Cooperstown's first drugstore was built on Block 73, Lot 24, and occupied by Dr. Newell in June of 1883. Dr. Kerr's medical office and the Cooperstown post office were also located there by mid 1883. That was the corner where the old white hotel building stands.
December of 1884, Dr. Newell decided to move to a corner lot on Burrell and Ninth, Block 74, Lot 1. Here he built a new drugstore and had moved into it by July of 1885. His old building on Lenham was to be occupied by Mrs. Zimmerman's boarding house. Dr. Newell operated his drug business here until he sold to S. Almklov in 1888.
The Excelsior Drugstore was the name of a drug firm owned by C.O. Krogstad and B.A. Clausen in 1885. The firm was located in the Christie building on Block 60, Lot 15. C.G. Lande, a jeweler, had his shop in part of the store. The partnership of Clausen and Krogstad dissolved in 1886, Clausen remaining sole owner. His drug stock was sold to Dr. Newell in 1887 when he decided to leave for Montana.
Dr. Virgo, the first coroner of Griggs County, purchased the Gillespie building, Block 60, Lot 20. Here he set up his drugstore business in 1887. Dr. Virgo had previously owned and operated a drugstore business at Mardell and in Page. The drug stock and fixtures of Dr. Virgo were sold to John Hamre and Stranahan in 1893, who operated the store for a short time.
The City Pharmacy was located in the Concrete Store, Block 59, Lots 23-24, in 1892 with Kerr and Upton as proprietors. Dr. Kerr was an accomplished physician who was also superintendent of schools for the county in the 1880's. Dr. Kerr purchased the interests of Upton in 1893 and within a year moved his business and joined forces with J.J. Flecker and Company. They located in Block 73, Lot 11 (known as the 0. Iverson property) in 1895. In 1897 Dr. Kerr sold out to Sorenson who was there but a short time. Dr. Kerr then continued in his practice of medicine.
In September of 1897, H.H. Bateman and F.C. Gardner of Fargo purchased the old Kerr drug stock and business formerly occupied by P.R. Sorensen. By 1902 they had also purchased the building. Early druggists in the H.H. Bateman and Company drugstore were H.H. Bateman, Andrew Erickson, R.D. Metzer and others. H.H. Bateman and Company carried on their business in the same location until 1918. The Bateman building was used by the People's Store until it burned in the fire of 1929.
In 1923 Patrick H. Costello, a 1917 graduate of the North Dakota College of Pharmacy, was located in the building on Block 59, Lot 22, which is presently the location of the Pop-A-Top bar. He left Cooperstown in 1942 to become executive secretary of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy with headquarters in the Chicago area, a position he held until 1962. Tupper Howden became owner of the drugstore and continued in that building until 1957 when he moved his pharmacy into the former Larson Store building where he also ran a department store. Howden closed his store and retired in 1971.
Almklov's Pharmacy, another early business, is the subject of a separate article.
As a footnote to history, Cooperstown's first neon sign was installed at Costello's drugstore in April of 1931.
Source: Cooperstown, North Dakota 1882-1982 Centennial Page 187