Thompson Drug:
Generation After Generation
Early Thompson Drug signage at the corner of East Main and South Water.
hompson’s Drug Store, as we know it, dates back to 1875, when Robert A. Thompson of Center County, Pennsylvania, purchased a Kent drugstore from Dr. J. W. Shively. It is believed that Shively operated the business for a great many years prior to that, making the store’s lineage even more impressive.
In 1906, R. A. sold the business to his son, Hale B. Thompson, who had already been working at the store for several years. The corporate name would later (1935) become Hale B. Thompson, Inc., but everyone knew it as simply “Thompson Drugs.”
There is disagreement among historical sources, when tracing the physical location of the business. One source believed Dr. Shively’s store was on the southwest corner of Main and Water, and that it later moved to a site further down South Water Street. Another source states that the original location of the business was on Franklin Ave. across from the train station. Since 1909, however, the pharmacy has occupied its current location, the southeast corner of Main and Water.
Hale graduated from Ohio Northern’s School of Pharmacy in 1904 and for two years thereafter, worked in Youngstown and Cleveland before taking over his father’s Kent business. In 1905, he had married Olive Eckert, daughter of a Ravenna native and Kent businessman who eventually became Kent’s mayor.
Thompson Drug continued to do a thriving business. In 1924, Hale’s father died and Hale sold a part-interest to Merrill Thompson (no relation). The following year, the store celebrated its 50th anniversary. The business prided itself on friendly service, delivery, skillful compounding of drugs, free telephone service, and the sale of other items—such as postage stamps and newspapers—to keep its loyal clientele. And like virtually all drugstores, it had a soda fountain, a sparkling clean island where shakes, sodas, and phosphates were served up to children and adults alike.
Merrill (some sources spell his given name Merrell) became a stockholder in the business in 1935, along with Hale and Hale’s daughter. In 1938 or 1939, Charles and Tullis Young purchased Hale B. Thompson’s interests. Merrill Thompson had purchased Hale’s shares but when Merrill passed away, they were purchased by Charles Young.
Mr. Young held forth at the store for many decades, working there virtually up until the time of his death in 1993. His face was a familiar one to everyone in the community.
Thompson Drug’s astonishing staying power overcame stiff competition. Kent had as many as five drugstores right in its downtown area. Some-how, all seemed to do a brisk business. In addition to Thompson’s, at one time there was Lea Drug, Standard Drug, and Trory’s, as well as the Donaghy (Rexall) Drug which was later to become Carson’s Corner. Three of the corners at the main square were occupied by pharmacies. Standard Drug would fall casualty to the disastrous 1977 fire that wiped out the entire northwest corner of the Square. Today, the challenge comes from large chains, but even those have failed to siphon off Thompson’s loyal following.
Some of the early employees of the store included Mae Clark, Allen Armstrong, Will Case, Earl McCracken, Fred C. Gibson, and Clarence W. Burt. Other pharmacists who worked at the business included Charles O. Parkinson, Edward Martie, James R. Hostler, and James P. Myers. Myers continues to this day as part owner and pharmacist.
The free-standing, central soda fountain that once graced Thompson Drug.
