Candied Cough Drops Began in Poughkeepsie

When you live in or near a town, sometimes you don't know the history of it. No big deal, right? But what if something came from your town that everyone usually ends up needing at some point during the year? Should you know what that thing is?

Many things have hailed from Poughkeepsie, NY. Scrabble the board game being one of them. But what about the thing you grab for when you start to get that scratchy feeling in your throat. Have you ever thought about cough drops?

In 1847 a restaurant owner in Poughkeepsie cooked up a candy type of cough drop. His name James Smith. The company (and the cough drops) were called Smith Brothers Cough drops. According to the US Census Bureau, by 1872 the cough drops were readily available. Cough drops continue to be one of the things that people reach for when they are starting to feel under the weather.

The mansion that the Smith Brothers lived in on Hamilton Street in Poughkeepsie is still standing today. It has been turned into condos. When I was looking for a condo to buy a few years ago, this was one of the first places I looked at because of the great history involved.