Established by James William Richardson (1817-1893) as an outgrowth of an older company, initially under the name Richardson + Co., and by 1884 as the Richardson Drug Company, the family drug concern became one of the nation's largest. The firm had an importing office in New York (44 Cedar Street) and multiple branches. Products such as Brunker's Carmative Balsam, Febrifuge, Fritsch's Prussian Cough Syrup, Kaskine, Londonderry Lithia Water, Tyler's Headache Antidote, and Hill + Loekert's Iron Tonic Syrup regularly appeared in company advertisements in regional newspapers.
"Cures Every Time: Never Known to Fail, Clifford's Febrifuge." Undated advertisement, printed by Gies & Co., Buffalo, New York.
James named his eldest son Joseph Clifford (J. Clifford) his Richardson + Co. co-partner in January 1871. Working as a manufacturing chemist, J. Clifford developed Clifford's Febrifuge, an anti-malarial tonic "free from all poisonous effects". The product was widely promoted from Michigan to the Gulf.
With the dissolution of Richardson + Co. and its replacement with the Richardson Drug Company in 1884, James appointed J. Clifford the company's vice president-manager and son James its secretary-treasurer. When the elder James retired, J. Clifford assumed the presidency. After a fire destroyed the Richardson Drug Company's headquarters (New Year's Day, 1889), the Meyer Brothers Drug Company purchased most of Richardson's drug operations and took over the company's lease at Fourth and Clark. J. Clifford Richardson maintained his interest in the Richardson Drug Company of Omaha, Nebraska. When he died in 1899, Mary inherited the Omaha business and continued its ownership. A provision in her will required the sale of Richardson Drug Company stock for the purpose of establishing a memorial to her husband at the "permanent St. Louis art museum."
J. Clifford Richardson established the Rio Chemical Company at Main and Locusts Streets in St. Louis circa 1884. The operation specialized in chemical manufacturing, particularly curatives marketed for women's health and to those suffering from addiction. The company employed both people of color and women. By 1899, the company had branches in London, Paris, Calcutta, and Montreal. After Richardson's death, Mary inherited all the stock and interest in the company. Frank Lawrence relocated the company to New York (79 Barrow Street), where it continued to make and sell its dysmennorhea tonic, Aletris Cordial, and popular nerve tonic, Celerina.(1) Mary's will directed ownership transfer to her two nieces, Mrs. Henrietta More and Mrs. Katherine Heard.
Rio Chemical Co., Aletris Cordial Rio. Circa 1900-1909. Advertisement by K. Co., NY. Images from the History of Medicine. URL: https://collections-us-east-1.awsprod.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101713084-img
From 1887 The Industries of Saint Louis. Her Relations as a Center of Trade. Manufacturing Establishments and Business Houses, by J.W. Leonard:
Rio Chemical Company. — Manufacturers of Medical Specialties for Physicians; Northwest Corner of Main and Locust streets, St. Louis; 16 Coleman street, London, E. C., England, and 5 Rue de la Paix, Paris, France; J. C. Richardson, President; Frank Lawrence, Vice-President; H. A. Siegrist, Secretary and Treasurer. — This well-known chemical house has been in successful existence for many years, and its physicians' specialties have given to it a world-wide reputation with the medical profession. The specialties manufactured by this company are: Celerina, aletris cordial, pinus canadensis, white and dark, and acid mannate. The sales are very large, and scattered throughout the United States and European countries. The manufactory and offices were located on Second street for many years, but the quarters having become too small for the greatly increased business, the present elegant and spacious building at the northwest corner Main and Locust streets was secured and remodeled to suit the purposes for which it is required and possession taken January 1St. The universal excellence of the preparations of this company have made them the standards in the medical world. See: https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-twain%3A10933
(1) Nickell, Joe. "Celerina: Quackery with Cocaine." Center for Inquiry (19 January 2018). URL: https://centerforinquiry.org/blog/celerina_quackery_with_cocaine/
Rio Chemical Co. Celerina. St. Louis, MO. Undated. USC School of Medicine Digital Collections. URL: https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/med/id/5772/
1882 Brown Back $50-$100 proof, approved June 13, 1891. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.
After divesting of most of the Richardson Drug Company interests, J. Clifford Richardson organized the Chemical National Bank April 7, 1891 and obtained its charter June 1, 1891. During an 1897 consolidation, the bank was liquidated and absorbed by the Third National Bank. J. Clifford Richardson became Third National's president on April 1, 1897.
For more information about the bank's history, see "Chemical National Bank, Saint Louis, MO (Charter 4575)." Bank Note History. URL: https://banknotehistory.spmc.org/wiki/Chemical_National_Bank,_Saint_Louis,_MO_(Charter_4575)
Between 1895 and 1897, J. Clifford Richardson erected a steel skyscraper at the corner of Eighth and Olive Streets on the site of the old four-story Erskine building in St. Louis. Designed by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb and built by Johnson & Bros. of Omaha, Nebraska, the new structure was intended as a corporate enterprise. Richardson filed articles of incorporation for the Chemical Building Company as site clearance progressed. The project was plagued by foundation challenges and delayed steel shipments.
Lawyers, architects, dentists, tailors and other professionals leased spaces in the sixteen-story building when it opened in 1897. Lippe's Oyster and Chop House was located in the basement, and candy and tobacco shops occupied the first floor.
Upon J. Clifford's death, Mary inherited his shares and interest in the company. The building's popularity necessitated the construction of an addition in 1903, sympathetically designed by St. Louis architects Mauran, Russell and Garden on the site of the recently razed Turner building. The United States Weather Bureau occupied an upper floor, the fifteenth of sixteen floors, deeming the "high altitude" more favorable to establish a signal station for more accurate forecasting and essential for the anticipated Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
Mary remained a primary stockholder until her death, when her interest in the Chemical Building Company passed to her two nieces, Mrs. Henrietta More and Mrs. Katherine Heard.