The Hess and Clark Factory - 10 E. 7th Street

Hess and Clark Udder Ointment used to be a staple in

everyone’s medicine chest. In some households, it still is. Its active
ingredients of petrolatum, lanolin, methyl salicylate and oxyquinoline
benzoate combine to soothe chapped skin and minor abrasions and
bruises. Although this is one of the many products Hess and Clark
manufactures, it is probably most popular, at least for city dwellers.
How did the company which led the world in the production
of animal and poultry medicines in 1920 get its start?
Dr. Gilbert Hess and J.L. Clark formed a partnership in 1894.
Prior to that time, Dr. Hess had a veterinarian practice and small
animal hospital in a wooden building of Second Street. Dr. Hess, who was also an M.D., often made his own animal remedies. Sales were not brisk, so when Clark offered to buy a half-interest ($250) in the business, Dr. Hess agreed.
Clark, who had been a salesman for the R.E. Myers and Bro. Co., got his own horse and buckboard and traveled over the dusty roads to 10 surrounding counties. He used the sales technique of leaving a sample. When he returned, more often than not, the general store operator or the farmer purchased several products.
The wives, Nettie Hess and Mary Clark, women who were later to have maids and chauffeurs, often went back to the plant at night to help fill orders.
It wasn’t long before they had outgrown the first building and then a second before building the large plant on Orange Street.
Will Duff, in his 1915 Centennial book, notes the following successes:

- “The three story plant covers two-and-a-half actress of floor space.

- The goods are marketed in every state in the Union and all of the Dominion of Canada.

- It employs 250 people with 30 salesmen on the road.

- They have their own printing plant.

- More than 4,000,000 personal letters were mailed last year to stock and poultry dealers representing $60,000 in postage.

- Thirty-three carloads of goods were distributed as free samples.”

Both men and their wives came from Perry Township, Ashland County, but from not particularly affluent homes. Yet, with the success of the company, they shared their good fortune with others, giving generously to the community.

Clark supported the Red Cross and later the Community Chest, the Boy Scout movement, Ashland College, church activities and, in 1912, had Samaritan Hospital built and furnished.

Hess, too, was very community minded, giving to churches and worthwhile endeavors. His influence is still felt today, for when he died in 1923, he had set aside in his will $100,000 to be placed in a trust fund administered by First National Bank as a student loan program.
There were no Hess children, but brothers and sisters, as well as nieces and nephews, were each remembered in the will.
Clark bought out the Hess interest and continued to operate the business assisted by his sons, Marshall and Donald. Today, it has passed from the Clark ownership, but continues to be an icon of Ashland’s past industries.