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The Porter Family
Porter’s Original Lotion is the same great, dry skin lotion it has always been, same quality, same legacy, but there is a new chapter to the Porter’s story.
The precursor to Porter’s Original Lotion began in Montana in 1915 with Dr. C. E. Whitehead who compounded a similar formula with camphor, alcohol, glycerin, ammonia and water to be used for workers at a local cement plant to treat dry skin. He passed his formula on to Heber Porter, a Bozeman pharmacist, who started Porter’s Pharmacy in the newly constructed Baxter Hotel in 1931. He began to compound the original formula for Porter’s Lotion, as we know it today. Although Heber Porter died in 1955, the same lotion continued to be compounded in a barrel in various local Bozeman pharmacies until 1994, when the Bungalow Drug, the last to make it, was closing its doors.
Fearing an end of the Porter’s era, Michael Anderson, a fourth generation Porter’s user, and Con and Daphne Gillam of Bozeman purchased the rights and formula to Porter’s Lotion, started Gallatin River Products, and took Porter’s nationwide and to four continents. They continued the same tradition of Porter’s Lotion for dry skin, and added a complete group of family safe skin care products including organic soaps, moisturizers, shaving accessories, an herbal bug repellant, lip balm, muscle rub, household cleaner and laundry soap.
John Hearnsberger, M.D., a retired heart surgeon from Little Rock, Arkansas, began his surgical career in 1973. Daily scrubbing left his hands and arms irritated, red, and dry with an incessant itch. He tried numerous lotion including topical steroids, nothing worked. In 1996, he bought his first bottle of Porter’s lotion, experienced immediate relief, and has used it daily since, even as an aftershave. It worked then and is still working now.
Remember the old Remington Electric Shaver commercial? “I liked it so well, I bought the company.” Well, that is Dr. Hearnsberger’s story, the new chapter in the Porter’s story. Yes, we have a new owner and a new name, Porter’s Lotion, LLC; and a new chapter to the story and even a few ideas for new products. However, the rest is unchanged. Michael Anderson will continue as a consultant, and Mary Mackay, the familiar voice on the telephone will continue as office manager.
Above all, we are committed to the legacy of Porter’s Lotion and to providing you with quality skin products at reasonable prices.
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