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As Fred Preyer lowered himself down the creaky steps to a basement that extends at least halfway under South Elm Street, he couldn't resist a plug for Vicks VapoRub, although not one long-gone granddad would like.

"Maybe we'll find some mummified bodies for which VapoRub didn't work,'' he quipped.

He was touring 121 S. Elm St., where his grandfather, Lunsford Richardson, invented VapoRub in 1894 and other Vick products later.

Preyer's family doesn't own the building. So chalk it up to a huge coincidence that Preyer has been assigned to find a new renter or buyer for the long, two-story building. Preyer is an agent for the Bissell Companies, a commercial real estate firm. The building goes on the market Jan. 1.

Preyer confessed it wasn't until recently that he became aware 121 S. Elm was where his grandfather — who died before Preyer was born — concocted cold remedies. Preyer just knew it was in Greensboro.

He has done some homework since then after being hired by the building's owner, Lillian Rauch. He has learned that the edifice is not only an official Guilford County historic landmark, but also is perhaps the only building in the county with two historic plaques commemorating two unrelated happenings.

Preyer admits that he hadn't read the plaques until recently, although he had passed by them many times through the years while selling the old Belk and Meyer's store buildings nearby.

One plaque, on the south side of the facade, hails Richardson. The other, on the north side, praises short-story writer O. Henry, whose profile soars each Christmas. He wrote the Yule classic "The Gift of the Magi." O. Henry grew up in Greensboro as William S. Porter. As a teenager in the 1880s, he worked at 121 S. Elm for four years in the drugstore owned by his uncle Clark Porter. Young Porter jerked sodas and learned the pharmacy trade from his uncle.

Clark Porter in 1891 sold the business to Richardson, who moved from Selma in Johnston County. With a partner, he renamed the business Richardson & Farris Drug Store.

It was in the back of the store or maybe in the basement where Richardson mixed ingredients that became Vick products, which he named for his brother-in-law, Dr. Joshua Vick of Selma.

Preyer doesn't appear overly sentimental about the building. He sees it as an excellent piece of historic downtown real estate.

What really impresses Preyer is the length and dryness of the basement, one of several that extend under South Elm's pavement. Water tables are low along Elm. He says every Elm building he has ever inspected as a real estate agent had water in the basement. But this building's basement is so dry that the law firm of Ivy, McClellan, Gatton and Talcott stored its records here. The firm departed last week for bigger quarters in the same block.

A Sanborn Insurance Map in 1885 and 1888 show two structures at the site. The second was a warehouse that appears to be attached to the main building.

Further proof that one building may be two is found in the long main hall. It is abruptly interrupted by 11 downward steps apparently put there to connect to the second building. Ceiling sizes also vary on the first floor.

After Richardson left in 1905 to start Vick Chemical Co., the store remained a drugstore under different owners. For years it was aptly called O. Henry Drug Store.

Many older Greensboro women who like fine shoes will remember the site as Arthur's Shoes from the 1950s through the mid-1970s. Later, the building housed Faber Marketing and the Book Trader. In more recent years, it has been the Ivy law offices.

The plaques outside both state: "In this building" Richardson invented Vick products and O. Henry worked for his uncle.

It is undoubtedly the site, but is it the same building? Architectural historian Marvin Brown wrote in 1995 that a structure known as the Hobbs-Mendenhall Building replaced the drug store in the late 1920s.

Let's not quibble over details. That basement sure looks like it's been there long before the 1920s.

As far as Fred Preyer is concerned, this is where his family's fortune began.

Because of the building's status as a historic landmark, a buyer would get a 50 percent property tax reduction if the building's character isn't altered.

Preyer is proud that VapoRub saved lives during the terrible flu epidemic in 1918. The jellylike stuff has stuck around. It recently received praise from Joe and Terry Graeden of National Public Radio's "The People's Pharmacy" show.

Richardson's descendants remain Greensboro's link to VapoRub. The product is now made by Proctor & Gamble, which has a large operation here. But — does this sound familiar? — the company now makes VapoRub in Mexico.

Contact Jim Schlosser at 373-7081 or jschlosser@news-record.com