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==History == [[File:Greensboro_North_Carolina,_"City_of_Charm.".jpg|thumb|A North Carolina postcard featuring Vicks]] In 1890, pharmacist [[Lunsford Richardson]] of [[Selma, North Carolina]], took over the retail drug business of his brother-in-law Dr. John Vick, of [[Greensboro, North Carolina]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://vicks.com/en-us/vicks-history|title=Vicks History|website=vicks.com|access-date=2016-03-26|archive-date=2016-03-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160326150957/http://vicks.com/en-us/vicks-history|url-status=live}}</ref> After Dr. John Vick saw an ad for ''Vick's Seeds'', Lunsford Richardson began marketing ''Vickβs Family Remedies''.<ref name=":0" /> The basic ingredients of the range included [[castor oil]], [[liniment]], and 'dead shot' [[vermifuge]].<ref name=":0" /> The most popular remedy was ''[[Croup]] and Pneumonia Salve'', which was first compounded in 1891, in Greensboro. It was introduced in 1905 with the name Vick's Magic Croup Salve<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davidson |first=Davidson College The Davidson College wordmark |last2=USA894-2000 |first2=North Carolina 28035 |title=Vicks VapoRub: A Household Name With Campus Connections |url=https://www.davidson.edu/news/2022/01/10/vicks-vaporub-household-name-campus-connections |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=Davidson |language=en |archive-date=2022-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302173718/https://www.davidson.edu/news/2022/01/10/vicks-vaporub-household-name-campus-connections |url-status=live }}</ref> and rebranded as VapoRub in 1912<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drier |first=Mary |date=2020-02-28 |title=The two Vs of home remedies and mustard patches |url=https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/The-two-Vs-of-home-remedies-and-mustard-patches-15089118.php |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=Huron Daily Tribune |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302173808/https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/The-two-Vs-of-home-remedies-and-mustard-patches-15089118.php |url-status=live }}</ref> at the instigation of H. Smith Richardson, Lunsford's oldest son; Smith had gained valuable sales and marketing experience while working for a period in New York and Massachusetts after attending college. Smith Richardson assumed the presidency of the company in 1919 upon his father's death. Lunsford Richardson sent out millions of samples of Vicks VapoRub, "inadvertently" inventing the concept of [[Advertising mail|junk mail]], say North Carolina state historians.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article297366119.html|title=Vicks VapoRub creator also invented this annoyance. He was born 170 years ago in NC|last=Jasper|first=Simone|work=[[News & Observer]]|date=December 30, 2024|access-date=January 6, 2025}}</ref> The [[flu epidemic of 1918]] increased sales of VapoRub from $900,000 to $2.9 million in just one year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2009/Popular_Cold_and_Cough_Treatment_May_Create_Respiratory_Distress_in_Young_Children.htm|title=Popular Cold and Cough Treatment May Create Respiratory Distress in Young Children|website=www.wakehealth.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-01-23|archive-date=2018-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124071315/http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2009/Popular_Cold_and_Cough_Treatment_May_Create_Respiratory_Distress_in_Young_Children.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1931, the company began selling cough drops.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2018/08/15/p-g-product-invented-in-greensboro-proves-key-to.html|title=P&G product β invented in Greensboro β proves key to outfoxing thieves|last=Brusman|first=Barrett|date=15 August 2018|website=www.bizjournals.com|access-date=2019-11-20|archive-date=2021-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210102105005/https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2018/08/15/p-g-product-invented-in-greensboro-proves-key-to.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1948, [[Edward Mabry]] became president of Vicks, then known as the '''Vick Chemical Company'''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/05/obituaries/edward-l-mabry-executive-91.html|title=Edward L. Mabry, Executive, 91|date=1989-02-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2017-12-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221004702/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/05/obituaries/edward-l-mabry-executive-91.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1952, Vicks began selling cough syrup, and in 1959 they introduced Sinex Nasal Spray.<ref name=":2" /> The company began selling NyQuil in 1966.<ref name=":2" /> The parent company became [[Richardson-Merrell]] and then in 1982 divided into prescription drug company Merrell Dow (sold to [[Dow Chemical Company]]) and over-the-counter drug company '''Richardson-Vicks''' which retained the Vicks brand. The company archives (including related personal records of the Richardson family) from at least about 1920 or so, up to the 1985 sale to Procter & Gamble, are housed at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04468/|title=Richardson-Vicks, Inc., Records, 1885-1995|website=finding-aids.lib.unc.edu|access-date=2018-01-23|archive-date=2018-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180109154854/http://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04468/|url-status=live}}</ref> In March 2015, Procter & Gamble sold the Vicks VapoSteam U.S. liquid inhalant business to [[Helen of Troy Limited|Helen of Troy Ltd]].<ref name=":1" />
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