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| James M. Munyon Wikipedia |
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| Munyon Island Florida State Archives |
By Jane Feehan
James M. Munyon (1848-1918) may be as interesting as the island in Lake Worth Lagoon bearing his name. A patent medicine man, Munyon’s tale is one of self-promotion, advertising savvy and knowing an audience seeking alternatives to traditional medical practice. Today, his life would probably be fodder for tabloids or Twitter.
Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Munyon worked at a textile company and followed it with a successful stint as a booking agent, according to an obituary. One of his first solo business ventures (after spending all his saved funds on travel and sightseeing) was buying starch in Chicago, labeling it as “imported from China.” He sold it to customers who used Chinese laundries. Munyon was 21 at the time.
After the starch business he founded Munyon’s Illustrated World
in 1884, a publication “devoted to labor unions.” He changed the publication’s
name to Munyon’s: A Monthly Magazine in 1887. Copies of the periodical do
not exist, but poet Walter Whitman wrote in his notebooks that two poems and an
essay were published in the magazine.
“Money Munyon,” as friends then referred to him, moved from publishing to the patent medicine business in 1891. It was reported that he said he was drawn to this business as a result of a cure he took for rheumatism.
He opened a factory, Munyon Laboratories, in Philadelphia at 54th
and Jefferson (near his home) to manufacture other “cures.” He advertised
extensively—so much so, his investors allegedly called him crazy. Munyon bought
back their shares in his company, Munyon Homeopathic Remedies*, and moved on alone.
His advertising paid off; the homeopathic venture was a huge success across the northeastern U.S. and even in London, England.
Meanwhile, Florida was beginning to appeal to the monied class during the late 1800s, especially after Henry M. Flagler built the Florida East Coast Railway along Florida’s east coast. Wealthy visitors made Palm Beach a high-society winter gathering place after the railway could deliver passengers to the new town. Munyon was one of them.
Seeking
a new market for his products, he bought a small island on the west side of the
Lake Worth Lagoon owned by Nathan Pitts, a resident of the five-acre island since
the 1880s.
Munyon built the five-story Hotel Hygeia on his island and advertised to wealthy prospects in the North about an assortment of cures supplied by island waters. He suggested this could be a fountain of youth. Truthfully, there was no magic water; it was piped in from the mainland. But Munyon’s products such as the popular Munyon’s Paw-Paw Elixir were also available at the hotel. Munyon and his son, Duke, ran the hotel until it burned down in 1917. Munyon died a year later at 70. He collapsed as he sat down for dinner at the Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach. Cause of death was thought to be a heart attack.
Munyon married three times (some sources say married four times and divorced three). The last wife was the beautiful actress, Pauline Neff (1885-1951). It was a rocky, highly publicized union that ended in 1914 or 1916. She was about 35 years younger than Munyon.
One of their squabbles was covered by
the Tropical Sun in Miami June 1910. The news was gathered from Northern
newspapers. The two had a fight in the presence of “hundreds of spectators”
near the Philadelphia city hall as the couple set off for Washington. “Mrs. Munyon
was seen shoving and striking her spouse with a hard blow” and throwing things
out of their car, including a hat. Witnesses “rubbed their eyes to make sure
what they saw had not been a rapid-fire of moving picture scenes from a
five-cent movie.”
Munyon had two sons, Duke and James M. Munyon Jr. from a previous
marriage. The elder Munyon died a millionaire and left $10,000 to a “comely
young woman” who worked for his company. As Munyon’s advertisements stated, “there
is always hope.”
In decades following his death, Munyon Island grew to 21 acres through dredging its surrounds. It is now part of the John D. MacArthur Beach State Park and is accessible via canoe, kayak or paddle board. Its wetlands were restored since the late 1970s and the island lies in a natural state where visitors can fish. Nothing remains of the old hotel, only the name of this “picturesque figure known for matrimonial difficulties” and making money.
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For a Smithsonian exhibit of Munyon’s Homeopathic Remedies, see:
https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_736015
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/c39e2750-39d5-0131-8663-58d385a7b928
Sources:
Tropical Sun, June 17, 1910
News and Observer (Raleigh), July 16, 1914
Palm Beach Post, Feb. 4, 1917
Evening Public Ledger, March 27, 1918
Palm Beach Post, Dec. 31, 1998
Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 22, 2019
Wikipedia
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| Munyon Island Palmetto trees Florida State Archives |
