Drug Store Museum - Montgomery, AL - History Museums on Waymarking.com

On four blocks of Montgomery one can find both 19th-century houses on their original locations and buildings moved to the site and restored to create a museum of life in central Alabama in that century. Among the buildings in the area called the Working Block, one can see the sign for the "Drug Store Museum" and walk into a scene straight from the 1800s. Besides the counter where one could get sodas and other treats, one finds displays and explanations of the medical supplies and other items one would find in a typical drug store of the era.

The following description of the Old Alabama Town Drug Store Museum comes from pages 64-65 of "Old Alabama Town: An Illustrated Guide" by Mary Ann Neeley (ISBN 0-8173-1179-3):

"Sealed upon most minds is the image of the local drugstore with friendly druggist and soda jerk, an idea derived from reality, the movies, legend, and lore. In small towns, especially, the social life of young and old often revolved around the soda fountain, and from the pharmacy came healing and often foul tasting pills and liquids. Realizing that this cultural heritage was disappearing from late-twentieth- century America, the Alabama Pharmaceutical Association collected artifacts and established the drugstore museum in the early 1980s at another location.

In 1990 Landmarks Foundation and the APA together undertook moving the museum to Old Alabama Town where the Foundation replicated an interior setting in an on-site warehouse. Complete with soda fountain, patent medicines, a pharmacy, cosmetics, and appropriate tables and chairs, the drugstore museum depicts the scene as many remember it. A "model druggist" welcomes visitors and discusses on tape what his role had been in "yesterday's" drugstore."

The tickets and other information are found at the Reception Center located at 301 Columbus Street, Montgomery, AL 36104. Since I was not able to find a separate web site for the drug store, I will put the one for Old Alabama Town. There is no food court, but the site is not far from downtown restaurants. There is a gift shop at the Reception Center. The complete hours of operation and cost from their web page are as follows:

Hours of Operation

Monday - Saturday: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The last tickets are sold at 3:00 p.m.
Closed on Sundays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Prices:
Adults, $10
Children ages 6-18, $5.
Free to ages 5 and younger.

A 10 percent discount is offered to AAA, military and seniors.

Theme: cultural, pharmacological Street Address: 301 Columbus Street Montgomery, AL 36104 Food Court: no Gift Shop: yes Hours of Operation: Monday - Saturday: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Cost: 10.00 (listed in local currency) Museum Size: Small Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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