Alka-Seltzer is probably one of the most well known remedies out there, but did you know it was invented right here in Elkhart? Formerly produced by Miles Laboratories, it is now owned and operated by Bayer in Elkhart.
Miles Labratories was founded in 1884 by Dr. Franklin Miles. It began by marketing medication prescribed for various illnesses including nervous exhaustion, headaches, insomnia, backaches, epilepsy, and other pains and spasms.
Eventually Albert Beardsley, one of the heirs Elkhart's founding family, bought into Miles Labratories and became the Genral Manager. His nephew, Andrew Hubble Beardsley began working for Miles and upon Miles death in 1929, became the companies first president. It was A. H. Beardsley who assisted in producing of Alka-Seltzer.
During the 1928 flu epidemic, A.H. Beardsley visited the local daily newspaper, The Elkhart Truth. No one was sick. The managing editor gave his staff drinks of asprin and bicarbonate of soda each day. Beardsley took this information back to his chemist, Maurice Treneer, in order to make a tablet of these two componds. Beardsley took these new tablets on a cruise with him and handed them out when passengers were seasick and the coming down with the flu virus that was onbroard. Besides the two passengers that died due to pneumonia, everyone felt better! He began marketing them under the name Alka-Seltzer in 1931. In 1981, 50 years later, the two billionith Alka-Seltzer was produced.
In 1978 Bayer A.G., acquired Miles Labratories for $258 million. By the 1990's Bayer Elkhart employed approximately 2200 people and was reponsible for producing $750 million in products like; Alka-Seltzer, Alka-Seltzer Plus, Flintsone Vitamins, One-A-Day Vitamins, and Bactine aneseptic spray. It is also home to the research and production of Bayer's diabetes, chemistry and food ingredients divisions.
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