He's got Moxie</b>

History - Newark

He's got Moxie
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Moxie Long before 'Coke' and 'Pepsi' ruled, there was Moxie. Like Coca-Cola, Moxie was first marketed as a patent medicine. It was guaranteed to cure brain and nervous exhaustion, loss of manhood, imbecility, and helplessness. It would reportedly cure paralysis, softening of the brain, make you eat voraciously, and recover strength.

The year was 1884, and Dr. Augustin Thompson of Union, Maine first marketed the soft drink that contained no medicine, stimulant, or alcohol, but was derived from a sugarcane type of plant grown near the Equator. Dr. Thompson introduced Moxie to the market place in 1884, and as the nation's first mass marketed soft drink, an advertising campaign was introduced. Frank A. Archer, an employee of the Moxie company created the marketing plan, and the saying 'he has moxie' was coined, indicating that drinking the beverage would give you increased nerve.

What does it taste like? Moxie is not available around here now, but those who tried it have mixed reactions. Most say that it is an acquired taste. Some call it flat. One person likened it to drinking a carbonated 'Fig Newton'! Moxie was a favorite of President Calvin Coolidge.

Moxie's Reign Is Short - By the 1920's a major misjudgment by the company occurred. The price of sugar skyrocketed, and the company made large purchases of the needed ingredient, thinking that prices would go up even more. Instead, the bottom fell out of the sugar markets, and Moxie could not compete, and the lead went to Coca-Cola forever. Moxie is now a regional product, made from gentian root and wintergreen. The drink is bottled by franchised bottlers, mostly in the New England States. Every year a Moxie Festival is held is Lisbon Falls, Maine. There are Moxie collectibles, T-shirts, web sites, and books. In Canandaigua, New York you can order Moxie with your meal, at Captain Yogi's Clam Shack, on East Lake Road.

In 1904, when Moxie was king of the soft drinks, a song was written for the St. Louis World's Fair, with these lyrics:

Just make it Moxie for mine, For the strenuous life it is fine. It's a drink that they serve, Which will build up your nerve. So just make it Moxie for Mine!

Reference: The Moxie Mystique, by Frank N. Potter.

PHOTO: This photo has been in the Courier-Gazette files for years. Does anyone recognize the building or storeowner?

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