Vicks VapoRub is a ‘cool’ made-in-N.C. product

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the “coolest things made in North Carolina” is the ooh-so-soothing, aromatic Vicks VapoRub.

 

Thanks to the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce for reminding us that Vicks was born in a Greensboro drug store in the early 1890s. The famous salve’s menthol smell was…and still is…known for its mystical powers to drive ailments out of the human body. 

Simply, the legendary product was a “chest-soothing, cough-suppressing, head-clearing sensation,” wrote journalist Jimmy Tomlin, a contributor to Our State magazine. 

Pharmacist Lunsford Richardson II came up with the chemical concoction to provide relief for his own son, Henry Smith Richardson. As a child, Smith Richardson suffered from croup – experiencing bouts of coughing and congestion.

 

Lunsford Richardson’s salve – “a strong-smelling ointment combining menthol, camphor, oil of eucalyptus, and several other oils, blended in a base of petroleum jelly – really worked,” Tomlin said. 

“When the salve was rubbed on the patient’s chest, his or her body heat vaporized the menthol, releasing a wave of soothing, medicated vapors that the patient breathed directly into the lungs.” 

The product was first known in 1894 as Richardson’s Croup and Pneumonia Cure Salve. But because that was a mouthful and didn’t easily “fit on the jar,” Richardson changed the product name to Vicks. (Richardson’s business partner was family physician Dr. Joshua Vick and also a brother-in-law.)

 

Linda Evans of the Greensboro Historical Museum said that Lunsford Richardson created more than 20 remedies that he patented and sold under the umbrella of Vick Family Remedies Company. 

She said some of the best were Vicks’ turtle oil liniment, little liver pills, little laxative pills, sarsaparilla, yellow pine tar cough syrup…and grippe knockers (aimed at knocking out “la grippe,” an old-timey phrase for the flu). Yet, Vicks VapoRub was clearly the flagship product. 

Smith Richardson joined the company in 1907, at age 22, as sales manager. He was general manager in 1915, when the business changed its name to Vick Chemical Co.

 

Beginning in 1917, the U.S. Postal Service began to allow mail to be sent to rural mailboxes and simply be addressed “Boxholder.” This change allowed Vicks to send out millions of samples to boxholders, meaning that millions of people could use the VapoRub before having to purchase it. 

Upon the death of Lunsford Richardson in 1919, Smith Richardson assumed the company presidency. (He held that position for nearly 30 years. He stepped aside in 1948. Yet, Smith Richardson continued to serve as chair of the board of directors until 1957.) 

In 1925, Vicks published a children’s booklet to help promote Vicks VapoRub. Written in rhyme, it’s a story about two elves, Blix and Blee, who lived in a bright blue Vicks VapoRub jar. They rescued a frazzled family whose sick child, young Dick, refused to take “nasty-tasting medicines.” The solution: 

“For cold or coughs or croup, like Dick’s / There’s nothing else so good as Vicks,” said Blix.

 

The company diversified beyond VapoRub. 

Vicks Medicated Cough Drops were introduced in 1931, and Vicks VapoInhalers hit the market in 1941. Vicks Cough Syrup came out in 1951, and Vicks Formula 44 Cough Syrup was launched in 1958.

 

Vicks NyQuil was introduced in 1966 as the first multi-symptom cold medicine and was named for its “nighttime tranquility.” It became famous as “the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest…medicine.” 

It was followed by DayCare (later rebranded as DayQuil).

 

Today, the Vicks brands are all part of Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company (P&G), based in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

P&G operates two plants in Greensboro and recently committed $110 million to expand one of its facilities there to increase production capacity for Vicks as “the world’s Number One selling over-the-counter cough and cold brand.” 

P&G also boasts: “VapoRub continues to have a powerful sensation of smell; it’s the third most recognized scent in the world behind only peanut butter and coffee.”