BROWNRIDGE DRUG STORE

A friendly reminder: If your Albion High School class is having a reunion this year, please be sure to have copies of my Albion history books at your event. Some classes have even used them as door prizes. "Growing Up in Albion" deals exclusively with the 1950s and 1960s, while "Albion In Review" is a pictorial by decades from the Civil War up to 2009 when the book was published. Please contact me for special rates. (517) 629-5402, or Albionfp@hotmail.com

One of Albion's "hang-outs" for many years was the prominent Brownridge Drug Store, located at 100 S. Superior St. on the corner with W. Cass St. It was the successor of Louis and Howell Van Gorden Drug Store which operated on the site beginning in April, 1912, and before that the Homer C. Blair Drug Store. Joseph G. Brownridge purchased the business in 1945, and it then became known as Brownridge Drugs. Joseph and his wife Marjorie and family first lived in an apartment upstairs at 100½ S. Superior St. They later moved to Sheridan Township north of Albion where they raised horses and operated a popular horse stable. The Brownridge family was originally from Stanton, Michigan, where Joseph's father Joseph G. was a veterinarian, as well as councilman and mayor.

Brownridge Drugs was Albion's "Rexall" drug store, and the familiar orange and blue Rexall sign hung proudly in front in the times before local signage regulations went into effect. Brownridge Drugs was more than just a drug store where you had your prescriptions filled. It contained a lunch section, and a soda and ice cream fountain. Of course the featured brand-name was Miller's Ice Cream, produced in Eaton Rapids where the Van Gorden's were from.

Brownridge Drugs was sold on October 16, 1964 to Carl Carrington of Marshall, and the business then became known as Carrington Drugs. It operated for several years afterwards. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a late 1940s photograph of the outside of Brownridge Drugs. Notice the large painted sign on the side of the building. How many of our readers remember Brownridge Drugs?

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