L. GERSTLE / BLUFF CITY,TENN.

While the L.Gerstle Company was not actually located in Bristol, it was close: about 10 miles away in Union, ( Bluff City), Tenn., and , it played an important part in the life of one Bristolian...Ernest Linwood Andrews

Bluff City in 1902

The L.Gerstle Manufacturing Company... was located in Bluff City, in Sullivan County,Tenn. about 10 miles south of Bristol. There's probably no town in this nation that has changed it's name as often as Bluff City. It was first known as Choate's Ford, due to a man named Choate owning the land near the South Holston River crossing. When a stage line was established between Abingdon,VA. and Knoxville,Tenn., it became known as Middletown. During the year 1858, after the completion of the East Tenn.,Va., & Ga. Railroad, it took the name Union. With the outbreak of the Civil War, it changed it's name to Zollicoffer - in honor of the East Tennessee Confederate Commander - so as not to be confused with having any sympathy for the Union , ie, Federal cause. ( Most of East Tennessee was loyal to the Union, the exception being all of Sullivan County - which was known as "The Little Confederacy.") In 1865, the town restored the name of Union, and it wasn't until 1887 that it took its present name of Bluff City.

It was in 1870 when Leopold Gerstle, a Bavarian Jew, arrived in Union with his Chattanooga bride. He purchased some property, opened a small general store , and hired his cousin Abraham to construct him a new home. He moved into his then stately house in 1871..The house still stands today.

In addition, on the corner east of his home, he had constructed a two story wood frame structure. This became his drugstore and general manufacturing business. (It burned down in 1990). Gerstle produced drugs of both herbal and chemical nature. Upon the second floor was also a print shop where he made his own flyers and labels. The storehouse was located near where the present day City Hall stands. Gerstle owned the entire block which included the storehouse and his home.

Gerstle made an assortment of remedies including those for female diseases, liver regulators, kidney & liver pills, and a liniment. He also operated a tanyard, probably to support his new boot & shoe-making business, as found in an 1876 advertisement.

Peddling the various remedies, Gerstle's salesmen traveled by horse & buggy throughout Virginia, Tennessee, and parts of Georgia. It was in the late 1870's that a young man named Ernest Linwood Andrews (re: Andrews Manufacturing Company), newly arrived from Memphis , gained employment with Gerstle's Company. Andrews worked for Gerstle until late 1888, learning the Patent medicine business.

* In early 1889, Gerstle and the Bluff City Town Council had a falling out over tax and water rate increases.

Gerstle, it seems, required vast quantities of water for both the patent medicine manufacturing and in the processing of hides for tanning. In retaliation, Gerstle moved his entire business to Chattanooga, Tenn. He remained there many years and his company flourished. It is known today as The Saint Joseph's Medicine Company...

There are but two Gerstle bottle types known bearing the Union Depot embossing, both rectangular medicines... and 3 types bearing the Bluff City, Tenn. embossing. One of which is known by collectors as a "Pumpkinseed."

All Gerstle bottles from Union or Bluff City are scarce...While those from Chattanooga range from rare to common

* Seems Bluff City had a habit of annoying and driving off businesses. Robert Loving in his book Double Destiny noted that when the Willey-Boom Lumber Company located outside Bluff City , the town moved its corporate limits in order to tax the company. As a result, the Company moved to Bristol on present day Georgia Ave., the site of the later known Cortrim Lumber Co.

Kis Ko For The Blood

L.Gerstle Co Chattanooga Tenn

BLUFF CITY MILL on South Holston River

GFP For Women & St.Josephs Sarsaparilla

L.Gerstle Co Chattanooga Tenn

St. Joseph's Liver Regulator

L. Gerstle Co Chattanooga Tenn

Sources - Bibliography

i)      Library of King College, Bristol,Tenn. - Newspaper Microfilms

ii)     Bristol,TN-VA Public Library - Newspaper Microfilms &  City Directories

iii)     1904 Bristol Herald Industrial Supplement

iv)     Bristol-Goodson Industry & Resources in 1885 -W.F.Henry/Reporter

v)    Witness To An Epoch - Chas.J. Harkrader

vi)     Double Destiny   - Robert Loving

vii)    Historic Sites of Sullivan County - Muriel Spoden

viii)   Bristol Tennessee-Virginia : A History - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

ix)     Spirits & Medicinal Bottles of Bristol, Tenn.-Va.   - Charlie Barnette

x)       The Passing Years   - Bristol Historical Association

xi)      City of Bristol @ 1915

xii)     A Pictorial History - Bristol Historical Association

xiii)    Whiskey, An American Pictorial History - Oscar Getz

xiv)    Prohibition, 13 Years That Changed America - Edward Behr

xv)     The Shadow Of The Bottle - Review & Herald Publishing Co.

xvi)    Historic Sullivan - Oliver Taylor

xvii)   One Year At A Time - Bristol - 1907 - Lonnie & Kim Blevins

xviii)   Honoring Our Heritage: Faces & Places From The Past -

                       Lonnie & Kim Blevins and Roy & Carolyn Williams

xvix)   Between the States: Bristol Tennessee - Virginia During the Civil War - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

xx)      Pioneers in Paradise - Bristol, Tenn-Va. - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

xxi)     A Good Place to Live - Bristol, Tenn-Va. - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

*** NOTE:

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