Another Word on Mum

I started this blog with a word about John O. Powers (206 N. 34th St.) who designed the ad campaign for Mum deodorant around the slogan “Mum is the word.” I didn’t realize at the time that the manufacturer of Mum lived across the street from Powers at 223 N. 34th. St. George B. Evans and his family moved to 223 from 206 about 1899. He was a very successful druggist with stores at 1106 Chestnut, the corner of N. 8th and Arch, and 2230 N. Front. In addition to producing Mum deodorant, he was one of the first pharmacies in the country to install a large refrigeration unit to sell cold soda water at his store on Chestnut St. He had a 49 foot-long counter constructed of Onyx, Marble and Mahogany at which they served an average of about 2,000 glasses of soda water beverages per day in 1905. On their biggest day, they served 4,000. The houses on the east side of 34th were torn down in the 1970s (Powelton Quarterly) to make room for low-income housing that was never built. Drexel’s new Millennium dormitory now stands on the site of the Evans's home. Photos of the house and the soda fountain are available at Powelton Village website.