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Peter Van Vleet - Van Vleet-Mansfield Drugs,
...the
Van Vleet Mansion and old Tech High School |
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Memphis was once the
fundamental leader in the wholesale drug market and took great pride
in being the home to Van Vleet-Mansfield Drug Co., one of the
largest drug firms in the United States,
The name of this firm became a household word
throughout the South. Peter Van Vleet, president of the
company, was the guiding spirit behind the name. He was born
in Michigan in 1849 and came to Memphis in 1871 and became a
successful man in every undertaking. His life was a series of
successes, which culminated in the Van Vleet-Mansfield Drug Co.
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Peter P. Van Vleet
was raised in a well-respected Michigan family and completed his
education at Kalamazoo College. Leaving Michigan in 1871, he headed
south toward Charleston, South Carolina. His boat made a stop
in Memphis and Van Vleet was facininated by its charm and
immediately recognized the great potential of the city. He
decided to call it home. After working as a drug
clerk for fourteen years, Van Vleet established his own wholesale
drug firm called Van Vleet & Co. in 1884. He enjoyed 10
prosperous years of business and then merged with three local
wholesale drug companies and established the Van Vleet-Mansfield
Drug Co. around 1895. He created this colossal pattern of success through
his guidance and by his service-driven attitude. The result
was one of the largest and most progressive wholesale drug companies
in the country. |
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Click on small
photos to see an enlargement |
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Van Vleet & Company is listed in the 1886 Memphis Directories
at 361 Main - almost next door to the Mansfield Drug Co.
That listing continues until 1894. In 1895 the listing
changes to Van Vleet-Mansfield and the address changes to
322-324 Main
(The re-numbering of Main Street changed the address to 48-54
S. Main in 1905).
This
is the address where the Pantages-Warners Theatre will be
built in 1920. The Van Vleet-Mansfield Drug company
remains at this address until they move to their new building
at Second and Gayoso in 1917. |
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Van Vleet Drugs ...48-54 S. Main |
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Peter Van
Vleet |
Van Vleet 1910s |
Van Vleet 1910s |
Van Vleet 1906 |
Paperweight |
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The Van Vleet-Mansfield Drug Company occupied the entire 6 floors of
the 48-54 S. Main Street building. There were 175 full-time
employees. In addition the company maintained a warehouse on
Monroe. It was a major Memphis business.
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Van Vleet & Co Envelope 1889
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Van Vleet-Mansfield 1899 |
Van-Vleet-Mansfield 1927 |
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Samuel
Mansfield began as an apothecary in Memphis in 1840.
Around 1870 he entered into partnership with Hugh H. Higbee to
manufacture proprietary medicines. These included Mansfield's
Hungarian Balsam for the Lungs, Mansfield's Eclectic Pile Salve
and Mansfield's Mississippi Diarrohea Cordial, among others.
The
major product sold by Mansfield's Company was the "La
Creole" line of hair dressings. This preparation was originally called
the "Louisiana Creole Hair Restorer".
Around
1894 Mansfield's company was acquired by Van Vleet Drugs and the La
Creole products became a major line for the Van Vleet-Mansfield
Drug Co. and they registered a Trade-Mark for "La Creole" in
1907.
>
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All Van Vleet products
and advertising are very collectible today. |
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Jug |
Mercury Bottle |
Drug Bottle |
Drug Bottle |
Various Hair Dye Products |
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Compact 1900 |
Hard Candy |
Hair
Dressing |
1919 Ad |
Tape Measure |
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Chickasaw Syringe Box |
La Creole |
Van Vleet Spoons |
1916 Rendering |
Paperweight |
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The
Van Vleet-Mansfield Drug Co. built their new building on the
corner of Second and Gayoso and moved in upon its completion
in 1917. The company merged with McKesson-Robbins
around 1929 and the new company continued to use the building
until the 1980s.
For the last 30 years the Van-Vleet building was home to
The Fulmer Companies headquarters and distribution center.
This historic building has very recently been completely renovated into a
mixed-use facility with 60 loft apartments and 15,000 sq ft of
commercial space. It's new name is "Van Vleet Flats". |
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Van Vleet
Flats - today |
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More Van Vleet-Mansfield
memorabilia ... |
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| 1904 Invoice |
1901 Ad |
Mansfield
1887 |
Mansfield
1861 |
M.
1860 |
Magazine
Article |
Spoon |
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<
The Van Vleet
Company published this miniature 2 1/4" x 2 3/4" book of
"Gentleman Jim". It's very rare to find one of these still
around. The last two pages are advertising. |
| Cover |
Introduction |
0 - 1 |
2 - 3 |
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<
Peter
Van Vleet and his wife Ramelle lived in a beautiful Memphis
home at 1266 Poplar Avenue. The home was called "Chetolah", a native
American name, meaning "this peaceful place". Here they
raised their 2 daughters and son and continued to travel
around the world. The home had been originally
built in 1856 by Q. C. Atkinson, and after several other
owners, it and the 20 acres were sold by W. A. Williams to
Peter Van Vleet for $30,000. The Van Vleet's added
a grand ballroom off the foyer along with modern improvements
and decorated the home in the modern style. |
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The home was Greek Revival design
with 4 grand Corinthian columns and a portico. There were
large greenhouses out back with exotic tropical plants and a huge curved
stone bench which the Van Vleet's had purchased overseas. In
addition, they had also brought back many other massive treasures from
their travels around the world. The home was
surrounded by a brick wall with wrought iron entry gates at the East
and West corners. The gates were guarded by large stone lions
brought back from the Van Vleet's travels. A driveway curving to the front of the
house, connected the two entry gates. |
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Chetolah
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Chetolah
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Entry
Gates - Lions 1909 |
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Peter Van Vleet died in 1915 and
Mrs. Van Vleet sold the mansion and the 20 acres to the City of Memphis
in 1926, for the sum
of $90,000. It was to be used as a site for the new Memphis Technical High School.
