Remember When: Chapman's Drug Store filled prescriptions for 81 years

The old Chapman’s Drug Store was one of the more interesting buildings to greet guests visiting Tarentum in the early 1900s.

On the lower side of the railroad tracks at Fifth Avenue and Lock Street stands a historic structure with a turret that was the longtime home of the former drug store.

Three generations of the Chapman family conducted business there.

Dr. A.L. Chapman, who had learned the printing trade after receiving his degree in medicine, originally came to Tarentum because he thought the community needed a weekly newspaper.

Soon after his arrival, he saw the necessity for a pharmacy to serve his needs and those of other physicians practicing in the area. He opened his first pharmacy in 1886 at Fifth Avenue and Wood Street.

In 1900, that wood-framed building was destroyed by fire. Chapman decided to rebuild and purchased a lot at the corner of Fifth and Lock. He erected the present three-story brick structure.

Chapman partnered with a business mananger, George Dickey, in 1894 and founded The Tarentum Herald, a weekly newspaper. While editor, Chapman also authored a fictional serial story titled “The Wanderings of Frank Hays” that regularly appeared in the paper.

The Tarentum Herald eventually merged with another local paper The Tarentum Sun to become the Herald Sun. This paper remained in publication until about 1900, when Chapman suspended operations to devote more time to his pharmacy.

Chapman’s Drug Store filled prescriptions for 81 years until the spring of 1967, when it turned over its prescription service to Physicians Pharmacy, owned by Charles E. Blackburn.

The Chapman family said the decision was because of an inability to find qualified pharmacists.

Chapman had four sons, all of whom became pharmacists. W. Roy and Harry L. Chapman both worked at the Lock Street location. Dwight, his youngest son, took over the operation of the store after Chapman’s death in 1926.

Another son, Alva L. Chapman, opened a pharmacy at the corner of Brackenridge Avenue and Morgan Street in Brackenridge.

The Lock Street location continued as a drug store for a number of years until it was sold and eventually became an antiques store.