One Spot

In the early 60’s through 1970, I taught at Waterloo Junior High School on Howard County, MD. This became Waterloo Middle School somewhere along the line and dropped the 9th grade and added the 6th.

In my drive from my home in Randallstown, MD to Waterloo, many times I used old route 1, the original road between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and a bit beyond my school, if I was going out the other way towards Washington, I would see One Spot Flea Killer. This was an amazing structure, long gone, but one of Americas great roadside attractions. It was a huge, larger than life building shaped like a dog!

In 1945, a tourist attraction in Elkridge Maryland was the HOME OF ONE SPOT FLEA KILLER.

It was the world's largest 'dog house'.

Here is also an actual tin container of ONE-SPOT FLEA KILLER

The advertising postcard for One-Spot Flea Killer, features an image of the World's Largest "Dog House" which was a roadside attraction on Route 1 in Maryland until the 1950s. The card has text all over it, along with measuring tools that cover inches, centimeters, degrees of angles and a way to draw circles.

There is a comic question and check box section that reads "I'm in the Dog House _Again _Yet" and "R U in the Dog House _Again? _Yet?"

There is also a description of the "Dog House": Of the 20 residences on One-Spot Farm, this 3 story (not including basement) dwelling was sandwiched between concrete road signs 40 ft. high on U. S. Route 1, between Baltimore and Washington, (One-Spot Co., Elkridge, Md.) Ablaze with 655 feet of neon, it was seen by an average of over 20,000 auto drivers a day.

Divided back one cent postcard, unused, with advertising copy on the back that reads "Ever Use One-Spot? It's called 'One-Spot' because it only has to be applied on one spot to kill the fleas all over the animal. It KILLS 'em. Also kills ants, lice and bedbugs." Here’s a card that's useful. Copyright 1940 by One Spot Co., Elkridge, Md. Printed

The instructions on the top of the can say to 'press the sides of the can' and to cover the hole with adhesive tape and prick with toothpick'.

. and it is covered with a piece of tape.

It kills bedbugs, bean beetles, tobacco worms, head lice, crabs, ticks on dogs, cats foxes and poultry. (I can hear the FDA now). My favorite instruction on the can is: TOO STRONG FOR CANARIES AS THEY SLEEP WITH HEAD UNDER WING!.

There were also some philosophical tracts delivered by One Spot, the religious kind, but I can’t seem to lay my hands on that information on the net.