After many years in the old "Castle building" on Poplar, Old Tech
moved to its new quarters in 1928. The architect had
incorporated into his design the same 4 Corinthian columns and
portico, and the same brick entry gates with those stone lions
guarding the gate. |
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Tech 1945 |
Tech 1930 |
Tech Entry
Gates - Lions1928 |
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< In
1926 the Memphis School Board signed this "Guarantee" to pay to
the heirs of Peter Van Vleet the sum of $90,000 for the tract of
land on Poplar where the old Tech High building is now located.
The school board also paid an additional $470 for this
"Guarantee". The 1926 Commercial Appeal
article on the right verifies the sale at $90,000
> |
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1926 Guarantee |
1926 Guarantee |
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Commercial
Appeal 1926 |
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| The Tech
building today |
Two giant
urns and that curved stone bench - today |
An entry
gate today |
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< What happened to
the stone lion sculptures?
They were donated to the
Memphis Zoo many years ago and are still there.
Originally they were part of the zoo's entry gate, but as the
zoo enlarged, they are now located inside.
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| The Tech
Lions at the Zoo. |
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Update
March 2017: Email from Ray Gill of Gill
Properties Inc.
"...the columns,
balcony, door and window accents that are on my house ... came
from the Van Vleet house on Poplar. My mother's father
Cordra York built (my) house and I understand he bought the
columns, etc ... when the city tore down the Van Vleet house.
He stored them for several years until he built the house I live
in ... on Yorkshire ... in 1939."
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Ray Gill |
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The front columns are easily recognizable, as are the door and
window accents - the balcony, not so easy. Mr. Gill states
that the columns are hollow and made of wood with iron trim.
He has climbed into the portico attic to look down into the columns
to verify that they are hollow. For more information about the
Gill Home, read the Memphis Magazine article
>
http://memphismagazine.com/features/the-heart-of-the-matter/
*
Thank you Mr. Gill for this important footnote of historic
information and for your photos. |
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Peter Van Vleet died in 1915 of a
heart attack. He was 66 and was interred in the family
mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis. His son McKay
Van Vleet became President of Van Vleet-Mansfield and continued to run the family business. |
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Additional
- Related Memorabilia
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Van Vleet & Co Envelope 1894
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Pharmaceutical
Magazine 1915 |
Van Vleet & Co Envelope 1890
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<
In
1871 the Mansfield-Higbee Company ordered a private Die Stamp
and issued stamps in pairs and in sets of four. The
total number of stamps issued until 1875 was 1,354,100, all on
silk paper.
When
the company name changed to Samuel Mansfield, the name changed
on the stamps. Look carefully or you'll miss the name
change. All of these stamps are very collectible. |
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Mansfield-Higbee |
S. Mansfield & Co |
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When Q. C. Atkinson built this mansion in 1856, it was a
common practice in Memphis during this period for architects to build
additional homes from the same design. In addition
to the Atkinson mansion, he also built four other models.
We have no other details or photos but the 4 others were on Harbert Avenue - now demolished, The Cherry Home, The Gaston
Home in Gaston Park, and the Bethel home in Bethel
Grove.
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Van Vleet Home 1926 |
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Van Vleet Home 1904 |
W. D. Bethel Home 1891 |
Van Vleet Look alike |
Van Vleet Look alike |
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The Van Vleet Foundation
was created in 1962 by Harriet Smith Van Vleet. She was the
widow of McKay Van Vleet, who, with his father, Peter D. Van
Vleet, established a major pharmaceutical manufacturing
enterprise know today as McKesson Drug Company.
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The
Van Vleet Memorial Doctoral Awards
are made possible by the generosity of the Van Vleet Foundation.
The gift to The University of Memphis was made by Harriet Smith
Van Vleet. The Van Vleet Memorial Doctoral Awards are designed
to assist certain departments in attracting outstanding doctoral
students. |
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Harriet Smith Van
Vleet |
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Credits |
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The
Historic-Memphis website does not intentionally post copyrighted
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On
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page. |
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The "Historic-Memphis" website would like to acknowledge and thank the
following for their contributions which helped make this website
possible:
Memphis
Public Library, Memphis University Library, Memphis Law Library,
Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis Press Scimitar, Shelby County
Register of Deeds, Memphis City Schools, Memphis Business Men's
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thanks to Memphis Realtor, Joe Spake, for giving us carte blanche
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