Beloved UC Professor Who Developed Bufferin, Rolaids Grew Up On Cameron Hill

A beloved University of Chattanooga professor who developed Bufferin and Rolaids in his spare time grew up on Cameron Hill.

Henry J. Grote, father of Dr. Irvine Walter Grote, was the manager for the nearby M.A. Hunt plant. He had set up the plant after arriving in Chattanooga in 1898 with his wife, Elizabeth M.

Henry Grote grew up in Melhausen, Ind. 

The Grotes lived at 408 Cedar after they moved to Chattanooga about 1903. The next year they moved to 214 W. Sixth St.

By 1906 they were situated in a sprawling three-story frame house at 217 Poplar St. next to the bottler Charles Reif. This was a section of homes that had only recently been built. Poplar reached a ravine at Second Street and as late as 1898 there was only a single house in the 200 block of Poplar. However, fine homes sprouted up after the street was extended north of Second Street.

Mrs. Lucy A. Wilson, a dressmaker who was the widow of Hamberry Wilson, was the first occupant of 217 Poplar. Others who had lived at that address previously included Alexander E. Orr, a salesman for Green & Caldwell, Wesley A. White, a traveling salesman, and Robert R. Love.  

Henry Grote was an elder at the Second Presbyterian Church. 

He was at his Cameron Hill home on July 18, 1917, when he died. It was "unanticipated and a great shock to his friends and family." He had suffered a ruptured blood vessel a few days earlier, but it was not thought to be serious. The funeral was held at the family home, then the burial was at Forest Hills Cemetery.

Irvine Grote was born July 25, 1899, about the time the family moved to Chattanooga. He entered the University of Chattanooga in 1918 and graduated in 1922. He was in Kappa Sigma fraternity.

The talented chemist studied at Columbia University and earned a master's degree there in 1923. He took further study at the University of Cincinnati, where he was awarded his doctorate in 1925.

Then he returned to Chattanooga and married a fellow UC student, Nita Marie Tansey, in 1926.

Dr. Grote took a position with the William S. Merrell Company and became a Winthrop College faculty member. He later switched to the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company.

The Grotes returned to Chattanooga in 1931 and he became an assistant professor of chemistry at his alma mater. In 1941, he was made the head of the chemistry department. He served in that position until he finally retired in 1964. 

Dr. Grote was also the longtime scientific advisor for the Chattanooga Medicine Company. He was known far and wide for his work in developing the Bufferin and Rolaids medicines.The Chattanooga Medicine Company eventually sold his formulas for the two widely-known brands.

The Irvine Grotes made their home on South Crest Road. Dr. Grote was said to have had one of the largest collections of wine and fine liqueurs. The collection include over 3,000 bottles from over 100 countries.

Clifford E. Grote also lived on South Crest Road. He was president and treasurer of the Hunt Spring Bed Company, having followed his father's line. His wife, Grace Sheridan Grote, died in 1942. 

Dr. Grote died in his sleep at his home on Aug. 6, 1972. A science building, Grote Hall, was named in his honor and a professorship bearing his name was endowed at the University of Chattanooga.

When Cameron Hill was torn down, the old Grote home on Poplar Street was in five apartments. Two people lived on the main floor, two on the second, and Miss Millie Addison had the third floor to herself.

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Chester Martin recalled his memories of Dr. Grote:

Everyone on the University of Chattanooga campus knew who Dr. Irvine Grote (pronounced "Groty") was, even when they never took one of his classes. I was in the latter category, and do not ever remember even shaking his hand or talking with him. He would be seen hurrying about the campus, always immaculately dressed, in respect for his role as Head of the Chemistry Department. He had a ruddy countenance - the sort of person that could readily break into a laugh, and it is said that you could easily pass his courses if you half tried.

My most notable contact with Dr. Grote was following a much-publicized trip he had taken to Afghanistan in the early 1950's. He was dismayed at the poverty he found there - and I completely forget the original purpose of the trip. He told about it, however, in one of those (required) chapel programs that our University used to have weekly - (where you entered to organ music played by Professor Isa McIlwraith, receiving a small card at the chapel entrance which you must sign and turn in to Mrs. May Saunders upon leaving). Everyone generally dreaded "Chapel", but this program of Dr. Grote's was most fascinating - and memorable. He told of this far-away land that was essentially constructed out of mud - and I could not really imagine such a place until the recent war over there, when the HD graphics shown on all the news networks  proved him right. (It should be noted that his Afghanistan trip was made a number of years before the big passenger jets, and travel was consequently much more difficult).

But Dr. Grote was a chemist by profession, and through many twists and turns of his education and employment, he wound up not only on the UC faculty, but also on the staff of our Chattanooga Medicine Company before it became Chattem, Inc. He gave them the formulae for both Bufferin and Rolaids!

 For all his great achievements in the field of chemistry he was granted a "Guerry Professorship" at the university. This was supposed to double a worthy professor's salary although he was already refusing his regular salary! Don't ask me how that worked; I only have the story from second-hand sources. But it sounds credible, knowing something of his character.

Dr. Grote was born on Cameron Hill in 1899, four years after my mother was born in St. Elmo. He went to the University of Chattanooga 1918-1922, receiving his bachelor's degree. He got his master's degree from Columbia. His Ph.D. was from the University of Cincinnati. When he died suddenly in his sleep in 1972 the new science building on the University campus was named in his honor. He resided on Missionary Ridge and kept an extensive wine cellar with samplings of exotic wines and liqueurs from all over the world.

I have been told that his daughter followed him in the field of Chemistry to become Head of Procter and Gamble's Chemistry Research department.

Our university has been blessed with a number of such truly excellent professors.