Merville Hamilton Carter

Artist: Ives; Oil on canvas

Merville Hamilton Carter was born at Middletown, Frederick County, Virginia on August 21, 1856. He was educated at Polytechnic Institute in Newmarket, Virginia, and received his MD from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore in 1878. For fifteen years he was the Visiting Physician to Hebrew Orphan Asylum and for six years was a member of the Board of School Commissioners of Baltimore.

Dr. Carter developed Resinol in his private practice as treatment for his patients in Baltimore, Maryland during the late 19th century. In 1895, Carter, along with his brother Allan L. Carter and his cousin Henry Stier Dulaney founded the Resinol Chemical Company and began to mass-produce the ointment and other medical products. After over forty years of selling Resinol, the company had John H. Buffham & Co. as an outlet in Great Britain and was a successful global distributor. 

Henry LeRoy Carter Sr., the son of Dr. Carter, began running the company after the deaths of his father and other staff members. The company's sales began to decline in the 1940s, and after the death of Henry LeRoy Carter Sr. in 1951, his son Henry LeRoy Carter Jr. took the place of his father and grandfather as president of the Resinol Chemical Company. At that time, the company focused more on soap manufacturing, but continued to sell Resinol. For the rest of the 20th century, Resinol's popularity continued to dwindle. It was purchased by ResiCal Inc. in 2002, which at the time was headed by D. Brooks Cole.

The active ingredients used in Resinol are a 55% solution of petroleum jelly and a 2% solution of resorcinol. Additionally, calamine, corn starch, lanolin, and zinc oxide comprise the inactive ingredients.

Dr. Carter lived in one of the few stand-alone houses in Charles Village. Here