Baltimore Skyline with the Bromo Seltzer Tower, Take 1 – Viewed from the University of Maryland Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland

Bromo-Seltzer (acetaminophen, sodium bicarbonate, and citric acid), was a brand of antacid to relieve pain occurring together with heartburn, upset stomach, or acid indigestion. First produced by inventor "Captain" Isaac E. Emerson’s drug company of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1888, Bromo-Seltzer was sold in the United States in the form of effervescent granules which must be mixed with water before ingestion. The product took its name from a component of the original formula, sodium bromide. Each dose contained 3.2 mEq/teaspoon of this active ingredient. Bromides are a class of tranquilizers that were withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1975 due to their toxicity. Their sedative effect probably accounted for Bromo-Seltzer’s popularity as a remedy for hangovers. Early formulas also used, as the analgesic ingredient, acetanilide, now known as a poisonous substance.

Bromo-Seltzer’s main offices and main factory were located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, at the corner of West Lombard and South Eutaw Streets. The factory’s most notable feature was the clock tower, built in 1911. The Tower, often referenced as Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower, stands 15 storeys high (88 m = 289 ft) and was designed by Joseph Evans Sperry It was the tallest building in Baltimore from 1911 until 1923. The design of the tower along with the original factory building at its base was inspired by the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, which was seen by Emerson during a tour of Europe in 1900.[9] Systems engineering for the building’s original design was completed by Henry Adams. The factory was demolished in 1969 and replaced with a firehouse.

The tower features four clock faces adorning the tower’s 15th floor on the North, South, East and West sides. Installed by the Seth Thomas Clock Company at an original cost of US$3,965, they are made of translucent white glass and feature the letters B-R-O-M-O S-E-L-T-Z-E-R, with the Roman numerals being less prominent. The dials, which are illuminated at night with mercury-vapor lamps, are 24 feet (7.3 meters) in diameter, and the minute and hour hands approximately 12 and 10 feet (3.7 and 3.0 meters) in length respectively. Upon its completion, the Bromo Seltzer Tower featured the largest four dial gravity driven clock in the world. Originally driven by weights, the moving parts are now electrically powered. The word BROMO reads clockwise, and SELTZER counterclockwise. The clockworks, which is now undergoing a full restoration, is the largest four dial gravity driven non-chiming clock in the work with the magnificent 24ft dials.