The Story of a Flamboyant Mayor and a Troubled Vending Empire
What does a world-traveling, over-the-top, publicity seeking millionaire bachelor Mayor
of St. Petersburg , Florida, who was eventually recalled from office and charged with tax eva-
sion, have to do with an often troubled New York State manufacturer of some of the most
recognizable vendors of all time? Who was behind the short-lived gum company known for
slogan contests, a teddy bear and a single surviving vendor? Why would chewing gum giant
Wrigley sue a little upstart gum manufacturer and what does any of that have to do with a
major maker of advertising buttons? It all involves Frank Fortune Pulver, the man behind
Pulver Vending Company.
Humble beginnings
Born in 1 871 , as the youngest of five children of poor New York parents, Frank Fortune
Pulver quit school early to help his family. He hawked newspapers and worked as a jeweler's
apprentice at age 14. Whether this experience gave the young Pulver any insight into me-
chanical systems that might help with his later vending inventions, can only be guessed.
Sometime before or during 1897, Pulve r moved to Rochester, New York to join his brothe r,
Henry, who was 1 0 years older than himself.
When the common chew was tobacco, Pulver spent $200 on a spearmint gum fo rmula in
1897 (one-third of the average annual wage for a worke r in New York Stat e at the t ime ),
and in the following year the Rochester
City Directory for the first time lists the
1 9-year-old as "Pulver, Frank F & H.H . Gum
mfrs. 21 North Water, Boards 3 Stanley
park. " The same listing goes on to list the
same HH (Henry Harris) Pulver as "Opti-
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cian , 92 East Main and (F.F & H.H . Pulver),
21 North Water, Boards 19 Amherst ."
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