Crandall's Pharmacy - A Segment of Safford's History



Stanley Leroy Crandall made his living as a pharmacist. He accepted a position with the Safford Drug Co. in August of 1912. This first picture is of Main Street Safford in the year 1912.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95060914/1912-08-30/ed-1/seq-1/



Stan moved his family to Los Angeles, California for about 3 years while he attended a pharmacy school. On the back of this photo is written that Stan was manager of Broadway Drugstore in Los Angeles, California, year 1915.



This is young Stan at the counter in his early years as a pharmacist. It is believed this photo was inside the Best Drug Store when it was called Cooks just prior to him buying a place across the street for Crandall's Pharmacy in 1918.









Some articles published by the Graham Guardian Newspaper tell of Stan Crandall accompanying the local doctor on medical errands.
In this 1920 article (top of last column), Stan Crandall assists Dr. Schenck with a gun-shot victim shot at a 2-ft range with a 30-30 rifle. The whole drama took place between 2 and 6 a.m.





To read the full article, click on this link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn95060914/1920-12-10/ed-1/seq-1/;words=Stan+Crandall





In this 1919 article (second column), Stan Crandall assists Dr. Warner in dressing the burns of an 8-month old baby that was beyond saving and the arms and chest of her 11 yr old sister who was caring for her when she caught fire and had attempted to save her.


So although Stan was a pharmacist, it seems he also served in a broader capacity occasionally as a physician's assistant or an emergency responder. He was called out to assist the local doctors in emergencies all hours of the day and night.




This last picture was taken in the 1950's and shows the Crandall Pharmacy sign on Main Street Safford of which many of us are most familiar. After the unexpected death of Stan Crandall in 1942, his son Burdette took over the pharmacy. This sign remained until at least 1997.



Crandall’s Pharmacy,
A Segment of Safford’s History
By Clarence L. Crandall
As delivered before the
Graham County Historical Society
In October 1994


