Dr. B. J. Kendall & Co. - Enosburg Falls, Vermont
Posted by: 
Vermontish
N 44° 54.659 W 072° 48.200
18T E 673399 N 4975409
A horse cure made the doctor wealthy
Waymark Code: WM593R
Location: Vermont, United States
Date Posted: 11/30/2008
Views: 43
Burney James Kendall (1845-1922) was an 1868 graduate of the University of Vermont's Medical College. During the 1870s, he devised a "cure" for spavin (an equine joint ailment), and incorporated the Dr. B. J. Kendall Company in 1883 to manufacture his horse liniment.
The company's product line gradually expanded to include treatments for a wide variety of animal and human ailments, and the company's wagons ranged far and wide selling the medicines and distributing Kendall's booklets (A Treatise on the Horse and His Diseases and The Doctor at Home). The company's principals became quite wealthy, and Kendall became a community benefactor, not just because of the jobs (see also the Enosburg Opera House).
Kendall sold his share of the company in 1889 and moved to the Midwest, where his fortunes declined, and he became bitter and envious at the success of his former partners. He died in Geneva, Illinois.
Today, Kendall bottles and advertising posters and cards are collector's items, and the factory building is listed (and waymarked) on the National Register of Historic Places, but, sadly, is in a state of disrepair. What windows aren't boarded up are mostly broken, and much of the rear of the building is covered with tarps.
A Kendall wagon in the Dairy Festival Parade (Enosburg Falls, June 2008)
Odd But Otherwise Irrelevant Coincidence Dept.:
There is a BJ's Wholesale Club in Kendall, Florida.