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 Bromides are a class of tranquilizers that were withdrawn from the U.S. market in 1975 due to their toxicity.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 Hangover remedy. Early formulas also used acetanilide as the analgesic ingredient, which is now known to be 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, which featured "BROMOSELTZER" in place of the numerals on all four clock faces. The tower was patterned on the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower originally held a 51-foot representation of a Bromo-Seltzer bottle at its top, glowing blue and rotating on a vertical axis. The sign weighed 20 tons, included 314 incandescent light bulbs, and was topped with a crown. The sign was removed in 1936 because of structural concerns.
Mentioned in the fifteenth chapter of The Grapes of Wrath "At one end of the counter a covered case; candy cough drops, caffeine sulphate called Sleepless, No-Doze; candy, cigarettes, razor blades, aspirin, Bromo-Seltzer, Alka-Seltzer".The product is mentioned in the song 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered' by Ella Fitzgerald in the line 'Like a daisy, I'm awake/With no Bromo-Seltzer handy/I don't even shake'. Appears in the 1945 filmWonder Man when ordered at the Pelican Club by a drunk customer. In 1947, Spike Jones used "Bromo-Seltzer" as a train-like sound in his band's version of the song "Laura". It is also mentioned in season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel when it is offered to Susie Myerson to calm her upset stomach on a flight to Las Vegas. A hung-over character in the 1933 film "Bed of Roses" says, "Get me a Bromo-Seltzer" and in the episode “ Under God's Power She Flourishes” from season 2 of Boardwalk Empire.