Over the broad sweep of time many businesses have come and gone in Gila Valley, and have left their mark and have contributed to the economic structure of our surroundings. One of these was Crandall’s Pharmacy, located at 417 Main Street in Safford. It was an interesting place in its day, as people have said.
As is the case in any business, the establishment itself was a product of the personality of its proprietor. Stanley L. Crandall, known best as Stan Crandall, was the owner and proprietor of Crandall’s Pharmacy from January 1918 to September 1942. Those who knew and remember Stan Crandall associate him with civic affairs and with friendship in the community. Indeed at his funeral here in 1942, he was referred to repeatedly as “a friend to man.”
The Graham Guardian newspaper issue of January 18l, 1918, carried a news item under the caption: “STAN CRANDALL BUYS COOPER’S PHARMACY.” The item recites as follows: “E.F. Cooper has sold his Pharmacy to Stanley Crandall, the deal going through Monday. Mr. Crandall will take possession February 1st having resigned his position as Pharmacist with the BEST DRUG STORE to take effect at that time. Mr. Cooper has been in business here for several years, but of late his health has been poor and his doctor advises a complete rest. To secure this it was necessary to dispose of his business. Mr. Cooper may go to Clifton, where his son, Arthur, is engaged in the automobile business. His other son, Horace, conducts the Cooper garage here.”
When one has occasion to challenge his memory for the historical setting of 1918, he automatically endeavors to place himself into the history and surroundings of the time. World War I was still in progress, but was showing signs of tapering off. On January 8, 1918, when Stan Crandall was making his bid for the purchase of what was to originate Crandall’s Pharmacy, President Woodrow Wilson was offering his famous fourteen points to the warring nations upon which to predicate an armistice. By the end of the year the armistice had been signed and Henry Ford had offered his Model-T Ford Runabout to the public for $269 F.O.B. Detroit. The other popular cars of the day were the Hupmobile, the Maxwell, the Mitchell, the Buick, and the Dodge just to name a few. The horse and buggy had been pushed aside, but Safford’s street sprinkler was still going up and down the dirt streets to settle the dust. Ladies corsets were selling for less than a dollar, and the American hamburger was served at the extreme price of ten cents at the local café.
Safford and/or “The Valley” was a place where everybody seemed to know everybody. The area was still sparsely populated, but was as American as Norman Rockwell’s sketchings. Safford’s streets were unpaved. Ezra and Ella Madsen still owned their home in the middle of Main Street. The town had an old-fashioned circular bandstand in the middle of the park that took in an entire block next to the railroad, bounded by 8th Street and 7th Street in one direction and 5th and 6th Avenues in the other direction.
When Stan Crandall originated Crandall’s Pharmacy the State of Arizona had been a State only six years, and Safford was essentially only about forty-five years old. The Graham County Court House was only two years old.
Stan received his schooling for his Licentiate in Pharmacy in California between the years 1912 and 1914. He got his motivation to become a Pharmacist from Dr. William E. Platt. He had worked for Dr. Platt in the latter’s Drug Store in Thatcher, prior to his matriculation in a Pharmacy School in Los Angeles. He had been working for Amos Cook for two years when the Cooper Drug Store in Safford was known to be for-sale.
In describing the ambience of Crandall’s Pharmacy in those days one could say that the store was old fashioned and a simple affair. It was a place where people went to buy their patent medicines or to have their doctor’s prescription filled. The place was referred to generically as the Drug Store. The Pharmacist compounded most of the medicines that went into a prescription. His tools of the trade were the mortar and pestle, the suppository molds, the scales and measurers that determined drams and quantities or percentage strengths. Behind the prescription counter the walls were lined with tall amber-colored gallon bottles sealed by a cork and containing emulsions, alcohol, extracts, test solutions, aromatic chemicals etc. The Pharmacist’s bible was a huge bound book captioned The United States Pharmacopoeia, otherwise known as the book of formulas.
The Drug Store was also a place where one went to purchase a cigar, some cosmetics, hospital supplies and various health sundries. Then, too, it was a place where one went to imbibe an ice-cream soda or a cherry-coke, or to meet a friend by previous arrangement.
It was in these early years that Stan’s store changed its appearance for the first time. Stan had a new all-marble soda fountain installed. It was his pride and joy. Eight people could sit at this pretentious fountain, as it were. He added two ice-cream tables to the rear of the building where the sedentary clientele could eat their ice cream and carry on a conversation at the same time. People liked to do that. Life was at a slow pace and people had time to visit. From its very inception Crandall’s Pharmacy manufactured its own ice cream. Stan installed a mechanical contraption at the far end of the building where he could churn thirty gallons of ice cream at a time. Just before a Fourth of July holiday one could find Stan or his fountain man, Clyde Naylor, making ice cream most of the day. Dispensing a hundred gallons of ice cream on the Fourth of July was no big problem. Fountain syrups were mixed daily by the fountain man who was known otherwise as “the Soda Jerk.” It was years later that Stan found it more profitable to have his ice cream shipped in from Donofrios in Phoenix. Then still later he had W.L. Lindsey of Lindsey Creamery in Safford make his ice cream. Every morning a one hundred pound cake of ice was delivered to the store by the Safford Ice Plant.
