Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

VI
Business Booms!
Skinner Drug Store
by Mildred Barker Brown
In 1938, Anamosa‘s oldest merchant was a doctor
who never hung a shingle. Occupying one of the oldest
brick buildings in Anamosa, was Dr. W. B. Skinner,
proprietor of the Skinner Drug Store.
A Doctor of Medicine, he never hung out a shingle.
preferring to carry on the business establishment of his
father, but his life was devoted to dealing out remedies
over the counter and filling prescriptions that played an
important part in combating the diseases of the
pioneers.
His parents, Mr. and Mrs. W.M Skinner, left New
York for the west in the gold rush days, and it was in the
vicinity of Pike's Peak that Wm. B. Skinner was born
beside their covered wagon.
in 1860, when he was a baby. his parents came to
Anamosa to visit in the home of his uncle. This trip
from Colorado was made in an ox-drawn cart. The
twelve and one-half miles covered the first day was the
trip's record for speed.
The Wapsipinicon Valley and the thriving village of
Anamosa appealed to the travelers and they located
here. purchasing the brick building later occupied by
Dr. Skinner and the business he inherited from his
father.
Young William walked out of the store one day to
seek an education in high institutions of learning.
Studies, began in Wisconsin, were continued in New
York. Later, Will Skinner returned to Anamosa as a fullfledged
Doctor of Medicine. The lure of the counters
covered with wares and their shelves with their bottles
of cures held him in the dmg business.
The years brought many changes in the drug
business, as in the modes of travel and ways of living.
In 1938, ‘Doc‘ Skinner recalled the first Anamosa
residents to own automobiles, Ed Austin, who made 25
miles per hour with a Reo, and George Schoonover.
who drove a Willys. Many people and most of the horses
at that time were afraid of such contraptions. Men
shook their heads with disapproval of such
complicated, fast machines.
Swamp areas in Jones county had not been tilled for
growing com when Dr. Skinner entered the drug
business here. Malaria was a common malady. one_ of
the worst diseases the pioneer doctors had to combat.
Quinine was a favorite remedy. There were remedies
for ague, horehound for colds, boneset and sassafras.
which when combined, made a bitter concoction used
as a spring tonic. Rodney's Relief. Ranson's Hive syrup,
Jayne's Expectorant and Alcutt's Porous Plasters were
The Produce Building
Residence of William M. Skinner (Submitted by
Kathleen and Larry J. Conmey)
also good sellers.
For many years, Dr. Skinner made most of his
infusions and syrups from herbs and compounded
large quantities of horse conditioner and hog medicine.
Family Bibles occupied a conspicuous place in the
store. They were large Bibles with a with a few pages for
family records of births, deaths, marriages and pictures
They were frequent gifts for weddings, being suitable
decoration for parlor tables of the newlywed.
Lipsticks, compacts and powders “made to suit the
complexion" followed on the trail of that first face
powder, a plain white brand, which he sold at ten cents
a box. Later, school text books were stocked on the
shelves for purchase in accordance with the
requirements ofstudents in grade schools.
By 1938, attractive window decorations had replaced
the large bottles filled with colored water, the inevitable
dmg store sign of an early era.
A copy of a local newspaper, printed in 1886, gives a
hint to the success of Dr. Skinner. Under methods of
improvements are listed industry, thrift, economy.
living within one's means. and paying off interest
obligations.
‘Doc’ Skinner sold his 80-year-old drug store in 1941
and moved to Evanston, Ill., where he lived with his
son, Eugene W. Skinner. He died there in 1943.
by Bertha Finn
A funny thing happened on the way to writing this north end of the building. familiarly called the Produce
article. if you know nothing about “the Produce Story, was being digmanfled, l approached Pat Worden
you are one of the fortunate ones. To explain: When the sutton, editor of the Anamosa Newspapers, and asked
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