Picture of Norman Rahn from Town & Country newspaper June 15, 1901
Dr. Norman H. Rahn
As a collector and enthusiast of local antique items we all like to know the story behind the items we gather. I collect antique bottles, Souderton and Telford examples being some of my most prized, but I collect medicine, soda and beer bottles from across Bucks and Montgomery counties. One of the local medicine bottles you may have come across if you had a chance to attend onsite auctions over the years, could be one embossed with “Norman H. Rahn M. D. Souderton, PA”. At such an auction is where I came across my oldest example of a Dr. Rahn’s bottle, circa 1903-1910 when Dr. Rahn first started his practice in Souderton. This bottle is rectangular shaped (far left bottle in pic, 5” tall) compared to later examples which have a curved paneled back (3 bottles in right of pic, 5 3/8”, 5”, 4 3/8” tall). The 3 later examples, dating from around 1910 to the early 1920’s, I was fortunate enough to dig at the dump located in the woods that used to be behind the old Telford Cleaners building.
In 1873 Isaac & Elizabeth Rahn, Inn Keepers in Perkiomenville, Frederick Township, Montgomery County, gave birth to their third son, Norman. After attending public school, he studied at Sumneytown Academy, before teaching for a couple of years. He then began to study medicine with Dr. H. F. Scholl, of Green Lane. By the fall of 1897 he attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Mr. Rahn became Dr. Rahn when he graduated on May 15, 1901. After graduation he did a residency at Charity Hospital in Norristown for about 2 years. He moved to Souderton in June of 1903 to start his own practice and opened an office at 207 Main St. before moving to the former residence of the late Dr. Hiram Ritter at 173 Main St. Listings for him first appears in 1906-08 directory and continues in the directories with the last
listing in 1927-29.
We can get an idea of his appearance from his WW1 draft card which lists him as a medium height, stocky build man with brown eyes and grey hair and his occupation is listed as Physician/Surgeon. He became ill in 1923, but kept practicing until about a year before his passing. On February 6th of 1929 at the age of 55 years 7 months and 28 days, the prominent physician Dr. Norman H. Rahn passed away. He left behind a wife and his place of burial is at Keelys Church Cemetery, Schwenksville, PA.
The Dr. Rahn bottles are one of the four different embossed pharmacy style bottles from Souderton doctors that I have come across over the years. The others are Dr. Ritter, Dr. Loux, and Dr. M. B. Oberholtzer. As far as embossed medicine bottles for the doctors in Telford, I have never found any of these if they even exist.
Dr. Hiram W. Ritter
Another local medicine bottle I had dug up had me baffled for years, because this one was broken and melted, but I could still read “…DRUGGIST SOUDERTON, PA”. Who this bottle was for I didn’t know. It wasn’t until years later when the Stover homestead was being torn down that I was able to see a complete example of this bottle and it was for Dr. H. W. Ritter, dating from between 1892 to 1900. That mystery solved, once I start researching him it would lead me to another mystery, but now could I add this bottle to my collection? The person who found this bottle was asking a lot more than I thought it was worth and wanted to spend, so I passed on the opportunity to obtain this example. I hope I get another chance to own one of these bottles, or at the very least get to take a photo of a full specimen.
November 22, 1853 was when Hiram W. Ritter was born to Lewis and Lovina (Warner) Ritter in Boyertown, Berks County. After attending public school, he went to Jefferson College in Philadelphia. Soon after his college graduation in 1877, he set up practice in Perkasie. He ran his practice and drug store in Perkasie for 11 years then moved to Philadelphia for a year, before moving his practice to Souderton. He purchased the home of Dr. Loux at 173 Main Street in 1892, which would later become the home of Dr. Rahn. In 1900, he began suffering an illness which affected him for 11 weeks before it took his life on October 9, 1900, leaving behind a wife and five children. Dr. H. W. Ritter is interred at Indian Creek Reformed Church, Franconia Township, Montgomery County.
My “other mystery” from earlier is this: If he practiced for 11 years in Perkasie, do bottles of his exist that are embossed “Perkasie” or just the one variant from his 8 years in Souderton?
