nick and Nora Charles in the “Thin Man” (1934) were often consuming the bubbly beverage instead of breakfast.” 

One review noted that on the set, film stars William Powell and Myrna Loy “enjoyed copious gin drinking and flirtatious banter.”

 

With Bromo-Seltzer, the entrepreneurial Emerson truly went from being a farm boy from Chatham County, N.C., to becoming a multi-millionaire. 

Bromo-Seltzer took its name from a component of the original formula, sodium bromide. The product was sold as effervescent granules that were mixed with water before ingestion. 

The “eccentric Mr. Emerson” organized the Maryland Naval Reserves in 1894 and became the unit’s commander, known as “Capt. Ike.” It is said that he personally financed an entire Naval squadron during the Spanish-American War in 1898. 

In 1895, the Baltimore American newspaper said that as the “Bromo-Seltzer King,” Emerson “is progressive, enterprising and public spirited...he interests himself thoroughly in everything tending to advance our city and is a patron of all worthy enterprises seeking to push Baltimore to the front.” 

Emerson’s gift to Baltimore in 1911 was the construction of a new landmark – the Emerson/Bromo-Seltzer Tower, a 15-story structure that is 289 feet tall.

 

The original tower was topped by a massive 51-foot revolving replica of the blue Bromo-Seltzer bottle with a crown on top. It was illuminated with 596 blue lights and could be seen 20 miles away. Due to structural concerns, the 17-ton bottle was removed in 1936. 

The tower features the largest four-dial, gravity-driven, non-chiming clock in the world; it’s bigger than London’s Big Ben.

 

Appreciative of his alma mater in Chapel Hill, Emerson donated funds to build Emerson Field in 1916, which was used as the UNC’s main athletic field for football, track and baseball. It was hailed as a state-of-the-art athletic facility, providing seating for 3,000 spectators. 

The football team quickly outgrew the field, moving to Kenan Stadium in 1927, and track events moved to Fetzer Field in 1935, but the baseball team remained at Emerson through 1965. 

The field was cleared in 1967 to accommodate construction of the student union and the campus library. 

Emerson died in 1931 at age 71, but the Emerson Drug Co., continued to operate until it was acquired by Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Co. in 1956. 

The Bromo-Seltzer brand has since changed hands several times but is now part of Tower Laboratories Ltd. in Essex, Conn., owned by Norman Needleman, who is also a Connecticut state senator. 

The product has been reformulated and repackaged to appeal to contemporary consumers, Needleman said. “The traditional Bromo-Seltzer bottle containing the product in granulated form has been replaced with packets in packages.”

 

In 2007, the Emerson/Bromo-Seltzer Tower in Baltimore was rescued from demolition by local philanthropists, working in partnership with the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts. The tower now houses 33 artists’ studios and public museum.