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This article was generated fromresearch compiled for an exhibition at theColumbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia.“A Remedy for Every Ill: Hatchett’sDrugstore and the Evolution of AmericanPharmacy” was on view from February 26– July 16, 2006. Hatchett’s DrugstoreMuseum and Soda Fountain in Lumpkin,Georgia, is open Monday through Fridayfrom 10-4 and Saturday by appointment.For more information, call the StewartCounty Historical Commission at 229-838-6419.

This exhibition was made possible bygenerous funding from the HistoricChattahoochee Commission.

Hatchett’s Drugstore was founded in thelate 1870s in Fort Gaines, Georgia by Dr.

A Remedy For Every Ill:Hatchett’s Drugstore and the Evolution

of American PharmacyBy Mike Bunn and Allen Vegotsky

James Marion Hatchett, and closed in 1957.The store’s contents, an amazingly intactinventory of an early 20th century drugstore,were donated by the Hatchett family to theStewart County Historical Commission in1973. With the exception of a small portion,currently on loan to the Historic ColumbusFoundation, the collection is housed inHatchett’s Drugstore Museum and SodaFountain in downtown Lumpkin, Georgia,which operates as a museum andluncheonette. Appropriately, thecollection’s current home once housedBarr’s Drugstore, a long-time Lumpkinestablishment.

The HatchettsDr. James Marion Hatchett, founder of

Hatchett’s Drugstore, was born in 1824 in

Dr. James Marion Hatchett

Hatchett’s Drugstore, circa 1940. Samuel Hatchett at right.

James Marion Hatchett’s druggist license.Map of west Georgia showing

Harris County and Fort Gaines. James Marion Hatcheett’s medical book.

Card announcing the death of Dr. Hatchett

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Samuel enrolled in the Max Morris Schoolof Pharmacy in Macon, Georgia in 1906 toprepare for the State examination inPharmacy. Upon his return, he operated thestore until his death in 1957 when his wifeliterally locked the door with the contentsintact until an agreement was reached withthe Stewart County Historical Commissionto house the approximately 5000 productsand pharmaceutical artifacts in Lumpkin.

Drugstores of the Late 19th and EarlyTwentieth Centuries

Drugstores were a relatively newphenomenon in America at the timeHatchett founded his store. Although formsof “pharmacy shops” had existed as far backas the eighth century, the development ofstores like Hatchett’s can be traced moredirectly to late medieval Europe.Apothecary shops, or drugstores, becamerelatively common at that time, and overthe following centuries gradually started totake the shape they would become closelyassociated with in American history: a store

with a glass front and a large rectangularinterior space featuring rows of shelves anddrawers in which medicinal ingredientswere stored. As American drugstores beganto develop, they emulated well-establishedEuropean traditions.

The first drugstore in Georgia wasopened in Savannah by Dr. Samuel Nunezin the 1730s. It was not until after the CivilWar, however, that large numbers of theseshops could be found in the state.

Hatchett’s Drugstore, circa 1915. Samuel Pope Hatchett at left.

Image of Samuel Hatchett’s classat the Max Morris School of Pharmacy;

Samuel can be seen at far right (circled).

Tennessee. Hatchett is believed to haveapprenticed to become a doctor in the 1840sand served in the Confederacy as aphysician during the Civil War. Afterwards,he pursued certification as a pharmacist,working for a short time as both apharmacist in Whitesville and West Point,Georgia. He later moved to Fort Gaines inClay County, Georgia, where he opened adrugstore in the late 1870s.

Hatchett’s son, Samuel Pope CallawayHatchett (known as Mr. Pope), ran the storeafter his father’s death in 1894. Though helearned much from observing his father,

The Max Morris School of Pharmacyin Macon.

Perhaps the items most closely identified withthe profession of pharmacy are the mortar andpestle. Used in the mixing of drugs since ancienttimes, especially ones that had to be ground toa powder, mortars and pestles were a recognizedsymbol of pharmacy as early as the 13th century.

This engraving, entitled Salutis emporium, fromJohann Michaelis’ Opera medica chirugica(Nuremburg, 1688) depicts the annualinspection of a European pharmacy’s stock.

[Courtesy National Library of Medicine]

First Hospital Pharmacy in Colonial America,ca. 1750. Image from Great Moments inPharmacy (Detroit, 1966).

[Courtesy of Pfizer Incorporated]

Der Apotecker, from Oeconomus prudens etlegalis, by Franciscus Florinus (Nuremberg,1722). This image shows what a typicalEuropean apothecary shop of the early 1700slooked like.

[Courtesy National Library of Medicine]

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The Profession of PharmacyDuring the early years of Hatchett’s

Drugstore, the practices of medicine andpharmacy were much more interconnectedthan they are today. Far from being simplythe dispenser of drugs, pharmacists playeda vital role in diagnosing and treatingillnesses, and they were usually the best

source of information for their customerson the potentially dangerousincompatibility of drugs. Respected in thecommunity for their knowledge,pharmacists were generally viewed asprofessional equals of doctors despite thefact most had only apprenticeship, ratherthan academic training.

