History (1962-1990)
In 1962, due to advancing
age, Dr. Kalkosinski realized that he needed help to
run the business
and organize the hundreds of herbs and formu
las
that were now in use. It was in July of that year that
William Betz, Sr. purchased Penn Herb Company, in order
to continue the Penn Herb tradition of providing for
our customer's health needs. At that time, an extensive
reorganization of the company took place under the watchful
eye of our founder. The doctor remained active in the
business for another 10 years, generously sharing his
wealth of knowledge regarding herbs, formulas and healthy
living.
Throughout the 1960's, Penn
Herb Company maintained the storefront shown
above, with the entrance at 603 North Second Street.
You can see Dr. Kalkosinski's sign in the picture, as
well as the stained glass windows alongside the sign.
The interior of the store is shown with a large assortment
of herbs in glass containers, and many natural remedies
in the showcases. William Betz, Sr. is pictured with
the large assortment of books available for consumer
education. We continue this tradition today with a large
selection of reference books available for your p
erusal.
Since the 1970's, Penn Herb Company has experienced continued growth. We became incorporated in 1971, and since have been known as Penn Herb Company, Ltd. In 1975, Penn Herb became the exclusive US importer for Olbas Herbal Remedies from Switzerland. We have been offering these fine products in our store since the 1960's, and are proud to continue making this fine line available nationwide through thousands of retailers.
One
thing that was lacking back in the 1960's was a complete
catalog of our herbs, along with our vitamins and extensive
line of natural remedies. So, in the early 1970's, Jane
Betz (wife of William Betz, Sr.) manually typed pages
and pages of herbs and product descri
ptions
on her Smith Corona typewriter. These pages were then
mimeographed and stapled together to form one of our
first mail order catalogs. We continued with this process
through the 1980's, using faster and more up-to-date
printing equipment. Today, we still produce the text
and photos contained in our catalog in-house (although
no longer on the Smith Corona). The catalog is now available entirely online.