Central Drugstore The Rexall Store

1860s-1977 | Central Dugstore | The Rexall Store | 📍404 South Main Street | Findlay, Ohio

In Business since 1860s City’s Oldest Drugstore Closing

By BETH BELTON

Staff Writer

The city’s second oldest business and it’s oldest drugstore, Central Drug Store, 404 S. Main St. will soon be only a memory to area residents.

The records are unclear but apparently the store opened in 1860 or 1861 and has been in operation as Central Drug Store ever since.

The present owner, Mrs. Charles Tippin, 1707 Southshore Drive, says she is closing because it is too much to handle without her husband, who died recently.

The records go back to 1892, when A.C. Miller owned the drugstore. Apparently, he owned it during the 1890’s and S.D. Frey and his son owned it before that. Robert Davis, at some time during the 1890’s, also worked at and owned part of Central.

In 1893, W.B. Newton bought the store from Miller and operated it for almost 35 years until his son took it over about 1930.m

His son, John, 521 ChurchHill Drive, then ran the store until he sold it in 1945.

In the 1920s, a soda fountain was installed and for nearly 30 years, Central Drug was the gathering place of Findlayites to enjoy sodas and exchange news.

Many people in town recall how popular the soda fountain was for everyone from the elite residents to the younger school children who went there for ice cream after school.

“When you wanted to know what was going on, you went to Central. It was the favorite place in town to go,” said Eppy Saltz, 806 Hancock County Road 95, a retired fireman who worked at Central for 10 years during the 1930s.

Saltz said four of his brothers worked at Central through the years and that his family has fond memories of times spent there.

“I remember walking into Central after school. It had such a unique smell. There was always the odor of medicine combined with the odor from the limes used in the soda fountain. I just loved to walk in there,” Mrs. Joan Price, 406 Locust St., said.

Mrs. Sarah Galbreath, daughter of W.B. Newton, 215 McPherson St., remembered when the soda fountain was installed.

“One time there was a fire in the 20’s and the whole block was damaged. My father chose various new equipment, mahogany cabinets, new tables and it was quite a hang out for young people. If the young people liked to come, they would come when they were adults,” she said.

“My father used to say, we’ll throw the key away and stay open 24 hours a day, it was such a popular place.” Mrs. Tippin, too, recalls how popular the drug store was.

“On Saturdays it would stay open until Il p.m. The farmers would come into town and park their cars in front of the store so they could have a good spot at night. The boys would watch the girls go by and the girls would watch the boys go by,” she said.

Many people remember the marble fountain and the six or eight black glass tables near the fountain for customers to sit at while they enjoyed their beverages.

In 1913, a flood hit Findlay which ran through the entire downtown. With water up to the windows of most businesses, a lot of damage was sustained by local merchants.

In the 1920s there was a fire in the 400 block of Main Street, which destroyed much of the inside of Central Drug. 

Then in 1955 a car struck the front of Central Drug which ruined the curved glass windows of the store front.

The prescription files were kept through the years and recently Mrs. Tippin donated the files, going back to 1892, to the Findlay Historical Society.

 Tippin and Robert Shoemaker, 205 Greenlawn St., bought the store in 1945 and then Carroll Scarborough, 1758l State Route 224, bought Shoemaker out in 1948 and ran it with Tippin until 1970.

The prescription files of Central Drug Store have been moved to The Medicine Shoppe, 406 Tiffin Ave.

NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES

Findlay Courier, July 08 | Pg. 19 | Findlay, Ohio, US

https://newspaperarchive.com/findlay-courier-jul-08-1977-p-19