Published: May 17, 2009 10:16 pm      

WOLFSIE: Bottling nostalgia at a roadside stop

Druggist preserves drug-store history

Time for another look at a little-known roadside stop right here in Indiana. This time I found a gem on my way to Chicago where Hoosier John Schreiner has just what the doctor ordered – prescribed might be a better word. His History of Pharmacy Research Center in Griffith, just south of Gary, is the culmination of a lifelong (excuse the expression) addiction to drug store memorabilia.

A registered pharmacist, John was fascinated by the history of his profession and began collecting stuff from the day he graduated. John owned several drug stores in Indiana and surrounding states and in the process of buying and selling old pharmacies, he didn’t have the heart to throw out anything he found that reflected the true account of drug stores in America.

For years, he simply loaded boxes with old scales, advertising signs, apothecary jars, blood pressure devices, early pregnancy tests, stethoscopes, mortar and pestles, inhalers, and even the first tampons. Finally, the collection just got too big and he converted a 4,000-square-foot store, formerly a savings and loan, into his museum.

Along with the artifacts above, John has displayed one of the biggest collections in the country of home remedies from the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are literally thousands of these elixirs and compounds, all in the original boxes or bottles, occupying three full rooms and neatly arranged on shelves for easy viewing. Name a medical problem: blisters, lockjaw, diphtheria, constipation, whooping cough, snakebite, cataracts, housemaid’s knees – a myriad of disorders and a “cure” for every one.

Many of the products portray a bearded doctor, like Dr. James’ Expectorant or Dr. Quertin’s Nervine Syrups. There’s Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound (she doesn’t have a beard) and Swamp Root Kidney Diuretic. Almost every container or package still has some of the original stuff in it. Most have never been opened. “I did have a friend come in and let me know which substances might be unstable. I didn’t want anything to explode,” says John.

While most of the products were useless or even dangerous (often concocted in someone’s garage or barn), they did occasionally make you feel better. “A little touch of placebo and a shot of alcohol in the mix can do wonders,” laughs John.

John’s favorite items are glass globes filled with colored water that were once used to warn sailors whether a city had been touched by the plague. Green colored water meant it was safe to dock. Red meant it was probably not a good idea if you wanted to avoid a deadly disease. If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is probably the origin of red and green traffic lights.

One more cool thing: John has original doctors’ prescriptions going back 150 years. It’s hard to read what the doctors wrote on those little notes in 1877. Same nowadays. Some things never change.

Each year, pharmacy students interning at Walgreens are treated to a special tour by John, a chance for a new generation to reminisce about diseases gone by. John says old drug stores have a universal appeal and that his museum attracts thousands of visitors each year looking for a dose of the past.

The museum is open when he feels like it, so give him a call at (219) 628-1991 before you go. Griffith is just south of Chicago. Take I-65 to the U.S. 30 exit going west. At that point there are lots of little turns but you’re real close. Tell a cop you’re looking for some really cool drugs. That will get his attention and he’ll accompany you to your destination.

• Dick Wolfsie is an on-air personality at WISH-TV Channel 8 and weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune. Contact him at Wolfsie@aol.com.