Referring again to the appearance of the store, it had a wooden floor and a ceiling of designed pressed metal. In the winter the store was heated by a potbellied wood stove in the middle of the isle, and during the summer the overhead ceiling fans were all that was available. All of the merchandise was behind glass fixtures. The customer had to wait for his turn to be waited on. That method of merchandising remained with the store right up until the time of its demise. The Cooper Drug Store had dispensed its patent medicines under the NYAL label. And when Stan Crandall took over the store he continued to sell NYAL products, but carried a line of medicines under other pharmaceutical names, too. Peculiar to the Drug Stores of that time Crandall’s Pharmacy was identified by its rich smells of chemical extracts and tinctures. The popular medicines of the early 1920s were the elixirs, calomel, Bag Balm, aspirin, iodine, Ichthamal, Carters Little Liver Pills, Lydia E. Pinkhams nerve tonic, quinine, Ipecac pills, Hinkles Pills, Syrup of Figs, just to name a few. Like the doctors of that day the Pharmacist was on call 24 hours a day for prescription medicines. If one needed to contact the store by telephone to have some medicine delivered he would ask the telephone operator to ring number 24. If Stan had to fill a prescription in the middle of the night one would ask for the number 112. And if one wanted to chat with someone on the PBX switchboard about the latest news, he could do that, too. The doctors who served the community just before the 1920s and shortly after that date were Dr. William E. Platt, Dr. Stratton, Dr. Schenck and Dr. Warren. The valley’s veterinarian was Dr. Doty. And those who preferred to have a midwife or a nurse attend to their confinement would call Harriett Crandall. She was Stan’s mother.
By 1920 Safford had divested itself of its frontier aspect by paving its Main Street. Next came the street lamps, a number of neon signs, and eventually the dummies around which the vehicles had to turn at each intersection. Safford was all dressed up like a County Seat should be.
It was at about this time that Stan learned that Piggly Wiggly was going to establish itself in town. He knew the import of that, and guessed correctly that this chain store would make inroads upon what, for many years, had been characterized strictly as Drug Store sundries. So, not to be outdone by the new super-market concept, he began to add extraneous merchandise to his own store. The June 4, 1920, issue of the Graham Guardian carried a news item under the caption: “CRANDALL BUYS PHONOGRAPH BUSINESS. Stan Crandall, proprietor of Crandall’s Pharmacy, has purchased the phonographs, records and sheet-music business of the Arizona Music Store, the deal going through yesterday. The entire stock of phonographs, records and sheet music will be moved to Mr. Crandall’s Pharmacy.” This music business remained with Crandall’s Pharmacy as an integral part thereof for some ten years. Stan even took on a line of radios and some baseball equipment.
As to why Stan added music merchandise to his store one needed only to know about his musical propensity. One might conjecture that when the young people of his time sought their fun and entertainment in whatever ingenious way they could improvise, Stan was seeking his on a musical instrument. He could play all of the stringed instruments by ear, but could not boast of a formal education in music. His close friends used to refer back “to the old days,” when Stan and his brother Ernest would entertain “at the drop of a hat.” This is mentioned here, because in the 1920s it was not unusual to enter the Drug Store and find Stan and his musical friends entertaining the customers with fold music. It was usually Stan on the guitar, Ernest on the mandolin, and his wife, Elizabeth, at the piano.
A news advertisement in the Graham Guardian discloses that in the year 1923, “Crandall’s Pharmacy is offering a goldfish bowl, two goldfish, seaweed, pebbles and plants, free with the purchase of a tube of NY-DENTA Tooth Paste at fifty cents.”
As one might expect, it was at about this time that Stan was beginning to maneuver his own boys and girls into the store as helpers. This was done as soon as they could see over the counter and make accurate change at the cash register. Clarence was the first to make his mark there. He started in as a swamper and soon graduated to the added position of “Soda Jerk.” In turn, as they grew up, there came Earle, Burdette, Lyle, Jean and Joy. And in the beginning each took his or her turn at eating up the profits at the soda fountain in his or her inimitable way. Stan’s daughters were attractive, so it was no accident that Stan’s Drug Store became the meeting place for the young people who needed a focal point.
In March of 1927, Crandall’s Pharmacy sustained considerable damage to its stock and fixtures from a fire that originated at the rear of the building. In refurbishing the store Stan had to remove most of his beautiful all-marble soda fountain. He was able to salvage the marble back bar. The rest was scorched beyond repair. The murals that graced the top of the wall above the stock fixtures were destroyed. In the renovation Stan laid down tile flooring and augmented the fixtures with some new showcases, including a refrigerated candy case for the Kings, Pang burns, Whitman’s and Sees chocolates. He replaced the marble counter with an extra-long mahogany counter, together with new stools and façade. A section of the marble counter was transferred to his prescription area where he needed a smooth surface upon which to compound medicinal ointments. The fountain area took on a different appearance again, because Stan added new items to his menu, namely, chili beans, stew, hamburgers, a variety of sandwiches, and a 35-cent plate lunch that captured some of the noontime quick-lunch trade.
