My Notebook - SouthernBottles.com
Fred Taylor - Peachtree City, Ga
Thomas Clements - Roorbach Stopper
Unusual American Patented internal stoppered bottle known as a "Roorbach Stopper" and could be called the American version of a Codd stopper. The bottle's closure consists of an internal hollow, marble sized ball, which floats up to an internal rubber gasket. (Note - partially filled the bottle with water for a view of the floating ball.) The rubber gasket is intact and is fixed within a customized groove in the bottle's lip (the gasket is also intact). The bottle is embossed
"Thos Clements / Philada". Clements was a Philadelphia soda bottler, who used squats and hutchs for his products. People generally find it hard to believe that this thing worked (which may explain why there aren't many around). It is aqua and stands 7 1/4 inches tall.
Atlanta City Seals

Adopted in 1854 and used until 1887.  Being that Atlanta owed its existence to railroads, the steam locomotive best represented the new city.
Adopted in 1887, the second Atlanta seal features the Phoenix.  The motto "resurgens" is Latin meaning “rising again."  The myth is that the Phoenix rose from its own ashes to begin a new life.  This symbolizes what the City of Atlanta accomplished following the devastation of the Civil War.
1814;  U.S. military outpost Fort Gilmer established at Standing Peachtree, an Indian village situated where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River.

1821; Creek Indians cede 6,748 square miles of North Georgia to state, including future sites of Atlanta and Buckhead. Permanent white settlers move in.

1824; First churches appear.

1830; Several hundred settlers inhabit area now known as Fulton and DeKalb Counties.

1833; First permanent white settler, South Carolinian Hardy Ivy, moves near what is now downtown Atlanta.

1835; Last Cherokee Territories in northwest Georgia surrender. Later, 16,000 Cherokees are removed to lands further west on the "Trail of Tears."

1837; Southern end point set for state sponsored railroad Western and Atlantic point named Terminus, later renamed Atlanta.

1842; First excursion train runs from Terminus to Marietta and back.

1843;  Terminus renamed Marthasville for Georgia Gov. Wilson Lumpkin's daughter.

1845; Marthasville renamed Atlanta, feminine for Atlantic. Georgia Railroad completed from Augusta to Atlanta.

1846;  First hotels, Atlanta Hotel and Washington Hall, open.

1847;  Atlanta incorporated as a city; new charter changes governing body from board of five commissioners to a mayor council form of municipal government.

1849; Intelligencer, first successful newspaper, begins publication. Telegraph service initiated at Macon and Western depot.

1850; City purchases acreage for Oakland Cemetery where many famous Atlantans are now buried. First volunteer Fire Company formed. Population 2,500. Zero Mile Post erected at city's exact geographic center.

1854; Atlanta designated county seat of Fulton County, newly organized from portions of DeKalb County. Combination City Hall/Fulton County Courthouse erected where State Capitol now stands. Atlanta Medical College, later part of Emory University, receives its charter.

1856; Atlanta Gas Light Company, city's oldest surviving business, incorporates.

1857; Atlanta dubs itself "Gate City of the South" for its increasing importance as a regional rail center.

1860; Atlanta’s population 7,741.
Georgia secedes from the Union. Civil War begins.

1864; Federal Gen. William Sherman launches Atlanta Campaign. July 22 marks Battle of Atlanta, one engagement for possession of the city. Atlanta surrenders on Sept. 2; Atlanta citizens ordered to leave. Atlanta burned on Nov. 14, leaving much of the city in ruins. The next day, Sherman begins his infamous "March to the Sea." Exiled Atlantans begin returning to their devastated homes in late December.

1867; M. Rich and Co., forerunner to Rich's department store, opens. Atlanta University chartered. Summer Hill School,  predecessor to Clark College, opens.

1868; Atlanta replaces Milledgeville as Georgia's capital. Atlanta Constitution founded. First board of education elected.

1870; Elegant Kimball House Hotel opens where pre Civil War Atlanta Hotel stood. Population 21,789. William Finch and George Graham become first African Americans elected to city council.

1871; Richard Peters and George Adair organize Atlanta Street Railway Company, the city's first trolley car company. Chamber of Commerce organized.

1873; Public school system in operation.

1875; Atlanta’s first public waterworks opens, now site of Lakewood Fairgrounds.

1877; Telephone service introduced.

The following is from the Atlanta History Center’s Home Page on theWorld Wide Web. I thought a ATime-Line for events in the history of Atlanta might be interesting.
  Like, where is Fort Gilmer? and all of those booze bottles and medicines the faithful defenders must of consumed? And those political meetings in the 1850's downtown there had to be some bitters, booze, and beer. One man was selling Ice Cream! and I will bet someone was selling mineral waters or soda water too.
1879;  Atlanta Baptist Seminary, now Morehouse College, moves to Atlanta from Augusta, Ga. Southern Medical College founded, later incorporated into Emory University School of Medicine.

1881; Morris Brown College and Spelman Seminary founded. Joel Chandler Harris, author of Uncle Remus stories, moves into his home, the Wren's Nest.

1883; Atlanta Journal begins to "Cover Dixie Like the Dew."

1885; Georgia Institute of Technology founded.

1886; Henry Grady makes his "New South" speech, calling for reconciliation with the North and economic diversification and industrialization in the South. Jacobs' Pharmacy at Five Points begins selling Coca Cola, a new beverage invented by John S. Pemberton.

1887; The Piedmont Cotton Exposition is held in what is now Piedmont Park. Pres. Grover Cleveland attends.

1889;  Joel Hurt establishes Inman Park, the city's first planned suburb, served by Atlanta's first electric streetcar line. Decatur Female Seminary, now Agnes Scott College, is founded.

1890; Population is 65,533.

