Old-time Pharmacy

Early drug stores offered much more than just bottles of pills, as seen here at the Collins Pharmacy in Islip, N.Y., circa 1915. You could count on a soda fountain, a barrel of root beer, glass display cases and tables and chairs. The local pharmacists made all medications on the spot for ailing customers, who probably needed a tall glass of soda to wash down the strong medicine. Soda fountains began to decline after Prohibition was repealed in the 1930s and bottle caps were invented.