THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

August and Leopold Gast came to St Louis in 1852 from the principality of Lippe Detmold and had trained to become lithographers. In 1848 they emigrated to America to New York and eventually to Pittsburgh then on to St Louis . Leopold brought a lithography press with him and the brothers opened a small business on Fourth Street . In 1866, Leopold sold his share of the business to August and the firm became August Gast & Co. In 1876, EF Wittler and LJW Wall became partners in the firm and increased the firm’s customer base. In 1878, Gast bought up the lithographic equipment of the John McKittrick & Co. In 1880, fire destroyed the whole firm. In 1885 August withdrew from the business selling his share to Wittler and Wall. In 1886, Wittler also withdrew selling his share. Wittler moved to Seattle and became a street railway magnate. (From the German Element in St Louis - translation.)

John McKittrick started in the printing business in 1858 working in St. Louis in conjunction with Hart & Mapother out Louisville Kentucky. By 1860, McKittrick started is own firm J. McKittrick & Company. McKittrick printed city views and sheet music covers. He also printed billheads and medical literature. He also printed lithographed letterheads for Nebraska's senate and house representatives in 1877 for which he was paid $15.00. I only have two examples to show of McKittrick's work. You will notice they are similar in that they both have decoratively printed headers. Very pretty to look at. McKittrick ceased printing in 1880 with the increased competition from the Gast brothers. More the Gasts in another post.

Robert Edwin Dietz was born in 1818 at New York . His grandfather kept a tannery in the city and also was the first manufacturer of glue in the city. At age 15 he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter trade with Cornelius McLean. Dietz did not like the work and after a few months left Dietz to work for Cr Taylor a fishing tackle and sporting goods dealer. He remained employed with Taylor until the business failed. He then found a position with the hardware firm Cornell, Althause & Co. In 1834 he became acquainted with Mr. Jennings who had discovered a process of mixing equal parts spirits of turpentine and pure alcohol to produce a bright light called spirit gas. Dietz became very interested this new artificial light. In 1836, Dietz purchased a German lamp and began experimenting with artificial light. In 1837, Dietz soon entered employment with the Adam W. Spies & Co. and became volunteer fireman in the city. In 1839, Dietz booked passage to Mobile Ala...

I recently became interested in private die proprietary medicine stamps as I have handled a lot of ephemera (billheads and letterheads) related to companies that issued these stamps. The stamps are colorful and the pull to start collecting the stamps is pulling at me hard. We'll see where it leads ;) The U.S. imposed a medicine tax stamp on October 1, 1862 to raise revenue to meet the expenses of the Civil War. The U.S. government granted the privilege of preparing the private die stamps to firms who were willing to pay for the die charges. Approximately 277 companies issued their own private stamps prior to the repeal of the stamp tax on March 3, 1883. Here are some examples with accompanying CENTAU R LINIMENT G.G. Green Reuben P. Hall Dr. Harter Dr. D. Jayne & Son J.C. Ayer & Co. John F. Henry & Co. Rumford Chemical Works A.B. Sands Seabury & Johnson S.R. Van Duzer Weeks & Potter