Smith Bros cough drops made in Chicago

CHICAGO (WLS) -- From the mid-1800s until the1970s, the biggest selling cough drops in America were Smith Brothers cough drops. But then the brand went kaput. Now, however, the brothers are back.

Not everyone comes back to life after being buried in the dead business cemetery for 20 years, but that's what's happening to the old Smith Bros. cough drops. The guys with the big black beards are back to soothing throats.

"Smith Brothers was dormant. And they had been dormant for 20 years," Steven Silk, CEO at Smith Bros. Company. "Absolutely dead. The brand could barely be found anywhere in the United States."

The resurrection is taking place not far from 48th and Kedzie at a plant where F & F cough drops were once produced. F & F went out of business and millions were spent to rebuild the place just to start all over again.

"We redid the packaging. So in some ways modernize ... But on the other hand retain its old time feel. Then develop an array of new products," Silk said.

In 1852 the Smith Bros. of Poughkeepsie, New York, started to package their product. To protect it from competitors, they had it Trademarked. A lot of people thought their names were Trade and Mark.

"Absolutely they thought that. It was the first brand in America to use the words Trade Mark in the brand logo. So remarkably it became part of the identity of the brand name," Silk said.

The Brothers' real names were Andrew and William. In those days there were really only a few types of drops. Now they make up to 30 different flavors and styles. Just two decades ago you couldn't find a Smith Bros. cough drop anywhere. But now?

"Well, we're going to be available in about 40,000 stores this winter in all the major national chains," Silk said.

Smith Brothers is producing about five million cough drops a day.