Jones Drug Store Then and Now

303 S Second Avenue

If you’ve read my stories for any length of time, you know I have a particular fondness for South Dodge. Four generations of my family grew up there and three were Sunnyside kids. As a result, I spent a whole lot of time in the area around South Dillon’s.

Crawford Place, which began just south of the river and west of what was then called Bridge Street, was platted in 1915.

There wasn’t much development in the neighborhood at that time. It was mostly a mix of houses and small businesses related to livestock and agriculture.

In April of 1930, construction began on a brick building at 303 Bridge Street, which was owned by Mayor Harry Hart. This structure would sit in the triangle between Bridge and Sunnyside with entrances on both streets.

Hart leased the new building to L. L. “Slats” Walker, proprietor of Walker Pharmacy.

Walker opened up in the new location during the Summer of 1930 and was promptly robbed by Ned Bruce, who was shot in the act by Officer L. W. Davis.

Bruce recovered and ended up pleading guilty after an unsuccessful insanity plea.

Walker sold the pharmacy to T. J. Phillips in September of 1931. This became the third Phillips Drug Company location in Dodge and was managed by Fred Parthemore.

By 1933, the pharmacy was called Parthemore and Parham Drug Company and maps had begun consistently calling the street South Second Avenue. Warren Jones bought the business at the end of 1937 or beginning of 1938 and renamed it Jones Drug Store.

Jones catered to the livestock industry and the building had a large sign on the north wall with an image of a steer head advertising his large animal supplies.

Jones Drug Store is shown behind parade marshal Roy Rogers in May of 1955.

Warren Jones died in August of 1957 at the age of 53. Without any family members in the area, the store was sold along with all of its contents.

Abram and Margaret Anthony moved Anthony’s Army Store from 318 South Second to the former Jones Drug Store in early 1958. Anthony’s also served as an official post office substation.

Margaret continued to operate the store after Abram died in January of 1964. It’s difficult to see but this photo from the flood in June of 1965 shows the brick building had already been painted white. A Shamrock station had also been built against the north wall.

Anthony’s held a large moving sale and relocated in the Summer of 1985.

The Marine Corps Club, which was owned by Raymond “Peanie” Goddard, then occupied the building until around 1994. Cecil’s Bar-B-Que opened at 303 S Second in 1995. At that time, the exterior featured a pig mural that took up the entire south wall.

The building was listed for sale by February of 2001 and remained on the market for quite a while. It was next used as a church. Ministerio Evangelistico Encuentro con Dios covered up the mural sometime between 2007 and 2009. The congregation used the Sunnyside entrance and blocked off the storefront and recessed entry on South Second by 2012. Current signage is for Iglesia Apostólica de la Fe en Cristo Jesús in the U.S.A.

This is how the former Jones Drug Store looks today:

This building is much cooler than its current appearance suggests. There aren’t many of these commercial spaces with dual storefronts left in Dodge. That brick should have never been painted and it’s so satisfying to see its slow reemergence.

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