Table of Contents
Chico
History: 1905-1971 Featuring the Bartlett Drug
Company by
Kathleen F. Gabriel
Downtown Chico,
California, drug store undergoes decades of community-wide changes.
Contents
Introduction vii
Acknowledgements ix
Part I Origins & the Early Years: 1905–1909
A New Drug Store in a Growing Town: 1905 Chapter 1
Pharmacy Opened by J. M. Waste 3
J. M. Waste’s Background 3
New Services in Town 5
Hotel Diamond Built 9
Advertisements and Products 10
Early Prescription Records 12
Sale of the Business: 1906 Chapter 2
W. Clay Smith’s Background 13
Downtown Pharmacies 15
Products and Prizes: 1906 -1907 17
Free Deliveries and the Trolley 21
Pharmacist Testified in Court: 1907 23
The Soda Fountain & More: 1906–1909 Chapter 3
Sodas, Treats, and Lunch 25
Formal Dining at the Hotel Diamond Cafe 27
Additional Services and Products 28
Seven Downtown Pharmacies: 1906–1908 30
Part II New Owner & New Name: Bartlett Drug Company, 1909–1919
Bartlett’s Early Years Chapter 4
New Owner 35
William S. Bartlett’s Background 35
Early Advertisements: 1910–1913 37
Columbia Records and Prescriptions: 1910–1913 39
Record-Keeping System for Prescriptions 40
Increased Population and New Pharmacies 41
Federal Government and Local Improvements: 1909–1913 43
Bartlett and Other Pharmacists Arrested 47
Women Pharmacists, Bartlett Expansions, & Downtown Changes Chapter 5
Women Pharmacists in Chico 49
Bartlett’s Soda Fountain 50
Hospitals and Deliveries 54
Public Clock with Chimes Installed: 1914 56
New Post Office Building and Postmaster 57
Removal of Wooden Awnings 58
Bartlett’s Last Years in Chico Chapter 6
Bartlett Acquires Another Drug Store 61
Orders by Phone and Free Deliveries: 1917–1918 62
Operational Changes: 1917 64
Signs and Symbols 64
City Limits Expanded & Reorganized: 1918–1921 65
The Spanish Flu Hits Chico: 1918–1919 67
Hotel Oaks Built Despite Widespread Flu Epidemic 72
Additional Improvements Announced: 1919 73
Hotel Diamond 74
Kodak and Kodakery 75
Women’s Suffrage Victory 76
Part III Rankin Takes Over Bartlett Drug Company: 1919–1944
Transition to the “Roaring Twenties” Chapter 7
Ownership Changes 79
Rankin’s Background 80
Soda Fountains and Prohibition 81
Kodak Service Expanded 83
Beauty Products and Toiletries 84
New High School Building 87
Union Hotel Burns & Hasting’s Pharmacy Ravaged 88
New Structures 89
Chico’s College: Destroyed and Rebuilt 91
Expansion of City & Pharmacy Services Chapter 8
Sycamore Pool and Fear of Contagious Diseases 1917–1923 93
Products and Prizes: 1922–1929 96
Sweeping Rise of Tuberculosis: 1922–1929 99
Bartlett Dies Suddenly: 1924 101
Greater Numbers Generate Change 102
The Penny Scale 104
Booking, Accounts, and Payroll 105
Traditional Pharmacies Thrive Through Turbulent Times: 1929–1944 Chapter 9
Pharmacies and the Great Depression 107
Promotion Calendars 111
The New Deal and Other Projects 112
The Fluctuating “State of Affairs” 115
Chico’s Business College and the Start of World War II 116
Rankin Negotiates Another Deal 118
PART IV Schaller Takes Over Bartlett Drug Company: 1944 to 1971
Business & Town Adaptations As WWII Ends Chapter 10
Schaller’s Background 121
Population, Hospitals, and Transportation 124
A Modern “Medical” Scale 126
Accounting, Bookkeeping, and Banking 127
Preparing and Packaging Medicines 129
Store Presentations: Windows and Shelves 129
Beauty Supplies and Customer Service 130
Products Required “Special Handling” 131
Modernization Dominates, Suburbs Grow, & Downtown Declines Chapter 11
Communication Methods of the ’50s 133
Parking Meters, Street Lights, and Traffic Signals 134
Phone-in Orders and Free Deliveries 136
Television Station Begins 137
Modernization Continued to Rule 138
New Suburbs and the Polk Bridge 140
The Esplanade Remodeled 142
Long Hours and Dinner 144
Toilet Articles and Other Popular Products 145
The Pharmacists’ Professional Dress 146
Pharmacies Move to Suburbs: Downtown Business Declines 147
Catastrophe Downtown Fire: 1970 148
Closing Bartlett Drug Co. 149
Final Thoughts 151
Postscript 151
Appendix A. The Junction Area 153
Appendix B. Restoration of Hotel Diamond and Morehead Block Building 155
Hotel Diamond 155
Morehead Block Building 156
Appendix C. Timeline Highlights 1901–1971 157
Endnotes 161
References 163
