Peruna!

Before his fame and fortune, one of Franklin County’s first millionaires frequented Grove City with his cure-all product that was eventually sold world-wide as Peruna. Dr. Sam B. Hartman frequently lodged at what we know today as Planks on Broadway offering his liquid remedy to local residents as a cure for Catarrh, an excessive discharge or buildup of mucus in the nose or throat. The popularity of his product provided Hartman with the means to create Ohio’s largest farm once located in the area of present-day Scioto Downs. The farm included a large dairy, hotel, general store, retail sales room for Hartman Farm Orchards; the farm even had its own street car line. In downtown Columbus, he eventually built his Peruna manufacturing plant, a large hospital and created the Hartman Theater, beside the Ohio Theatre.