Oldest Family-Owned Texas Pharmacy Celebrates 128 Years
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The oldest family-owned pharmacy in Texas, located in downtown Wills Point, is celebrating 128 years of service.
First established in 1879, Bruce and Human Drug Company now sits at the southwest corner of Fourth and James Streets, in the building that has housed the pharmacy since 1895.
To start, Oscar Pabst, father-in-law to B.W. Bruce, opened an apothecary, which Bruce later transformed into Bruce Drug Store.
The pharmacy incorporated in 1899, when John H. Human merged with Bruce, and the name of the store was changed to Bruce and Human Drug Company.
Bruce, however, continued to maintain controlling interest in the store, which has now seen three generations of Bruce family ownership.
Wills Point resident Adele Monning, is the current owner, and a grand child of Bruce. She plans to leave full ownership to her three sons, Buck, Prater, and Bruce, as well as her five grandsons.
Monning described one of her favorite memories of growing up around the drug store, "Being there on Saturday afternoons, after the picture show, to have an ice cream soda, which my Uncle Wright Bruce (pharmacist and son of the founder) would treat me to, is a special
memory. That was in the 1930s, and the soda cost a nickel."
Being immersed in the family business all her life, Monning has a real love for Wills Point.
Explaining why she loves the business so much, Monning said, "It’s been part of my family."
Revealing a servant’s heart, her favorite thing about the business she said is, "being able to help other people, being of service to them."
Service is one thing patrons will get upon entering the store that has adjusted with the times to sell everything from health and beauty aides to baby gifts, collectibles, Christian books, music, and exquisite nativity sets.
Floor manager Freda Malone said, "What’s really neat, is that we try to maintain historical value and nostalgia, while we try to keep up with the customers’ needs, which is why we’ve added the book store, where the soda fountain used to be."
In fact, some may remember that between operating the soda fountain and the Christian bookstore that now graces the family-friendly business, the pharmacy had an old fashioned ice cream shop, next to the gift store.
Emphasizing the assistance rendered to customers, Monning affirmed the company’s intentions, "If people want their prescriptions brought out to them, we’re happy to provide curb-side service, and always have. In fact, we used to have curb-side service for the soda fountain, as well."
Several antiques serve as a memorial to the past 128 years the pharmacy has invested in the community. There are a number of original fixtures throughout the store such as, the old scale, which still works, and takes any coin smaller than a quarter.
Display cases, allow one to
view antique labels and medicine bottles, which contained things such as, Echinacea, castor oil, and eucalyptus.
Medicine has come a long way since the turn of the century. Pharmacist Mike Green explained that before anti-biotics became available, pharmacists prepared several compounds containing morphine for pain, opium products with bismith, and other addictive ingredients to treat patient ailments.
"Most remedies back then were stomach remedies for dysentery and laxatives," said Green, who has worked for Bruce and Human Drug Company for 11 years, and has 25 years experience as a pharmacist.
Noting just how much things have changed in the last century, Green said, "It was in the 1880s when they began sterilizing instruments with solutions of alcohol or carbolic acid."
In fact, Dr. Horace A. (Pat) Baker used to office upstairs, above Bruce and Human, in the Baker Clinic. At one time, even the telephone company used the second level of the building, which is now empty.
The pharmacy’s business manager Janice Strutton, has been with the company 25 years, and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
"It’s a great place to work," declared Strutton, "We have a wonderful boss! It’s more like family, than a job."
Green said, "I just enjoy meeting people, the customers, and the staff I work with."
Twenty-five-year employee and pharmacy tech Kathy Wood agreed, "It’s so family-oriented...we couldn’t ask for a better boss. If any of us are in need of anything, it’s taken care of."
"The most important thing to me," said Monning, "is that we’re locally owned and operated, and that we’ve provided service to the community for 128 years."
And, by the looks of things, Bruce and Human Drug Company will go on providing services to the community for many years to come.