Ohio History Journal

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A CLEVELAND DRUG STORE OF 1835

A CLEVELAND DRUG STORE OF 1835

 

by HOWARD DITTRICK, MD.

Editorial Director, the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland

 

This presentation outlines many activities of an early Cleve-

land druggist with some mention of contemporary patrons and

customs. The information is based upon a manuscript volume

which was presented recently to the Howard Dittrick Museum of

Historical Medicine in the Cleveland Medical Library. Written

in long hand, the book deals with drugs, medicine, and a number

of things, with brief reference to persons who have previously

owned the book.

The title page reads "E. F. Punderson, Receipt Book, Cleve-

land, January 7, 1835." The book is 6 x 4 inches in size, the back

is broken, and one cover has disappeared. The 220 pages are

much yellowed with age, but the ink remains distinct and the

writing clear and legible. Written after the manner of some

oriental manuscripts in which one book is written from before

backward and the other from behind forward, the first part deals

with medicine and prescriptions and the other with veterinary

medicine, husbandry, and home economics.

The information contained in the manuscript was assembled

during an era when difficult and uncertain transportation of nec-

essary medicines led to the establishment of drug stores in the

more populated centers along waterways and overland trails. Often

these drug depots were found in the general store or in the post

office. Here the doctor came on horseback to replenish his saddle-

bags with crude drugs, a few liquids, and some powders. Not

infrequently the doctor dispensed remedies from an assortment

of as many as one hundred and fifty preparations. When time

and distance permitted, he instructed his patients to procure their

medication from the nearest drug shop.

Dr. David Long, the first physician in Cleveland (1810), is

said to have opened the first drug store of the settlement adjacent

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