Mystic's Famous Packer's Tar Soap

Carol W. Kimball

Packer's Tar Soap.
Lightning soap.
Soap.

Kim02-099

Scrapbook

8: Communication Artifact

Documentary Artifact

The Day

New London, CT

01/26/1989

Carol W. Kimball

In 1869 Capt. Daniel Packer began to manufacture what he first called "lightning soap" at the corner of High Street and Center Street in Mystic. The pungent scent of tar in the black soap bars wafted around the world via Mystic's seamen and made Daniel famous. Daniel, the son of sea captain Charles Packer, once owned and commanded his own sloop, Plume, for two years, but when gold was discovered in California, he gave up the sea to go west for his fortune. He did not find any gold but found success, not as a miner, but in the manufacture of soap. He sold his share of the business to the company in 1899 and the company was sold to Cooper Tinsley Laboratories in 1965. As of 1989, Packer's Tar Soap was not made in Mystic but it could still be bought at Seaport Pharmacy on West Main Street for $2.72 a bar. The individual tin boxes that once held the black bars can sometimes be found for sale at Flea Markets.

Packer, Daniel F. (Capt.)
Packer, Carrie
Albion, Robert G.
Packer, Charles (Capt.)
Mallory, C. H.
Woodbury, Bob

Packer's Tar Soap
Lightning Soap
Mystic
Plume
High Street
Water Street
Dudley Packing Company
Packer Manufacturing Company
New York City
all-healing
baldness
dandruff
skin
pimples
eczema
herpes
feet
Cooper Tinsley Laboratories
Mystic Packer Building