Ghost Signs
That is, signs that have faded over time. These, on a building in downtown Racine, WI; are quite old and nearly illegible. Near the front of the building it says Dewey's, which was the name of a business. Behind that I think is an ad for Black Jack gum. Finally there's "Use Dr Giffin's Diphtheria Cure".
7-26-2020 - From the Journal Times: This long-lived Downtown Racine ghost sign along Third St. between Main St. and Washington Ave. advertises Dr. Giffin's Diphtheria Cure and Preventive, a patent medicine developed and marketed in 1893 by Neenah physician Dr. L.W. Giffen (1853-1902). At the time, diphtheria, a toxic bacterial infection, was a gruesome killer with no known cause and a plethora of ineffective treatments, including a host of patent medicines "cures." Giffin practiced medicine in Neenah from 1884-1899, and on the sideline produced and marketed his patented Giffen Medicine Co. elixirs, Dr. Giffin's Dihptheria Cure and its successor, Muco-Solvent, from 1893-1902. The medicine on its 1893 debut was marketed as "a sure septic for all diseases of the throat" that could be "procured from any druggist at the trifling cost of $1.00" and "arrest the fatalities of the disease if taken in time." Giffin's 1902 obituary reported that Giffin was "widely known ... throughout the country as the discoverer and maker of a diphtheria cure." An actual cure for diphtheria, a vaccine first developed in France in 1913 and billed as "one of the seven wonders of the modern world," was not widely available until the 1920s.
For the All New Scavenger Hunt #20 - Ghost Sign.
Ghost Signs
That is, signs that have faded over time. These, on a building in downtown Racine, WI; are quite old and nearly illegible. Near the front of the building it says Dewey's, which was the name of a business. Behind that I think is an ad for Black Jack gum. Finally there's "Use Dr Giffin's Diphtheria Cure".
7-26-2020 - From the Journal Times: This long-lived Downtown Racine ghost sign along Third St. between Main St. and Washington Ave. advertises Dr. Giffin's Diphtheria Cure and Preventive, a patent medicine developed and marketed in 1893 by Neenah physician Dr. L.W. Giffen (1853-1902). At the time, diphtheria, a toxic bacterial infection, was a gruesome killer with no known cause and a plethora of ineffective treatments, including a host of patent medicines "cures." Giffin practiced medicine in Neenah from 1884-1899, and on the sideline produced and marketed his patented Giffen Medicine Co. elixirs, Dr. Giffin's Dihptheria Cure and its successor, Muco-Solvent, from 1893-1902. The medicine on its 1893 debut was marketed as "a sure septic for all diseases of the throat" that could be "procured from any druggist at the trifling cost of $1.00" and "arrest the fatalities of the disease if taken in time." Giffin's 1902 obituary reported that Giffin was "widely known ... throughout the country as the discoverer and maker of a diphtheria cure." An actual cure for diphtheria, a vaccine first developed in France in 1913 and billed as "one of the seven wonders of the modern world," was not widely available until the 1920s.
For the All New Scavenger Hunt #20 - Ghost Sign.