Pharmacists in Early 20th Century in America and a Giveaway!

Walking through the Detroit Historical Museum many years ago with my kids I loved the underground timeline of a main street through history, including shop fronts. When you get to the brick-paved area it includes a drug store with two old-fashioned show globes hanging in the window and historical products displayed. Something about it intrigued me. 

When I heard the story about my father-in-law sitting on a pair of scissors and having the corner pharmacist stitch up his wound, I found that interesting as well. Even my visit to Colonial Williamsburg gave fodder to my imagination with its charming apothecary shop. Dried herbs hung around the store and glass jars were filled with ingredients. With those thoughts filed away in my mind and reading other things about the history of apothecary I decided to make my hero in my latest release a turn-of-the century pharmacist. 

Apparently there is a disagreement as to whether the first drug store in America was in New Orleans, because of having the first registered pharmacist running it, or one in Fredericksburg, Virginia purported to be the one where Martha Washington once shopped. 

Around the time of the Civil War, scientific methods started being considered more important in the pharmaceutical arts. Several years before that, the first textbook of pharmacy of American origin, Practical Pharmacy by Mohr, Redwood, and Procter, was written. Throughout the century schools of pharmacy popped up around the country, such as the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1823 and the New York School of Pharmacy in 1829. This brought about a more consistent study of pharmacy than apprenticeship alone though druggists still weren’t required to be licensed.

If you thought enteric-coated tablets or gelatin capsules were a more recent development of the 20th century, Parke, Davis, and Company of Detroit began mass producing them around 1875!

The drugstore soda fountain first appeared in the 1880s. They might have served up a refreshing cherry Coke, or perhaps a root beer. I have to wonder if they served the original Coke with its energizing but addictive ingredient of cocaine. The drug store soda fountain became an important Main Street destination in many a small town in America. 

{PD} The Old Design Shop

One of the first things a turn-of-the-century customer might notice in the front window of a local drugstore was a large jar or glass container hanging by a chain or sitting in a stand and filled with colored liquid. This colorful attention getter is called a show globe. Despite the legends of different colors signaling epidemics in the town, this is highly unlikely. Show globes originated back in the time of the alchemist. Like the alchemist, the pharmacist would show off his prowess in mixing chemicals by coming up with different colors. If mixtures of different densities were layered, they could even produce a striped effect!

Inside the drugstore the prospective customer might find any number of tooth powders, cosmetics, and patent medicines on the shelf. They could peruse corked bottles, tins, and jars, to see what was available. Lining the walls were apothecary cabinets. Behind the clear glass doors lurked tinctures and tonics while the herbs they were extracted from were stored in the drawers below. Perhaps you would see a mortar and pestle which the pharmacist would use to ground the dried herbs. 

{PD} 1881

You could ask the pharmacist for help with finding a suitable medicine for your teething baby. He might recommend the patent medicine, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, which with its opiate content would most likely put your baby to sleep in a jiffy, while also addicting her and endangering her life. And if you had “female complaints” you might be introduced to Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound. This remedy contained several herbs thought to help women, including black cohosh, but the original also contained a fair amount of drinking alcohol to calm the nerves. Today there is still a version of her remedy on the market called Lydia Pinkham’s Herbal Compound.

You might be given cough medicine which contained horehound, a strong licorice-like flavored herb. Several expectorants were used. Only guaifenesin is still used in drugstore cough medicines today for that purpose. 

Poisonous plants, such as foxglove and deadly nightshade, were discovered to have healing power in small doses. The local pharmacist could use foxglove to create the heart medicine, digitalis, and nightshade could be used to produce the sedative, belladonna. Today you would find belladonna as an ingredient in any number of prescription drugs such as Donnatol. Valerian root with its sedative properties could be used to help gain a good night’s rest. It’s still taken for those properties today. 

And let’s not forget the soda fountain. A pharmacist of the late 1800s and early 1900s would use flavored syrups or find carbonation helpful to drown out the bitter taste of their preparations. This made it logical for the corner drugstore to open a soda fountain. Through the years these became not only a place to meet for a soft drink, but also have ice cream or eat at the lunch counter.  

The role of the pharmacist has changed somewhat. As larger companies have taken over the market, promising savings, the family-owned drugstore is becoming a thing of the past. Gone are the beautifully polished marble counters where customers could hop on a stool and order a treat. The pharmacist works in an enclosed area, dispensing already prepared medications (unless they work in a compounding pharmacy). While drugstore chains have brought savings, they have also taken away the charm of the historic corner drugstore. 

Kathleen Rouser is the award-winning author of Rumors and Promises, her first novel about the people of fictional Stone Creek, Michigan. She is a longtime member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Kathleen longs to create characters who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives. She lives in Michigan with her hero and husband, and the sassy tail-less cat who found a home in their empty nest. Connect with Kathleen on her website at kathleenrouser.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kathleenerouser/, and on Twitter @KathleenRouser

I'm giving away the copy of my newest release, Secrets and Wishes. Please leave a comment to enter the drawing for one randomly chosen commenter to receive a copy of Secrets and Wishes. Ending date is Oct. 21.

Can unexpected love flourish amid the ashes of grief? 

Stone Creek, Michigan - April, 1901: Maggie Galloway and Thomas Harper clash after their sons collide in a fistfight. Both widowed, they're each doing their best as a parent to their children. Outgoing Maggie has dreams for a home of her own and a business to provide for her son as she searches for God's path for her life as a widow. Reserved Thomas struggles to establish his new pharmacy and take care of his four rambunctious children, while wondering how a loving God could take his beloved wife.

When Thomas becomes deathly ill, Maggie is recruited to nurse him back to health. Taking the children in hand, as well, is more than she bargained for, but she is drawn to help the grieving family. Both nurse and patient find themselves drawn to each other but promptly deny their feelings.

A baking contest sponsored by the Silver Leaf Flour Company brings former beau, Giles Prescott, back into Maggie's life. When Giles offers Maggie a position at their test kitchen in Chicago, he hints that, along with assuring her a good job, it will allow them to possibly rekindle their relationship.

But then a charlatan comes to town, and tragedy soon follows. Maggie and Thomas discover the miracle potions he hawks aren't so harmless when an epidemic hits Stone Creek. Thomas and Maggie realize they must work together to save lives.

Maggie finds herself caught up in battles within and without the battle to help the townsfolk in the midst of illness and chicanery, and the battle to know which man Thomas or Giles deserves to win her heart.