A trip along Norway’s Main Street will take you past one of the few buildings to survive the Fire of 1894. Now the home of the Tribune Book Store, this was once a drug store, originally referred to as an apothecary.

An early illustration of the building shows a sign on the side advertising wallpaper and window shades. Over time, merchandise included fishing rods and tackle, books, stationery, and tobacco as well as various notions.

In 1881 Samuel L. Crockett was the first apothecary at this location, having trained under local druggist A. O. Noyes. His inventory, as listed in the Oxford County Advertiser of September, 1886, included “purest drugs and chemicals, paints, oils, deystuff (Note: deystuff was a type of chemical dye used on wool and other fabrics), fancy goods, stationery, and druggist’s sundries.”

The next druggist at this address was Frank P. Stone. Upon completion of his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Maine in 1877, he went to work for E. H. Gerrish who ran the first established drug store in Lewiston. In 1888, Frank Stone received his registration as a druggist and moved to Norway where he was employed by S. L. Crockett.

It would seem that there was a plan in place when Mr. Stone moved to Norway, since two months after starting at the Crockett establishment, he bought the business and then purchased the building. The second floor housed offices and the third floor was a meeting room for fraternal orders including The Loyal Order of Moose.

Frank Stone was an innovator and as such was the first businessman to employ female clerks. Under his ownership, an eighteen-foot soda fountain/ice cream counter with stools was installed along the right side of the store.

Soda fountains became a part of many drug stores during the 1920s. According to the Soderlund Drugstore Museum, the start of prohibition in 1919 helped popularize the feature.

The Liquid Carbonic Co. began marketing tanks of carbon dioxide in the late 1800s and sold complete soda fountain apparatus after 1900. Initially, the soda fountain was the source of “secret recipe” formulations to treat headaches, tiredness, pain, etc. Of course, many of these specialties contained caffeine and/or cocaine; the Harrison Act of 1914 ended the inclusion of these ingredients.

By the 1970s, drug store soda fountains were beginning to disappear. If you’re lucky you might find a surviving Rexall Drug Store where you can sit at the counter and order a real ice cream soda, and hear the fizzy hiss of the carbonated water.