Hiram R. Loux, M. D.
This Dr. H. R. Loux bottle is one I bought at an auction on County Line Rd. probably about thirty years ago. It’s 6 ¼” in height and also comes in a smaller size. I saw the smaller variant at a civil war reenactment years ago, it struck me as odd that someone would have it with his reenactment gear being that this bottle would date from 1882 to 1892, several years after the civil war. I never dug one of Dr. Loux’s bottles, not even a broken one, probably because most dumps I have dug date to 1900 and later.
In July of 1859 Hiram Rittenhouse Loux was born to Jacob & Hannah (Rittenhouse) Loux in Rockhill Township, Bucks County. His mother was a relative of the famous 1700’s self-taught astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician & etc., David Rittenhouse. Taking after his famous relative he was very intelligent and attended Washington Hall School in Trappe, Montgomery County. He did some teaching before turning his attention towards medicine and in 1879, he entered Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, graduating with honors in 1882.
In 1882 Dr. Loux took over the practice of Souderton’s first doctor, DR. Milton B. Fretz. He ran a solo practice until 1885 when he partnered with Dr. J. R. Umstead, returning to solo practice in 1889 when Umstead moved to Quakertown. He sold he practice to Dr. Ritter in 1892. Sometime between 1893 and 1900 Dr. Loux and his wife moved to 1941 Twelfth Street, Philadelphia. In October of 1911 he helped Dr. Rahn with a surgery on Frank M. Kuhn, the proprietor of the County Line Hotel at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia.
Dr Hiram R. Loux passed away at the age of 70 years, 7 months and 10 days, on February 27th, 1930, survived by his wife. West Laurel Hill Cemetery is where he is interred in Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County.
Morris B. Oberholtzer, M. D.
I have two different M. B. Oberholtzer bottles and I’ve been scratching my head trying to remember where I got the one that has “M. B. OBERHOLTZER M.D. SOUDERTON, PA” (5 ½” tall) embossed on it. The one that just says “DR. M. B. OBERHOLTZER” (5” tall) I got off of a friend after I had dug up a broken one in a small dump that was uncovered when the Indian Valley Boys & Girls Club on Washington Ave. was being built. There are also Oberholtzer bottles with Boyertown embossed on them, as he moved there after leaving Souderton. I have not had a chance to get any of those bottles yet. Even though they are outside Montgomery County I still have an interest in the local connection.
Morris B. Oberholtzer was born in Bechtelsville, Berks County on September 15th, 1876 to Amos B. & Mary Oberholtzer. He attended public school then attended State Normal School in Kutztown before becoming a student at Medico-Chirurgical College in Philadelphia in 1894. After graduating with honors in 1897 he opened a medical practice in Red Hill, Montgomery County which he ran for three years before relocating to Souderton. His office opened for a short time at 220 Main Street in September of 1900 and then the next month in October he moved his practice to 29 West Broad Street remaining here until 1913. He moved quite frequently after he moves from Souderton, it looks like Philadelphia in December of 1913, then Boyertown December 1914 to Sacramento, CA in September 1915 and finally back to Boyertown in August 1916.
Following is an article in The Central News, Perkasie, July 1913:
Souderton Physician Sells Practice.
Dr. M. B. Oberholtzer, of Souderton, has sold his real estate and practice to
Dr. J. F. Crouthamel, also of Souderton, for a consideration of $7,500. Dr.
Oberholtzer will have sale in the near future and will go, with his family, to
the state of California, where he will take up ranching, and bid farewell to the medical practice. Dr. Crouthamel will take possession on August first.
So even though this article says he was going to give up practicing medicine, he is listed in the Directory of Deceased American Physicians as practicing in
Sacramento CA, September 29th 1915.
At age of 45, Morris B. Oberholtzer passed away from an operation which developed into complications, at Reading Hospital, on February 12th, 1921. He left
behind a wife and two children. He is interred at Fairview Cemetery, Boyertown, Pa.
Thank you for reading this article and I hope everyone enjoyed learning about Souderton medicine bottles and the doctors behind them.
Written by David Buck, collector of Bucks and Montgomery County bottles.
