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Home My WebLink About1973-10-23 Dr. Munyon Built His Hotel On Big Island (Palm Beach Times)Acc /'i73J g5 Dr. Munyon Built His Hotel On Big Island By ROBERT PETERSON Times Staff Writer NORTH PALM BEACH — What seemed at first to be a wild goose chase later took on a new dimension as old timers in this area recounted that indeed a hotel once stood on Big Munyon Island and that Dr. Munyon's Paw -Paw remedy was the drink of the day. The search began when John MacArthur loaned The Even- ing Times a picture, showing the hotel surrounded by coconut palms and with a small boat harbor in the foreground. Fire leveled the wood and stone structure which was built in the early 1900's, according to MacArthur, the present owner of the island. At first there wa,s only a narrowing of eyes and the look of skepticism in the faces of those questioned as to a hotel ever having been on Big Munyon. Nobody asked had been in the area for more than 35 years. A scout leader scoffed at the idea. He had taken a troop camping to the island many times. Yet he did admit to having seen a weathered foundation which he took as being a remnant of an old fishing shack. Many said a hotel was just never there. It took a local historian -librarian to uncover the truth. Half convinced that the hotel in MacArthur's picture was located not on Munyon Island but elsewhere in the Palm Beaches, Mrs. Nancy Moore (whose grandfather was a Seminole Indian fighter in Florida) kept probing into the mystery until her search led her to 70-year-old Mrs. John Dubois of Jupiter. It must have been the right lead since propped up on the front yard of Mrs. Dubois' home is a century old Indian canoe which her two boys used to paddle around in. Sure enough from out of iner voluminous files Mrs. Dubois produced a tattered, yellowed issue of the Palm Beach News, dated Oct. 20, 1905 showing an article about Dr. Munyon and his Hotel Hygeia. The article also mentioned Dr. Munyon's "medicine," which was claimed to cure a host of disorders that modern medicine has not yet found the answers to. The exaggerated claims for Munyon',, Paw -Paw tonic contained in an effervescent advertisement would today cause "The Great Natural Remedy" to be stripped off the retail shelves faster than a bar of soap could squirt from under a wet foot. Yet Dr. Munyon was a great believer in what he did, for on the back cover of the music score "Down Wher' the Paw -Paw Grows," (obviously a promotion song, "On Munyon's Isle all hearts beguile . . .) the stern faced doctor with right index finger pointed to the sky, proclaims, "I consider my prepara- tion of Paw -Paw the crowning achievement of my life knowing as I do the great blessings following .) is use." Mrs. Dubois is sure Paw -Paw h.:d a high alcohol content. There was nutritional value since papaya juice went into the bottle with the alcohol. Whatevam else was added to the mix- ture if anything may never ' e known since the Federal Food and Drug Administration and federal Trade Commission didn't then exist. paw -Paw ',vas a household word at the Hygeia Hotel and when the contents were drunk the bottle would end up on the island's trash heap, worthless. The craze of bottle collecting sweeping the country has put new life into Munyon's Paw -Paw. Where once the bottle _and its contents were sold for one dollar, the fair collector's pace for the quart sized, rectangu- lar amber bottle is $14. The figure is contained in Ralph and Terry Kovel's, "The Official Bottle Collectors Price List (1971) . " The bottle sitting on a collector's shelf is but a skeleton, a relic and a reminder of a page in history. An avid collector extracting his treasure from a former trash heap may ;e more than a bottle. There was also the long-haired man years ago intent on achieving success and overtly declar'g that he would put "my reputation and my fortune behind it. "I want the public to know it as I do and to believe in it: I believe in it. I value your confidence and respect more that: i value your money." (He had money too and formed a corpora- tion with $5 million in capital). If staking his reputation and fortune on the tonic were not enough, Dr. Munyon appealed to the public to heed the value Paw -Paw would bring to the body. "Don't take whisky; don't take beer; don't take narcotics, which are worse than either of them. Remember Paw -Paw exhilarates, but does not intoxicate. It lifts you out of despon- dency into the high altitude of hopes and holds you there. Set aside all drugs, all medicines, all stimulants and give Paw - Paw a fair trial and you will have cause to give your heartfelt thanks to MUNYON." On the label were written the words: "The great natural remedy for indigestion, dyspepsia and all stomach ailments, cures nervousness, sleeplessness, loss of vitality, rheumatism, catarrh (inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose or throat), kidney, liver and blood troubles, poor circulation, diz- ziness, and constipation. It furnishes blood to pale people, gives life and snap to the overworked and run down, makes the old feel young and the weak feel strong." (There seemed to be something for everyone.) Directions: "Take from one to two dessert spoonfulls three times daily, preferably with your meals or oftener if required, especially when tired and depressed." Paw -Paw was in part a vegetable pepsin. Papaya fruit con- tains pepsin, a stomach enzyme that aids digestion. Buffs of mythology know that Hygeia was the goddest of health, and one of the daughters of Aesculapius, the mythical god of healing. A good name for a hotel that sold Paw -Paw tonic. Mrs. Moore, who is reference librarian at the North Palm Beach Public Library, is compiling a history of the commu- nity. It's a slow and tedious process, leading to many dead ends. Balm peach Neighborhood Times October 23,1973