The Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, originally The Emerson Tower, has been a Baltimore landmark since its construction in 1911 and was the tallest building in Baltimore at the time. After an extensive renovation, the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts officially opened the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower with studio spaces for visual and literary artists in 2008.
Also inside the Tower is the Emerson/Maryland Glass Museum which houses the largest collection of Bromo Seltzer and Maryland Glass bottles in existence. The Museum is on the 15th floor and is on loan from and curated by Ernest Dimler.
Recently, a group took a tour of the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower because of the personal connection that the building has on their family. Read their story below:
My Family Memories Involving the Emerson Drug Company
Doris Rhinehart (née Scheeler)
My father, Earl Scheeler, began his employment as an errand boy with Emerson Drug Company at age 14. When he was old enough to drive (and got his drivers license), he drove the Grand Bernstein truck for deliveries locally, out-of-town and even to the Emerson Farm. By the time he retired 50 years later, he had risen to shipping clerk and eventually into management as Supervisor of Shipping and Receiving.
He told me many Emerson stories over the years. One of my favorites was how he and a few fellow co-workers would go up unto the clock tower room with their lunches and play cards until it was time to return to work.
My mother, Julia Wild (pictured behind left side of counter), worked in the Emerson cafeteria where she met my father. Soon thereafter, he started eating his lunch in the cafeteria. They fell in love and married on August 29, 1924. Mother left the company to raise a family of three daughters (Marie, Helen and me). Dad continued working with the company until 1968 before retiring.
I can’t help but reminisce every time I see the clock tower as part of Baltimore’s skyline.
Photos from my collection:
• Large photograph of the Emerson employee lunchroom cafeteria. My mother (Julia Wild) is behind the left side of counter at back.
• Small reproduction of a news clipping from the Emerson employee newsletter (1962) about my father (Earl Scheeler).
• Small reproduction of a postcard featuring the Bromo-Seltzer Clocktower with bottle top.
• Small photograph of my father and mother.
