G.F. Harvey Company

The G.F. Harvey Company was a pharmaceutical manufacturer headquartered in Saratoga Springs, New York between 1890 and 1958.

Former G.F. Harvey Company Headquarters, 5 Wells Street, Saratoga Springs NY (1939)

History
Former factory of G.F. Harvey Company in 2016

The company was started around 1880[1] by George F. Harvey, originally from Vermont, who moved to Saratoga Springs and began operations out of his home on Church Street. There he developed and improved machinery to manufacture medicine in pill form, a major improvement on the then-common liquids and powders.[2] In 1889 Harvey went into business with Sidney Rickard and New York State Senator Edgar T. Brackett. The three incorporated the G.F. Harvey Company with a capital of $250,000 and constructed a three-story building on Waterbury Street in Saratoga Springs for manufacturing.[3] By 1907 the company employed 100 people plus 66 traveling salesmen.[4]

In 1939 Harvey built a new administration and research building on Wells Street around the corner from the manufacturing facility.

The company had a distribution center in Peoria, Illinois, which suffered a disastrous fire in 1943.[5] It also had local agents in Mille Roches, Ontario and London, England.

In 1958 Harvey was sold and became the Bard Saratoga Labs of Bard Pharmaceuticals. It finally ceased operation in 1960.[6]

Products
1902 G.F.Harvey advertisement

By 1895 the company manufactured "five hundred kinds of pills, granules, tablet triturates, fluid extracts, powders, suppositories, tinctures, syrups and elixirs. The company also carried a line of surgical instruments and physicians' supplies."[3] A popular product was "Saratoga Ointment", a topical medication containing zinc oxide, boric acid, and eucalyptol in a suet base.

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References
  1. G.F. Harvey Company (1950). History of the G.F. Harvey Company to 1950. Saratoga Springs Public Library - Saratoga Room.
  2. Palmer, Hollis. "Saratoga's Victorian Ladies: A Look Inside the Mingay House". Saratoga Today. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  3. Starr, Timothy (2010). Lost Industries of Saratoga County. Charleston, SC: The History Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-60949-079-9.
  4. Weeks, David Chapin (1979). Saratoga County at work, 1865-1918. Ballston Spa, NY: Brookside Museum. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  5. "Peoria Fire Costs Harvey Company $30,000 in Stock" (PDF). The Saratogian. January 22, 1943. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  6. Horne, Field (1995). Guide to the Records of Businesses in the Saratoga Springs Public Library. Saratoga Springs Public Library.
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