HAINES DRUG
The corner drugstore: an American icon.
Haines Drug opened on this corner in the heart of downtown Whitefish in 1926, having earlier shared the brick building (or "block", as such structures were then called) directly across the street on the northeast corner with the Star Clothing and Shoe Co.
J. A. Robinson, a jeweler, is thought to have built the first business at this site, 148 Central Avenue, in 1905. By 1911, Public Drug Crawford and Lifter was listed as the owner; in ensuing years, the business became known as Crawford and Sewell Drugs, then simply Crawford Drugs, and finally Public Drug again. Pharmacist Bob Haines, already running the drugstore
across the street, bought Public Drug in 1925. The following year he remodeled the building so that the entrance faced Central Avenue, rather than Second Street, and called it Haines Drug, and sometimes Haines Public Drug.
Ownership subsequently passed to Haines' son, Roger, then Ben Tempel and Ord Clark, and in 1984, to Jim MacKenzie, all of them pharmacists. Several other drug stores have played a part in Whitefish history. As of 2002, Haines remains.
Sponsored by the Stumptown Historical Society and the Whitefish Community Foundation
From the plaque at the building