The original Burlington drug store
On Facebook this week a friend mentioned some recollection of the old drug store in our hometown of Burlington, Oklahoma. My mind was flooded with snapshot memories of that little spot.
We just called it the drug store, but it was once known as the Burlington Confectionery. Several families owned the store at different times: Harley Crowl, Harmon Campbell, Dr. Charles Shapiro, Mac Mullinox, John Alder, Ralph Kisling, Don Andrews, Frank Schupbach, George Michel, Marcine Diel, Herman “Breezy” Jones and Bob and Helen Hofer. I remember Breezy & Stella Jones best because they had 2 kids near our age and we were fascinated to find they all lived in a little apartment at the back of the store.
When I was in the 4th grade, we moved from Cherokee to Burlington and we were delighted to learn that on Fridays the grade school kids were allowed to go across the street to the drug store during lunch hour to buy a snack. My sister and I got a nickel about every other week, so it was a real treat to hurry in and gaze into the big glass case of candy and gum to make our selection.
We also enjoyed watching the high school couples sharing a soda and sweet looks in the few booths available!
A beautiful, classic soda fountain complete with polished wood, lamps, a huge mirror, marble counter and stools filled the south side of the building.
There were glass cases and shelves of sundry items across from it on the north wall. I can still see and smell the blue bottles of Evening in Paris cologne on display there.
Most days there were two tables of men playing dominoes and swapping farm stories at classic round ice cream tables with wire back chairs toward the rear of the store.
In those days before ice machines, big blocks of clear ice were purchased at the Kiowa, Kansas ice plant and chipped by hand into the drinks. Ice cream was hand dipped from the reservoirs built into the soda fountain.
In the summer about every two weeks, free movies were shown at the park on the white washed side of the co-op station. Families brought their lawn chairs or blankets to watch the old family favorites. Afterward we would hurry down to the drug store before it closed to buy a cold, icy root beer. For some reason you could buy a root beer for 5 cents, but a coke cost a dime, so my sister and I became big root beer fans for awhile.
The business has been gone for a long time but the old building is still there. Now the school kids walk right past it a couple blocks further to the C Store for their treats. I doubt that their modern convenience store experiences will hold the same sweet nostalgic memories that the Burlington drug store does for us, but who knows what great changes there may be in the confectionery business of the future!
