Baur's Pharmacy

Baur’s Pharmacy was a household name in Terre Haute for nearly a century. It was founded by John Jacob Baur, an emigrant from Zurich, Switzerland in 1866. The original business was located on the southeast corner of 7th and Wabash. It was a handsome three-story brick structure, 50’ x 120’, beautifully furnished and widely considered as one of the most attractive in Western Indiana. Especially noteworthy was Mr. Baur’s work ethic. In 1880, Samuel Barnes Gookins, journalist, lawyer, politician and judge of the Supreme Court of Indiana wrote, “Baur probably devoted his time as fully and exclusively to his calling as any many who ever lived in Terre Haute”. As a manufacturing chemist, Mr. Baur’s reputation was known throughout the country. His pharmacy carried a large assortment of drugs, remedies, tinctures, essences, toilet articles, perfumes and many kinds of “fancy goods”. Two of his many famous medicaments include Baur’s Lettuce Lotion for the face and hands and Baur’s Iron, Wine and Peruvian Bark Tonic, a blood remedy and revitalizer for an over-strained body. The Baur’s resided at 202 South 8th Street and the children attended Terre Haute public schools. Absent an advanced formal education himself, Mr. Baur sent sons Jacob and Charles to the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Mr. Baur died suddenly in 1886 while visiting relatives in Switzerland. He was 62. His sons managed the pharmacy after his death.
The original building was razed in 1907 and replaced by the Terre Haute Trust Company with an 8 story edifice.
Meanwhile son Arthur Baur moved the pharmacy to a new site at the northeast corner of 7th and Ohio. Later, Baur’s Pharmacy relocated to 661 Wabash where business was conducted for many years. In 1939 the pharmacy was sold to Albert Joab and subsequently to Benjamin Muncie and Stew Martin, who eventually closed the business in
1960.

Four of Mr. Baur’s children, Jacob, Charles, Arthur and Oscar also made their marks in Terre Haute. Jacob, fascinated as a youngster by carbonated “sodas” made in his father’s pharmacy, invented and marketed a carbonation process in 1888 which revolutionized the industry. In a nutshell he invented the soda fountain and hence founded the Liquid Carbonic Acid Manufacturing Company. Charles became the proprietor of the Terre Haute House for 9 years. Arthur managed Baur’s Pharmacy until his death in 1939. Oscar resurrected operations at the Terre Haute Brewing Company in 1934, which had been idle during 14 years of prohibition. By 1940 it was Indiana's largest brewery and at its peak employed over 900 people. Its Champagne Velvet brand was sold in all 50 states and production had grown from 30,000 barrels a year in 1868 to 202,000 barrels in the late 1930’s.

What began quietly as Baur’s Pharmacy in 1866 evolved into a legacy for the city of Terre Haute. A bronze nameplate of Baur’s Pharmacy along with information about the THBC, Champagne Velvet and Liquid Carbonics is on display at the Vigo County Historical Museum.