Building the Old West

Since the next building is the Doctor/Dentist/Surgeon’s home/office I decided he’s a bit of a quack too so he sells a lot of patent medicines.  In project terms, there will be a lot more bills plastered in and around his office.

Traveling medicine shows with their weird patent medicines were an iconic part of the Old West. However it was a surprisingly sophisticated marketing and distribution network. There were entire companies devoted to making these medicines.  Each had its own twist, like the Quaker Healers, which had absolutely nothing to do with the actual Quaker religion (more formally the Religious Society of Friends).  These shows specifically counted on no one knowing anything about actual Quakers but delivered a caricature of what was popularly imagined to be a Quaker with “ liberal use of thee and thou” in their speech to sell their supposed natural remedies.

But the big companies specialized in Indian shows.  One company even completely invented an entire Indian tribe and created a whole history in order to sell these native cures.

These companies would sell you their brand but give you free printed materials for advertising. Good deal for the traveling shows as they needed to advertise to draw in big enough crowds.  But if you wanted, you could instead buy the same medicine but the supplier would happily put your label on it.  But you didn’t get the free printed material.

Billboard magazine, which still exists, had one audience. The traveling medicine show. They had ads for products, help wanted announcements for traveling shows, advice and how to articles. Think of it as the OTT for medicine shows.

It’s a really fascinating topic and I highly recommend a book called Step Right Up by Brooks McNamara if you want to learn more.