Fountain of Youth

If you’ve been looking for the fountain of youth, it just might be found at the Corner Drug Store located in the heart of the historic Vicksburg, Ms. When you see Joe Gerache, Vicksburg’s apothecary genius, it’s obvious that he has some secrets for a youthful life! At his 80^th birthday celebration last week, I was noticing that he must have been sharing these secrets with his youthful friends! What a cute and lively group!

For years, Joe has been dispensing pharmaceuticals and even some natural remedies for what ails you down at the Corner Drug Store. Not only has he shared his art for the field of apothecary which propels us safely to the future, but he has freely shared his wonderful assortment of memorabilia from the past with the public. The drug store building which dates pre Civil War has its own folklore and Mr. Joe has created quite a museum there with his invaluable collection of Civil War artifacts, hundreds of small arms and weapons and a fully functional 1860 Apothecary. You will also find Civil War medicines, Vicksburg riverfront honky-tonk whisky jugs and a fully functional whisky still. Against one wall stand bottles of such forgotten elixirs as "Smith's Nerve Restorer for Broken Down Men and Women" and "Wa-Hoo! The Great Blood and Nerve Tonic." Civil War medicines like mandrake and quassia chips vie for shelf space with cannonballs and mortars from the same conflict.

For years Joe has shared a powerful Civil War Operating Room presentation acting as a Confederate Surgeon and bringing to life the horrors of the battlefield. Thank heavens for Joe and his father before him for preserving this window to the past which seems to keep onlookers grounded in the nowadays. These days when we think there should be a quick fix for everything, we realize we are still in search of a remedy for the common cold and sometimes the old potions work the best, like Dr. Joe’s famous patented elixir guaranteed to correct every known ailment!

Joe’s small arms collection spans eras from the Flintlock Pistol of the Pirate and includes those of muzzle loading Revolutionary War fame, the six shooter in our Wild West, Civil War weapons, the German Luger and Broom Handle Mousers of World War II. Rarities range from gentlemen’s canes that convert to pistols and swords to dress and jeweled cutlery of the famous. The apothecary contains a 200-year-old prescription department that a one-man pharmacy used to prepare medicines by hand. Pharmacists at that time performed surgery, pulled teeth and even used leeches to draw away bad blood.

The popular Corner Drug Store is located on the Corner of North Washington Street and China Street. Washington Street became the commercial center of Vicksburg in 1839 when a fire destroyed the downtown area on Main Street.  This scene, c. 1912, shows the 1400 block looking north toward the Yazoo Canal.  In the early 20th century, Vicksburg was the state's chief commercial and banking center.  On Washington Street, one could purchase any necessity, service, or luxury desired.  In the 1400 block alone, retailers offered groceries, candy, ice cream, liquor, tobacco, business machines, clothing, shoes, furniture, stoves, and pharmaceuticals.  Services were provided by tailors, barbers, doctors, advertising agents, printers, banks, and restaurants.  Two movie theaters featured the latest films.  Residents came downtown by trolleys that plied more than ten miles of track. 

The building at 1123 Washington was originally built as a saloon. In Vicksburg’s earliest days it was the largest town in the state with a population of around 5000. Since it was a thriving river town it had about 50 pubs or saloons and the ethnic groups, Germans, Irish, Jews and Italians operated the saloons. An interesting phenomenon sprang out of the habits of the day as it was discovered that the people that frequented the saloons were living longer. The answer or “rationalization” was that they weren’t drinking polluted waters and the alcohol they were drinking was killing all the germs, which makes it perfectly fitting that the saloon would later become a pharmacy. Then prohibition came along and the jugs were disposed of, many of them put down in cisterns or thrown in the outhouses; which is where collectors find them. Joe has collected about 50 of these along with his workable still.

The building later became a restaurant. Then in the early 1900’s, Mr. Eugene Rose opened a drug store there, which went out of business during the depression. Later his relatives helped him out and he reopened as The Corner Drug Store with part-time pharmacists Laz Bloch, Abe Simon (married to Ike and Henry Hayes sisters) and Gladstone Offstrosky.

Meantime, Joe’s father Jos. J. Gerache and Charles Kette bought Jones Drug Co. in 1926 in the National Park Hotel in the 1500 block of Washington and changed the name to Peoples Drug Store. In the 60’s during Urban Renewal, the National Park Hotel was demolished and Peoples was moved across the street where it is still operating under John Bove who had been working there for Joe’s two sisters, Rosalie Reeder and Mercedes Ford. As we research the downtown stores and their proprietors we’ll visit this group later.

In 1950, the son of this early druggist began his own enterprise in the 1100 block at the Delta Drug Store in the old Washington Hotel across the street from Mr. Rose’s Corner Drug Store. A vacant lot now is all that’s left of the old hotel where General Ulysses S. Grant was said to have stayed upstairs in 1865, “after the cessation of the hostilities of the war of Northern aggression” (which is how Southerners describe the armistice, never using the word surrender).

Joe took over the Corner Drug Store when Mr. Rose had a heart attach in 1959 and had to retire. He lovingly operated it until he retired in 1986 with his son, Joe Jr. carrying on the family business at that same location. Over the years they took over the space that had housed a haberdashery and bought the adjacent building which was a toggery owned by George Jabour, and the complex became the Corner Medical Center. The Corner Medical Center was a conglomerate of a dental office, eye clinic, optical company, and drug store, with the notalbes Joe Gerache, Dr. Waverly Artz, Dr. Pat Mclain and Jimmy Patrick. Through the years Dr. Jim Cook, Dr. Hurt and Dr. Ruggles all operated businesses in this downtown center. The complex with its charming courtyard, rod iron balconies and archways is reminiscent of a New Orleans boutique hotel and is a mini history lesson on life in Vicksburg!

Serving People of Vicksburg for over 75 years

Corner Drug Store is a pharmacy that is not quite what you'd expect! This pharmacy is located in the heart of historic Vicksburg, Mississippi (where it has been serving the locals for over 75 years) and sells unique merchandise that you won't find anywhere else.

HERBS

• All Natural Melatonin
• St. Johns Wort
• Vitamins
• Nature's Sunshine
• Nature's Pharmacy

COLLECTIONS ON DISPLAY

• Apothecary Artifacts
• Civil War Memorabilia

FOR SALE

• Costume Jewelry
• Historic Vicksburg Memorabilia
• Candy
• Toiletries
• Purses
• Perfumes
• Civil War Souvenirs
• Old Macdonald Farmers Almanac
• "The Ladies Birthday Almanac"