Living History
SAXONBURG — Entering a two-story gray house on Main Street, a visitor is transported back to the late 1800s, when Edward Napoleon Bonaparte Mershon ran an old-fashioned drugstore and doctor's office.
The first room, the drugstore, is replete with glass counters and wooden trim. Crimson carpet lines the floor.
Among the jars and tubes of medicines and herbs visible in the pharmacy is Mershon's renowned black salve, an old-fashioned cure-all.
"He made his own medicines," said the building's current owner Genny Nelson, who spent two years in the late 1970s restoring the house.
To replicate the rooms' original decor, Nelson relied on photographs and used many of Mershon's furnishings and medical supplies still stored on the property.
"We were able to put it back together," Nelson said.
Nelson didn't stop with restoring the interior. Several years ago, she started a small group of historical re-enactors for private demonstrations.
Nelson, 82, and a few friends dress in period costumes, re-enacting people at work in Mershon's pharmacy and medical practice.While Nelson narrates the history of the house, another member fills orders in the dispensary. In the examination room, the doctor and his assistant work on an injured girl.Not tied to a particular group, Nelson's small troupe has held demonstrations for people such as the German dignitaries from Saxonburg's sister city Muhlhausen who visited in May.The Germans, including Muhlhausen's mayor, were participating in a cultural exchange between the sister cities.Nancy Paulsen, 79, is one of the friends who is part of Nelson's cast."We had many adventures together," Paulsen said.Dorothy Ringer, 77, also enjoys participating in historical re-enactments."It's a fun way to enjoy retirement," she said.Ray Rush, Main Street manager for Saxonburg's historical revitalization and member of John Roebling's Historic Saxonburg Society, said Nelson has created a living history museum."It's the most complete, unaltered building in the historic district," he said.The main part of Saxonburg's historic district extends down Main and Rebecca streets.
Rush said there's nothing like this living museum in Butler County, lauding Nelson for her restoration and re-enactment efforts."She stays true to history," Rush said. "You can see a little twinkle in her eyes when she is doing it."Paulsen's husband, Vern, used to portray Dr. Mershon in the demonstrations. He passed away earlier this year.While the troupe is temporarily not doing demonstrations, Nelson hopes to resume them after replenishing her troupe."When we regroup," Nelson said.On display inside the recreated pharmacy are Mershon's tools of the trade, including metal prongs to extract bullets and a wooden stethoscope.To use the old stethoscope, Mershon put his ear to the large cuplike end while pressing the small base to a person's chest.Like a contemporary stethoscope's rubber tube, the wooden instrument's stem is hollow.A metal device with a large gear and lever sits on the top shelf. Nelson explained the contraption was used to squeeze corks so they could plug up bottle tops after expanding.Along with Mershon's original metal sign is one stating the preferred method of payment: "Terms Cash."The adjoining back room is where Mershon treated patients needing more than a dose of medication.His original desk sits to the side of the examining table. Lamps with stained-glass shades provide an amber glow in the room.During his time, Mershon charged $2 to deliver a baby. The fee was $10 if Mershon had to travel far."He delivered an awful lot of babies," Rush said.
A mannequin of a child represents Katherine Higgenbottom, a girl Mershon delivered five years earlier.The scene depicts Mershon operating on the girl's injured hand after it was caught in a clothes washer ringer. Despite having to rely on the medical treatments available at the time, Mershon was able to save it.Higgenbottom went on to become a painter and pianist. Her artwork adorns the walls of the Mershon house.Mershon was a descendant of a French immigrant who came to America in 1695.Edward Mershon's branch of the family settled in Lawrenceville, Md. He relocated to Saxonburg in 1879, buying two acres.Starting a medical practice in the German town wasn't easy."It was really difficult to blend in," Nelson said.Rush said the resettled Germans took notice of the French doctor who built a house with a Victorian-influenced architecture."He stood out in many ways," Rush said. "It was really the talk of the town."Decades after the doctor won over Saxonburg's German immigrants, he still helped people. Having vision trouble in his later years, he gave verbal instructions to his son, Edward."They lived well into their 90s," Nelson said about Dr. Mershon and his wife, who both died in 1937.Nelson first spotted the Mershon home in 1975 after she and her second husband, the late Andrew Nelson, rented the adjacent house to open an antique shop."I saw a beautiful, neglected building," she said.Then-owner Edna Mershon, Dr. Mershon's daughter, had become a recluse roughly 40 years earlier.Trained to be a school teacher, Edna Mershon never married. Before the modern era, teachers were let go once they married."Her place was at home," Nelson said.
Although Edna Mershon did not become a teacher, she still remained single, closing herself off from the world when her brother, Edward, married and moved to Florida."Her world stopped," Nelson said. "Her life became stagnant."After seeing the dilapidated house's condition, Nelson was determined to save it. She started by sprucing up the unkempt lawn."I kind of sneaked over and mowed her lawn," Nelson said.Edna Mershon didn't appreciate the overture."She said, 'You'll make my taxes go up,'" Nelson said.Eventually, Mershon warmed up to Nelson and the younger woman ended up taking care of her.After Edna Mershon died in 1977, the Nelsons bought the house a year later.Although Mershon had long ago taken down the store counters and medicine cabinets, she stored many of the items in a small stable behind the building.In addition to reconstructing the original store layout, Nelson had to repair the building.Even parts of the ceiling had fallen in."It was a lot of hard work," Nelson said. "It was destined for the bulldozer."Nelson relocated the antiques store to the front of the Mershon house while her son ran a clock shop in the back. Although Dr. Mershon had long since died, people would occasionally stop in the shop looking for his renowned cure-all."Do you by any chance have any of the black salve," Nelson recalled visitors asking.When her son closed the clock business, Nelson shut down the antique store in 2002.Along with the first two rooms, two other rooms part of an 1890s addition and a hallway on the first floor have historical decor.To supplement Mershon's belongings, Nelson added other fixtures from that era.An old-style furnace sits in the third room. Stored in the fourth room are such relics as a children's carriage that looks like a miniature horse-drawn carriage, an old Butler's Flyer wagon and a horse-shaped children's rocker.After coming to Saxonburg, Nelson acquired a famous friend: Fred Rogers of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."Rogers periodically visited Nelson's Summer Kitchen."He was a good customer," Nelson said.Rogers liked buying quilts, so Nelson made him a quilt made of his doctoral robes.Nelson said he always was "very warm."Once Nelson restored the Mershon house, Rogers stopped by to check it out.Nelson saved his letter complimenting her on the accomplishment.
