Charles Hires debuted his new creation coined root beer at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition in 1876. Working in his pharmacy, he began with root tea, popular among the Native American tribes, but in order to appeal to working class Philadelphians, he renamed it root beer (smart move) and began marketing a powdered version. The main ingredient, sassafras root, gave the concoction part of its name. In 1884, Hires began producing a liquid extract and a syrup for use in soda fountains and soon was shipping the product in kegs. He also created a special fountain dispenser called the Hires Automatic Munimaker. By 1890, the Charles E. Hires Company incorporated and began supplying Hires Root Beer in small bottles, roughly a million of which were sold by 1891. The company passed out of the Hires family in 1960, when it ended up as part of Cadbury Schweppes, and there have been numerous intermediate sales. Assuming due to low distribution, today it is uncommon to find in stores. Many advertising pieces were created during the height of the Hires Root Beer market, such as a large tin Hires Root Beer thermometer from the 1940s. It measured around 28 inches tall by 8 inches wide. Another rare piece is a mug from the 1890s, made by Villeroy & Boch, of Mettlach, Germany, a prestigious ceramics producer. The mug had the stamp on the bottom, with a picture of a young man raising a mug of Hires and the words, JOIN HEALTH AND CHEER DRINK HIRES ROOTBEER. These pieces, among others, are available for sale at the Grist Mill Antiques Center, located at 127 Hanover St., in Pemberton, N.J. The multi-dealer shop is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving and Christmas.