Barely six months later a run-away automobile jumped the curb and came crashing through the plate-glass front of the store. Had it not been for the heavy store safe, which was kept toward the front of the store, the automobile would have plunged all the way to the rear. Fortunately, no one was injured in this accident. But the ordeal necessitated another renovation of the store front.
In the chronology of the store’s existence one must examine its unique personality during the years 1930 to 1940. Those were the depression years. Those were the years when the business community of Safford had to close ranks and become cohesive. Stan Crandall was a compassionate individual. He was a businessman on the one hand, yet he could not look with detachment upon the hardships of the people around him. Bank closings occurred across the nation at the onset of the economic depression, and Safford was one of its victims. Indeed, everyone in the community was a victim in one way or another. Stan’s Drug Store survived by reason of his integrity. One old-timer years later made a remark about Stan Crandall this way: “He was a good egg. During the worst of the depression there were many of us who couldn’t afford to go see a doctor when we became ill. So, we would go to Stan and inquire of what the doctors were prescribing for a given ailment. Stan could discern our motive and would go behind his prescription counter and come out with some medicine and never ask to be paid for it.” Stan’s generosity and concern for the poor was not limited to friends and relatives; it touched the lives of many strangers who came by the Drug Store in need of medicine and other necessities. Many of the “dust-bowl” victims of the depression stopped by the store for assistance. He never turned them away. He would invite them to sit at the soda fountain and enjoy a bowl of Stan’s stew. It was not unusual during this period to see a whole family of destitutes on the stools of the fountain, at Stan’s invitation, to help them on their destined way.
Looking at Stan’s generosity from another angle, he had a scale of payment for his medicines and sundries to match the circumstance of each customer during this period. He exacted from those customers who were experiencing a financial hardship only what they could afford to pay. He would declare the amount sufficient. Many prescription items were charged, knowing that he would never receive payment for the. At one time he gave people credit to the point where he almost became insolvent himself. His good works and friendship so dominated his life that it was small wonder when the people of the community recognized him as their “leading citizen” in 1939. A news item in the Tucson Daily Citizen at the time, date-lined August 31, 1939, disclosed the following: “SAFFORD CITIZEN AWARD GOES TO STAN CRANDALL. Officials of the Safford Theater announced the winner of its leading citizen poll, conducted in conjunction with the showing of ‘Our Leading Citizen,’ staring Bob Burns, to be Stan Crandall. A bronze plaque was presented to Crandall by theater officials in behalf of Bob Burns and Paramount Pictures. Crandall also received a telegram from the movie star congratulating him on being selected by popular vote as Safford’s leading citizen for 1939.”
Stan Crandall died suddenly of a heart attack on September 4, 1942, at which time ownership of Crandall’s Pharmacy redounded to his wife, Elizabeth, who sold the store to her son, Burdette.
Stanley Burdette Crandall received his Licentiate in Pharmacy from the State of Arizona on November 9, 1935. He had been working for his father in the Drug Store since before that date. In the operation of the store Burdette followed the tradition of his father, undertaking renovations and innovations as the situation demanded. In 1947 a new floor was laid, lighting fixtures and stock fixtures were altered, and the ambience of the soda fountain was changed again, and a new menu was introduced. The prescription area was updated in 1979. And again in the tradition of the Crandall family Burdette placed his children into the clerical operation of Crandall’s Pharmacy as they grew to maturity. The clerk with the longest tenure in the store had to be Neva Rolfe Stratton, who retired with Burdette.
In retrospect it seems that from the start in 1918, health factors were destined to alter the proprietorship of this Drug Store. Burdette suffered a heart attack in 1978, and eventually had to sell Crandall’s Pharmacy on account of his health. He sold the store on January 1, 1980, to JOHN W. BUCKLEY. Mr. Buckley operated the store under the Crandall name until June 1992. At that time Mr. Buckley’s health failed him suddenly, and he had to close the doors of Crandall’s Pharmacy forever. As of this writing Crandall’s Pharmacy no longer exists. Main Street in Safford does reflect a storefront that identifies the prior existence of this business establishment, but it is gradually fading away into history as time marches on.

REFERENCES


History of “STAN AND ELIZABETH CRANDALL,” compiled by Clarence L. Crandall,
May 1993, p.45;
Recollections of Clarence L. Crandall, 3955 W. Claridge St., Thatcher, AZ;
Recollections of S. Burdette Crandall, 610 2nd Ave., Safford, AZ
Recollections of Lyle Q. Crandall, 3035 W. Shadow Lane, Thatcher, AZ;
Graham Guardian, January 18, 1918;
Graham Guardian, June 4, 1920; 1923;
Tucson Daily Citizen, 1939;
Gila Valley Enterprise, March 18, 1987;
Easter Arizona Courier, “Looking back with the Courier & Guardian;”
Arizona State Board of Pharmacy, Phoenix, AZ.