1892;  Joel Hurt erects the Equitable Building, Atlanta's first skyscraper. Grady Hospital's original unit is dedicated. The Coca Cola Company is founded by Asa Candler. The city council passes a streetcar segregation ordinance.

1893; DeGive’s Opera House opens  later houses Loew's Grand Theatre (where Gone with the Wind premiered in 1939). The waterworks double in size and move to the Chattahoochee River. Joel Hurt hires Frederick Law Olmsted to plan the Druid Hills suburb.

1895; The Cotton States and International Exposition is held in what is now Piedmont Park. 400,000 attend; Booker T. Washington gives his "Atlanta Compromise" speech, condoning segregation.

1896; The first Atlanta University Conference on Race Matters meets (and continues to meet until 1919).

1898; The famed Cyclorama painting of the Battle of Atlanta is acquired by the city and put on display at Grant Park.

1900;  Population 89,872.

1902; The Carnegie Library, now Atlanta Fulton Public Library, is dedicated. The Federal Penitentiary opens.

1904; Atlanta purchases the exposition grounds at Piedmont Park and extends the city limits to include that area.

1905; Atlanta Life Insurance Company  first such business operated for and by African Americans  founded.

1909; Alonzo Herndon, Atlanta's first black millionaire, builds a mansion on University Place.

1913; The Georgia Normal School, now Georgia State University, is founded in downtown Atlanta.

1914; The Federal Reserve Bank establishes a branch in Atlanta.

1915;  Emory University, chartered as Emory College in 1836 at Oxford, Ga., moves to the Atlanta environs.

1916; The Peachtree Road campus of Oglethorpe University receives its first students.

1917; The "Great Fire" temporarily burns ten thousand citizens out of 50 city blocks near Jackson Street and North Boulevard in northeast Atlanta.

1918; Southern Railway opens it’s suburban Brookwood Station facility. The last horse drawn steamers are phased out by the fire department.

1919;  Ernest Woodruff and the Trust Company of Georgia head a syndicate that buys the Coca Cola Company from the Candler family for $25 million. Women are given the right to vote in city elections.

Time Line of Atlanta History
Dr. Josiah Bradfield, B._ 1829, D. 5 Aug 1885; Age 56

Dr. Bradfield of 245 Rawson Street well known druggist. Born in Munfreesboro TN, though has lived in Georgia most of his life, and in Atlanta for 22 years. During that time he was engaged in the drug business and has manufactured patent medicine on a large scale. His remedies were Bradfield's Female Regulator, Mother's Friend and Pryor's Ointment. He advertized these products extensively. He leaves a wife and two married sisters. One residing here and one at West Point, Ga. Dr. L. H. Bradfield the Whall Street druggist is his brother. He was buried at Oakland cemetery.
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Dr. Lewis H. Bradfield, B._ 1847, D. 21 Jan 1903, Age 56

Died in Abilene, TX. Formerly in retail drug business in Atlanta. Left here to engage in Wholesale drug business in Little Rock, AK. Five years ago his health failed and he move to Abilene, TX. He was the brother of the late Dr. Josiah Bradfield of Atlanta. His wife was a Miss Marshall of Atlanta. He was a member of the United Confederate Veterans. The funeral was held in Abilene.
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Dr. F. S. Peacock, B. 1840?, D. 6 May 1885; about 55

Died at the residents of his son Charles Peacock, 108 Collins Street. Moved to Atlanta about 14 years ago and was first employed in the drug store of Dr. J. L. Pinson where he remained until he was admitted as a partner. Continued with Dr. Pinson for some years. He then sold his interest to Dr. Pinson, and purchased an interest in the drug store of Dr. Williams on Mitchell near Whall Street. Kept this business up 3 or 4 years and then made an assignment. Since that time has been clerking - last for Dr. Mc Faul on Marietta Street. Dr. Peacock was an excellent Pharmacist. He was buried at West view Cemetery.
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Dr. Theodore F. Schumann, B. 26 Nov 1823, D. 30 Dec 1894, Age 71

Dr. Schumann of 54 Cooper Street was born in Wurtemberg, Germany and age 17 became a graduate chemist for 14 years after graduating in 1840. He lived in different cities in Germany practicing his profession. In 1854 he emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City where he remained for 15 years. In 1869 he came to Atlanta, and soon afterward opened a Drug Store on Whall Street near the corner of Hunter. In 1880 he expanded and moved to the corner of Whall & Hunter. He retired from the business in 1892, but the corner is still known as "Schumann's Corner." He was a member of several Pharmaceutical Associations and for the past 2 years was in photograph stock business. His firm being the Schumann Photograph Stock Company on Whall Street. He was buried at Oakland Cemetery
If you ever wondered what happen to the people who were the bottlers & makers of the glass items we collect, read their obituary. I know it sounds odd, but it is a great source of information.

The Atlanta History Center has the benefit of many years work by Mr. Franklin M.  Garrett, the official historian of the city of Atlanta and Fulton County. One of his projects was to make a database of the obituaries and cemetery records for the Atlanta area.

The following are some of the records that may be of interest to Patent Medicine collectors as well as people interested in Atlanta.
The internal stopper closure was invented by William L. Roorbach. American patent June 23 1885 and Aug 4 1885, numbers 320701 and 323737. Commonly known as the Twitchell Floating Ball Stopper. A hollow composite ball or marble was held against a rubber washer that was secured in a neck groove..
Roorbach Lip
This page was last updated: May 29, 2006
The Baltimore Bottle Club Digest had an amusing article in their July newsletter, The Baltimore Bottle Club Digest.

The History of Medicine
2000 B.C.   Here, eat this root.
1000 A.D.   That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1850 A.D.   That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 A.D.   That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 A.D.   That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
2000 A.D.   That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root.