The J.E. Whitty and Son Drug Store was built in 1910 in Lee, Fl. The drug store was originally established by Tobe Whitty and local physician Walter Mickler, M.D. At the front of the store was a carved marble and mahogany Coca-Cola backboard, complete with inset green glass and beveled mirrors. With its 14-foot ceilings, the drug store was truly a majestic piece of history. The wood in the display cases even matched the backboard. When the weather became cooler, a pot-bellied stove burned coal gathered from the tracks of the Seaboard Railroad that was in front of the store. On those humid summer days, Original Hunter ceiling fans relieved customers and staff of the heat and cooled the front of the store. A first edition register from the National Cash Register Company was used in the store until the day it closed its doors for good. The J.E. Whitty and Son Drug Store provided the town of Lee and its surrounding areas with a variety of goods and services. From medicine to ice cream from the soda fountain to fertilizer, the store had everything one could need and even included cosmetics and school supplies.
The store even expanded some. In its early days, the store had a second floor that served as a coffin store. Dr. Mickler wanted to use the second floor of the store for a movie theater, but this plan failed. When radios began to take the nation by storm, during the 1930s, the drug store had one of the first radios in Lee. The radio was placed on the front porch of the store and was a major source of entertainment for large crowds that would gather on Saturday evenings. Over the years, Dr. B.W. Hamrick, Sr., a second physician, practiced in the medical offices in the store. Apothecary jars with curved-glass label-shields were one of the artifacts from the store. With labels written in Latin, the jars contained drugs such as opium and arsenic that were used to mix medications prescribed by the physicians. The store only sold patented medicines once state licensure of pharmacists excluded those who lacked specific certifications. Shellie E. Whitty began working in the store in 1911, just one year after the store opened, and he eventually bought the store. Shellie and his wife, Lola, married in 1915, and Lola began working in the store. For over half a century, the couple ran the store together. Long after Shellie's death in 1962, Lola kept the store up and running; however, in 1974, the store was closed, sold and eventually demolished.
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1.Photo Submitted. The J.E. Whitty and Son Drug Store was built in Lee in 1910. Featured in the photo in front of the drug store are Shellie E. Whitty and Dr. W.A. Mickler.
2. Photo Submitted. The drug store in Lee was established by Tobe Whitty. Shellie E. Whitty eventually took over the store. Pictured, from left to right, are: Shellie E. Whitty, Moye E. Whitty, John E. Whitty, Woodfin G. Whitty and John B. Whitty.