Carl Family and Drug Store History
Drug
Store and Carl Family History
Frank Ervin, AAMI
member and proprietor of Carl’s Drug Store, has invited Allison-Antrim Museum to
participate in celebrating the 180th anniversary of Carl’s Drug
Store. For 149 years, three generations of the Carl family owned the pharmacy,
which is now the oldest continuously operating drug store in the United States.
Dr. Adam Carl arrived in Greencastle in April 1825. He opened his drug store on April 27 in his residence at 13 South Carlisle Street. Throughout the 180 year-old history of the drug store, the business has been located at six different addresses in the Borough of Greencastle.
In 1888, Charles B. Carl, grandson of Adam, purchased the business, which he owned and operated until his death in 1935. Edward Carl, the youngest son of Charles B. and the last of the Carl family to own the drug store, sold the business to Frank H. Ervin in 1974.
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The special
exhibit for the month of April will focus on the items in the museum’s permanent
Carl’s Drug Store exhibit, in addition to other Carl’s Drug Store items for
which there is no permanent exhibit space
available. Some of the
items in the museum’s Carl collection include Dr. Adam Carl’s leather medicine
kit, tooth keys, numerous apothecary bottles, labeled medicine bottles, glass
slides which were used as advertisements in the local theater, scales and
weights for weighing medicines, photographs and other items. Also, on
display will be the first day boo
k
of Adam Carl, other day books from the mid to late 1800s, reference books and
items that are on loan from Frank Ervin’s collection.
As a memento, visitors to the museum will receive a booklet which details the history of the drug store and an old-fashioned cardboard hand-held “church” fan which features one of the glass slides. These mementos are courtesy of Carl’s Drug Store and Frank Ervin.
The story of Carl’s Drug Store is not only part of Greencastle-Antrim’s history, but is part of America’s history. Please join the museum on April 7 and 10 as it shares in this momentous 180th anniversary of Carl’s Drug Store!
