Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep’s father, Harry Streep, worked at Merck for 25 years, retiring in 1975. His roles included manager of compensation and benefits for Rahway personnel, director of personnel for the international division and manager of foreign research and planning.

In 1897, Merck & Co. opens its own stylish pharmacy in downtown Manhattan. The Merck Pharmacy became known across the U.S. and Europe for exclusively selling medicines, candies and knick-knacks, which was unheard of at the time.

Lightbulb inventor Thomas Edison was neighbors with our founder George Merck and an early customer of Merck & Co.

The great-granddaughter of the first Black person to vote in the U.S. after the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment worked at Merck. Althea Peterson, great- granddaughter of Thomas M. Peterson, worked in Merck’s personnel relations department. Ratified in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race or color.

One of our first employee organizations was the Antiseptic Club. Although nicknamed the “Microbe Killers,” it appears the Antiseptic Club had nothing to do with germ fighting. Instead, it was created to promote good fellowship and hosted annual social outings and games.

In 1941, Merck made a public stock offering of 202,372 common stock shares. The stock was priced at $28.75 a share. In 1946, Merck listed shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Merck was the first to synthesize cortisone, later determined to be an effective anti-inflammatory. Merck’s cortisone was used to treat the career-ending arthritis of renowned Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy. Dufy resumed his work and gave Merck the right to reproduce five of his paintings.