Pharmacists not only sold andcompounded pre-packaged drugs, theyoften developed, produced and marketedtheir own remedies. This long-standingcustom dated to the beginnings ofpharmacy, as mass-produced medicineswere unknown until the late 1800s. Largely“vegetable” drugs, utilizing parts of plantssuch as roots and barks, most of the

pharmacist-created medicines containedfrom one to five ingredients. For manyyears, pharmacists were judged by theirskill at compounding these items.

Patent MedicinesBeginning in the 1880s, American

drugstores increasingly carried mass-produced medicines on their shelves. Theseproprietary, or “patent,” medicines wereproducts whose ingredients were generallykept secret before federal legislationprohibiting the practice in 1906. Despitetheir name, very few of these products wereactually patented. Often featuringsensational and exaggerted claims as aresult of lax regulation and trademarkrights, these products were sometimeseffective, but often dangerous bycontemporary standards.

Legislation passed after the turn of the20th century eventually led to the end ofmany of the patent medicines. The Foodand Drugs Act of 1906 was the first national

Glass bottles similar to the ones shown here lined most drugstores during the 1800s. They hadboth practical and decorative functions, as they stored ingredients the pharmacist used incompounding medicines, and by their orderly arrangement served as an advertisement conveyinga sense of professionalism. The bottles slowly began to disappear from American pharmacies aschain drugstores came on the scene.

The Hatchetts used equipment such as shownhere to produce medicines: hand balance andweight for measuring ingredients; cork pressused to cap bottles of medication; and pill tile.To produce pills, pharmacists would mix theingredients into a thick paste and roll it out ontiles such as this one. The roll would then becut into pills; the markings on the tile enabledthe pharmacist to make pills of the same sizeand control the dosage of the medications.

Though it became increasingly rare forpharmacists to make the majority of their ownmedicines during the years of Hatchett’soperation, Samuel Hatchett did develop andmarket some of his own remedies. The itemsshown here are believed to be Hatchett’s versionof popular medications of the day: Hatchett’sChill and Fever Tonic, Hatchett’s Baby BowelRemedy and Hatchett’s Sage Sulphur,

Many of the common dosages of medicines weknow today were developed by pharmacists.They dispensed drugs and medicines aspowders, pills, capsules, lozenges and wafers.Liquids were dispensed as tinctures, emulsions,ointments, liniments and lotions.

Common ingredients the Hatchetts used incompounding medicines.

Bottles and Extras January-February 2007 15

legislation aimed at regulating theproduction and advertising of medicinesand ensuring they contained no poisonousingredients. A series of federal, as well asstate, laws passed in the ensuing decades,coupled with advances in synthetic drugmanufacturing, radically altered theformulation of industrially-produced drugsand greatly curtailed outrageousadvertising. Though most eventuallydisappeared, some medicines, with alteredformulas and claims, survived the periodand are still popular today.

Pills, Potions, Soda and Ice CreamDrugstores like Hatchett’s, especially

those in small towns such as Fort Gaines,sold a wide variety of items. Because formany years it was difficult to sustain abusiness selling medicines alone, it was a

As interesting as proprietary medicinesthemselves were the marketing campaigns thataccompanied them. Manufacturers’ claims weresometimes outrageous but chosen carefully toreach a wide audience, and drastically differentlanguage was sometimes employed in marketingthe same medication for men and women.

Surviving medicines and health foods fromthe era of patent medicines.

long-standing tradition for pharmacists tosell a variety of sideline items, or“sundries,” to increase their store’sprofitability. Some of these items, includingperfumes, cosmetics, spices and flavorings,became the province of druggists becausechemicals used to create them were oftenexclusively sold in pharmacies.

One of the sideline enterprises mostclosely associated with American

Types of patent medicines sold at Hatchett’s Drugstore.

Medical advertising from the turn of the centurysheds light on the state of pharmaceuticalscience. An emphasis on maintaining balancesof fluids in the body for good health, which datesback to the time of the ancient Greeks, isevidenced in the labeling of some of theproducts. One of the most common treatmentsinvolved dealing with specific organs to cureillness. It was widely believed that certainorgans, such as the liver and kidneys, were themain source of common maladies. Accordingly,many medicines alleged that they specificallytargeted those organs.

Above and below: The variety of sideline itemssold in drugstores such as tobacco and spicesand flavorings such as vanilla, peppermint andginger, helped make drugstores identifiable asmuch by their aroma as their appearance.

drugstores is the soda fountain. The firstsoda fountains opened in the 1820s, and

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by the 1920s, an estimated 60 percent ofAmerican drugstores featured them. Theseenterprises, a natural fit for pharmacistsgiven their knowledge of complicated flavormixes and carbonation, gradually expandedto offer menus including sandwiches andice cream. Fountains reached the height oftheir popularity during prohibition whenthey replaced bars as community gatheringspots. Hatchett’s did not contain a fountain,though it probably did sell ice cream. Anold ice cream scoop is among the artifactsin the Hatchett’s Drugstore Museum.

