Evans Drug Store - Fountain Businesses

My father, uncle and grandfather owned Evans Drug Store in Attica. The history of the pharmacy includes a CM Terry who sold his stock to another early owner.

This article was written about the drugstore. Thought you might enjoy them. Disclaimer--except for some glaring grammatical errors, I have kept the writing as it was.

Attica’s Oldest Business Firm

1966, author unknown

The Evans Drug Store, owned and operated by Stanford and Fred Evans, Jr., bears the distinction of being Attica’s oldest business firm, its name having changed but few times in the 102 years of the drug store’s existence, all of that time in the first block on Perry street, north of Main.

The beginning of the pharmacy was told by J.O. (James Orr) Reid in an advertisement he ran in an April, 1901, issue of the Attica Ledger. He stated that he had started in business in the room he then occupied on May 14, 1864, when he and Dr. J. W. (James W.) Newlin bought the drug stock of C.M. (Charles Mills) Terry, an early Attica druggist. This room was then numbered No. 3, but now 103 North Perry Street. He and Dr. Newlin continued together until Dr. Newlin’s death in December, 1868, after which Dr. Rawles of Covington was appointed administrator of Newlin’s estate. On May 19, 1871, Mr. Reid purchased Newlin’s share and became the sole owner. He was a constant advertiser in the weekly edition of the Ledger, never missing an issue from 1871 to 1901. Later issues of the newspaper show that he continued the same policy.

His store was known by the sing of “The Swinging Mortar”. In 1880 he advertised “Pure Drugs and Medicines.” Three years later, he listed for sale “Pure Drugs, Patent Medicines, Lamps of most modern construction and in endless varieties. Fine case and Toilet Goods.”

(Citations: 1860 Indiana Federal Census for C.M. Terry, druggist, Attica, Indiana; 1880, 1900 and 1910 Indiana Federal Census for James Reid; Polk’s Indiana Gazetteer and Business Directory; Vol. 1882-1883, p. 9) Find Attica Ledger copies.

Mr. Reid’s son, Earl Reid, following his graduation from the Attica High School in 1901, assumed a position in his father’s store, took a correspondence course in pharmacy, passed the state examination and received a certificate as a registered pharmacist. After the death of the elder Mr. Reid, his son continued operating the drug store until August, 1910, when it sold and the name changed to Crigler Drug Store, Thomas B. Crigler, pharmacist, the new owner. He remained in the same location, 103 North Perry Street, until 1914, when A.L. Sargeant, jeweler, vacated the adjoining room on the corner of Perry and Main, to which the Crigler Drug Store moved.

In 1929 Fred Evans, father of the present owners of the Evans Drug Store, purchased the pharmacy, continuing in the corner business room, 101 North Perry, renting of Miss Vera Hay, daughter of the late George Hay, who had owned the building and operated a jewelry store there. The late John C. Ritzi purchased the building and rented it to Mr. Evans until he (Ritzi) decided to move his jewelry store to this room, built and designed especially for a jewelry business.

It was in 1947 that Mr. Evans purchased of John Frageman the building at 105 North Perry Street, to which he moved his pharmacy.

Fred Evans, Sr., a graduate of the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy, was joined by his son, Stanford Evans, following his service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Both of Mr. Evans’ sons are graduates of the Butler School of Pharmacy, Indianapolis, and Dean Miles was dean and an instructor in the college the sons attended as well as its predecessor, from which the elder Mr. Evans graduated. Stanford graduated in 1942 and Fred Jr. in 1950, both as registered pharmacists.

Following the death of Fred Evans, Sr., September 29, 1956, his son, Stan, continued to operate and manage the drug firm. He was joined in 1960 by his brother, Fred, and they formed a partnership.

Their quarters were not large enough for their growing business, and in 1963 they purchased the Haworth building at 107 North Perry Street, removing the dividing wall and making the two rooms into one. A new, modern front and interior remodeling provides and up-to-date home for the drug business, born even before Attica was incorporated as a city.

J. O. Reid, prior to starting in business, clerked in the drug store of Dr. B. H. Boyd, who after more than 30 years as a physician and druggist in Williamsport and Attica, sold his Attica store in 1872 and purchased a pharmacy in Lafayette. Charles F. Robinson, who also worked in Dr. Boyd’s store, as well as for John L. Hays, purchaser of the Boyd store, purchased the stock of the late J. W. Gass in 1873 and moved it to 202 South Perry Street, where for 84 years a drug store was operated. The business of a pharmacy ceased in the location in December, 1957, when the Ken Lee Drug Store, operated by Leon Blume, sold their drug stock to the Evans Drug Store.