Pepsin is an enzyme that aids in digestion. It was also an ingredient in the early recipe for Pepsi, which gives that soda its name.
According to the City of Monticello website:
History of the Pepsin Syrup Company | |
The history of the Pepsin Syrup Company dates back to the 1880s when Dr. William B. Caldwell first began prescribing his senna and pepsin laxative.William Burr Caldwell was born March 27, 1839, in Shelbyville, Missouri, the son of Samuel B.F. and Lucinda Steele Caldwell. In 1858 he attended the Eclectic Medical Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio. Soon after he became a student at a medical college in Keokuk, Iowa where he earned his diploma and began practicing medicine at Laclede, Missouri.Shortly before the Civil War he moved to Bloomington, Missouri and began a drug store business. He moved to Monticello, Illinois in 1885 when he purchased the Hamilton and Company Drug Store. He sold the drug business just one year later to Charles G. Armstrong and Charles H. Ridgley and moved his medical practice upstairs. Due to the popularity and high demand for his senna pepsin laxative, Dr. Caldwell began producing his prescription at the corner drug store by 1888.
It wasn’t until 1892 that Dr. Caldwell’s former store clerk, Charles H. Ridgley, conceived the idea of manufacturing the doctor’s famous prescription. Dr. Caldwell gave Ridgely and his partner, John Bell, permission to go ahead and as a result “syrup pepsin” was made in small quantities, bottled, and sold in neighboring counties. The company was growing so rapidly that by 1902, Syrup Pepsin Company needed larger facilities. In August 1903, they purchased 180 feet of the William Holmes Block just west of the Wabash between Livingston and Washington Streets. This included the old Daniel Stickel residence on the hill, which seemed perfect, as it stood alone on a city block. With some remodeling and an extension added to the rear of the home, this two story brick home served as the factory for several years. It was at this time that Monticello residents began referring to this area as “Pepsin Hill.” In 1925, Pepsin Syrup Company was sold for a reported $5,000,000 to Household Products Company, a division of Sterling Drugs Products, owner of several medicine businesses including Bayer Asprin, Pape Dispepsin, Phillips Milk of Magnesia, and Danderine. Production continued under Pepsin Syrup Company until 1934 when it was renamed Dr. W.B. Caldwell, Inc. followed by Dr. W.B. Caldwell Co., Division of Sterling Drugs, Inc. in 1943, Centaur-Caldwell Division (makers of Castoria, Campho-Phenique, Z.B.T. Baby Powder, and Molle Shaving Cream) in 1948, National Brands Division of Sterling Drugs, Inc. in 1956, and by 1965 commonly known as Glenbrook Laboratories. In 1984, Sterling Drugs Inc. announced they had signed a contract selling all trademark rights and inventories to Mentholatum Company of New York who closed the Monticello Plant in October 4, 1985. |

A 1904 advertisement for Dr. Caldwell’s Laxative Syrup Pepsin Company in Monticello, Illinois featuring Fielder Jones and Frank Smith.
![DR. CALDWELL'S GUIDE TO HEALTH HOME COOK BOOK PUBLISHED BY PEPSIN SYRUP COMPANY MONTICELLO, ILLINOIS No Date [circa 1910]](https://oldmainartifacts.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/guide.jpg?w=640)
DR. CALDWELL’S GUIDE TO HEALTH HOME COOK BOOK PUBLISHED BY PEPSIN SYRUP COMPANY MONTICELLO, ILLINOIS No Date [circa 1910]

Early cardboard litho medicine sign for Dr. Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin Cure (Forbes Litho, Boston), featuring beautifully detailed multi-color graphics of young boy picking apples with bottle of cure in his back pocket. Sign reads “Dr. Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin cures Indigestion Constipation Sick-Headache Stomach Trouble Manufactured by Pepsin Syrup Co. Monticello, Ill. Date unknown

1924 newspaper advertisement from the New York Evening Journal, “Women’s Minor Ills Come From One Cause”
I have this bottle if anyone’s interested in buying it.
I it was still on the market. My mother had to hide the bottle or we kids would have drunk the whole thing. It was really very tasty.
Is it still on the market? If so who carries it?
Hello, thanks for reading. I have not been able to find much information about the current status of Caldwell’s Syrup Pepsin. Bottlebooks.com notes that glass bottles have been dated as recently as 1962. I’m not certain what happened to the company after that.
hi my mother gave some to me during my life at home I have no idea why but problem wasy bowels must have been bowels as in the war we ate rather mostly not red meat but seafood born as I was in Galveston, Texas so I am 80 now and I was watching a show on TV about drugs and Pepsi lol I do drink Diet Pepsi lol but it didn’t kill me and so I am glad I can read about it ty
I have one emtpy Cadwell’s Syrup Pepsin bottle in my medicine bottle collection and just read all you have on line about the company and product. Very interesting and comprehensive
information. Thank you vert much!
We have a Dr. Caldwell’s bottle. Just curious if the product is still available or if someone is collecting the bottles.
I was remodeling my house and found this bottle under a floor its not cracked or broken in any way
I found one of these bottles today laying under some leaves on an old abandoned buggy trail around a lake in central Illinois today. Remarkably the bottle is in perfect shape after laying in the woods for nearly 90+ years. From the looks of the trail someone had Ben through sometime in the fall and cut some small trees down near where this bottle laid.
I have a 10 cent token for D.R.Caldwell’s pepsin syup special trial bottle & bottle chris
i have a bottle of Dr. Caldwell Senna Laxative, 12 fluid oz Syrup Pepsin unopened, my dad used to work there
Do you still have this bottle? How much and do you think it would still be good to use. Do you know if it is still manufactuted today?
Are you interested in selling? If so how much?
I have a tub of 1906 Phillips Toothpaste still in the box do anyone know the price value of it ??
I have a a tub of 1906 Phillips toothpaste contains Milk of Magnesium to control mouth acids do anyone knows the price value of it??
Lol i just found 50 cent bottle with his name and town in the glass
Lol i just found 50 cent bottle with his name and town in the glass