The End of an EraSeveral significant developments

occurred around the turn of the 20th centurythat had a profound impact on drugstoressuch as Hatchett’s. Increasingly stringentfederal regulation regarding the content andcompounding of drugs limited themanufacture of medicines by pharmacists.Coupled with mass production of medicinesand the growth of advertising by drugcompanies, a central component of thepharmacist’s traditional job was steadily

Typical soda fountains in 1900 and the 1940s.[Courtesy of the American Institute

of the History of Pharmacy]

Hargis Hall at Ashburn University firsthoused the School of Pharmacy.[Courtesy of Auburn University]

reduced, and the pharmacist became asmuch a business operator as a healthprofessional.

During the time these changes wereoccurring, pharmacy began to become morestandardized. Colleges and universitiesbegan to expand pharmacy curriculums,resulting in more stringent educationalrequirements for pharmacists. Perhaps mostimportantly, though, drugstore chains suchas Walgreen’s and Liggett’s presentedestablished drugstores with competitionfor which they were unprepared. Storeslike Hatchett’s could not compete withthe lower prices and unparalleled selectionof products the chain stores offered,and they were forced to expand theirsideline businesses or risk failure. Thesefactors, as well as the economic pressuresassociated with operating in a smallsouthern town and Samuel Hatchett’sdeteriorating health, contributed toHatchett’s eventual decline.

Schools of Pharmacy began to developat universities in Alabama and Georgiaduring the early years of Hatchetts’

operation. Alabama’s first school openedin 1885 at Auburn University. In Georgia,the Southern School of Pharmacy and theUniversity of Georgia’s school opened in1903.

By preserving the store’s tremendouscollection of nearly 5,000 artifacts, theStewart County Historical Commissionprovides a unique window into Americanpharmacy during an important period oftransition.

The Southern School of Pharmacy’s firsthome, in downtown Atlanta.[Courtesy Mercer University

Southern School of Pharmacy]

Hatchett’s today. Soda fountains became so common in American pharmacies that even certaintypes of furniture are identified with them. These tables and chairs, once common in drugstoreswith soda fountains, are still referred to as “ice cream chairs” and “ice cream tables.”

Students at the Southern School of Pharmacy,circa 1920. [Courtesy of Mercer Univ.

Southern School of Pharmacy]

Interior of a pharmaceutical plant, ca. 1940s.[Courtesy of Pfizer Incorporated]

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The Jacobs Pharmacy Company, opened inAtlanta in 1890, was the first chain drugstoreto open in Georgia.

SourcesBender, George A. Great Moments in

Pharmacy. Northwood Institute Press:Detroit, 1966.

Cowen, David L. and William H.Helfand. Pharmacy: An Illustrated History.Harry N. Abrams, Inc.: New York, 1990.

Kremers, Edward and George Urdang.History of Pharmacy: A Guide and aSurvey. J. B. Lippincott: Philadelphia,1951.

Moye, Andy. The Square: A ModestHistory and Walking Tour.

Richardson, Charles G. and Lillian C.Richardson. The Pill Rollers: ApothecaryAntiques and Drug Store Collectibles. OldFort Press: Harrisonburg, Virginia, 2003.

Sonnedecker, Glenn, David L. Cowen,and Gregory J. Higby. Drugstore Memories:American Pharmacists Recall Life Behind

the Counter, 1824-1933. American Insituteof the History of Pharmacy: Madison,Wisconsin, 2002.

Southern Research. Living inColumbus, Georgia 1828-1869: The Livesof Creeks, Traders, Enslaved African-Americans, Mill Operatives and Others asTold to Archaeologists. Southern Research:Columbus, Georgia, 2005.

Vegotsky, Allen. “Dr. Hatchett’s DrugStore Museum: A Time Capsule.” Bottlesand Extras, Vol. 15, No. 1.

Vegotsky, Allen. Dr. Hatchett’s DrugStore Museum: An Inventory and Analysis.Stewart County Historical Commission:Lumpkin, Georgia, 2003.

Wilson, Robert C. Drugs and Pharmacyin the Life of Georgia, 1733-1959. Footeand Davies: Atlanta, 1959.

Above: Hatchett’s Drugstore Museum and Soda Fountainin Lumpkin.

Left: The original Hatchett’s Drugstore building still standsin Fort Gaines. It is privately owned and rented out forspecial events. [Courtesy of Ken Penuel]

Mike BunnAsst. Curator of HistoryThe Columbus Museum

1251 Wynnton RoadColumbus, GA 31906

(706) 748-2562, Ext. 14

Allen Vegotsky, Ph.D.2215 Greencrest Drive

Atlanta, GA 30345-2629(770) 270-1034