Emporia Drug Co.


Company Names, addresses, dates:
  Emporia Drug Co Inc, North Emporia VA (1911-1963+) 1,2,3

Notes:
The following is a summary of an article about the Emporia Drug Store that appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch on 04-Nov-19633:
  Article Title: "Emporia Drug Store - Then and Now"
  - It started in 1886, a year before Emporia became Emporia
  - The first owner was a man named George Mason
  - George Mason's son ran the store after his father
  - W.W. "Mr. Billy" Robertson ran the store from 1897-1950
  - The current owners (1963) are Samuel & Walter R. "Jack" Jones
  - Sam Jones started at age 18 working for Mr. Robertson
  - Sam Jones & his young brother Jack bought the store in 1951
The article somewhat implied that some of this information came from entries in store ledgers that the current owners still owned.

Some of that information is at odds with the information I independently determined from newspaper articles and drugstore directories.
There was a newspaper announcement that the Emporia Drug Company was newly incorporated in 1911, with W. P. Adams as president, J. D. Peebles as vice-president, and W. W. Green as secretary and treasurer1.
Also, the Virginia State drugstore directories indicate that the "Emporia Drug Co Inc" existed during the same years as the "W.W. Robertson" drug store, with the Robertson store in "Emporia" and the Emporia Drug Co Inc in "North Emporia". So "W.W. Robertson" and "Emporia Drug Co" were 2 separate drug stores, at least between the years of 1912 and 1938. 2

A newsapaper article from 1944 mentioned that Edward Massenburg Wood (1903-1961)4 and James B. Gillespie (ca.1881-1944) were druggists at the Emporia Drug Company 5.


Bottles:

emporia_01 This is a clear 7" (8-ounce) mouth-blown bottle embossed:
vertical on the front: Emporia Drug Co. Inc / PRESCRIPTION DRUGGISTS / NORTH EMPORIA, VA.
left side: (ounce gradations)
right side: (CC gradations)
base: B


1 Richmond Daily Dispatch, 24-Feb-1911, page 9 (Charter for Emporia Drug Co)
2 Various Virginia State Drugstore directories, 1906,10,11,12,13,16,19,21,27,35,38
3 Richmond Times Dispatch, 04-Nov-1963, page 26 (Emporia Drug Store - Then and Now)
4 Find-a-grave for Edward Massenburg Wood
5 Richmond Times Dispatch, 4-Feb-1944, page 9 (Druggist Dies in Hotel Room at Emporia)


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This page last updated on January 28, 2024.