This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Pharmacies
Brennecke and Bergmann
Gehrke
Mallach
315 E Main
Busse’s
204 E Main
1955
Watertown Daily Times, 01
06 1955
The
Gehrke Pharmacy at 315 Main Street, one of the oldest drug stores in Watertown,
has changed ownership, following completion of the sale. The new owner is Jonas
J. Mallach, 218 North Maple Street, who has been associated as a pharmacist in
the store for many years. William Gehrke has operated the business since 1914
and will continue to work at the store, assisting the new owner, for the
present at least.
1958
William
Gehrke, 73, retired pharmacist who for many years operated the Gehrke Drug
Store, died October 21, 1958. He was
born in Watertown in 1884, attended Watertown Public Schools and graduated from
the Northwestern Pharmaceutical School in Chicago. He was a life-long resident of the city. Burial was in Oak
Hill Cemetery.
Gehrke
purchased the Brennecke Drug Store in 1914 and operated it under his name until
his retirement in 1953, when he sold the business to Jonas Mallach.
1986
Watertown Daily Times, 07
31 1986
Mallach's Pharmacy consolidated with Busse’s
Mallach's
Pharmacy,
Both
Mallach drug stores will be closed and prescription records will be available
at Busse's, 204 East Main Street. Inventory from the closed stores will also be
moved to Busse’s.
With
the sale, one of Watertown's oldest businesses will disappear from the location
it has occupied for the past 115 years. The
downtown pharmacy, believed to be one of the oldest in the state, has been
continuously operated under various owners for over a century.
Mallach's
owner Michael Chandler said he decided to sell the stores because of health
reasons. He will continue to own and
operate Juneau Pharmacy in Juneau and will also continue to do nursing home
consulting.
A
native of Independence, Iowa, Chandler graduated from University of
Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy in 1968.
He and
his wife, Kathie, moved to Watertown in 1973 from Waukesha where he was a vice
president for Stein-Walgreen drug stores. They entered into partnership with Gerald Mallach
for the Mallach pharmacies in 1974 and became sole owner in 1977. Mrs. Chandler also worked at the drug stores,
serving as bookkeeper among other duties.
Mallach's
downtown store was operated for many years by Jonas Mallach and then his son,
Gerald Mallach. Previous owners also
included R. H. Brenneeke and William Gehrke.
The
building where the drug store is located will continue to be owned by Gerald
Mallach. T here are no new plans for the store at this time.
On
They
will continue to reside in the town of Watertown at
Busse's
is owned by Al Shumaker and William Devine. The pharmacy is part of Pharmacy Consultants,
the largest independent pharmaceutical buying group in the state. Busse Pharmacy merged with Union Prescription
Center and became Busse-Good Value Pharmacy on
He is
a 1967 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy. He
and his wife, Mary, reside at
1987
Watertown Daily Times, 11 14 1987
Watertown
is prominently featured in the 1988 calendar published by The State Historical
Society of Wisconsin. Called the
"Wisconsin Historical Calendar," it represents photographs from the
society's archives. They represent photos from the 1860s to the 1940s.
Among
the 57 photos published are several by Henry F. Bergmann of Watertown who was a
pharmacist but had a sideline of postcard photography.
Other
pictures by Bergmann show a boy starting a windmill pump in the Watertown area
in about 1915, a wedding table in Watertown in about 1905, the back room of his
pharmacy, a picture of his tour up the Hudson River in New York in 1901 and a
retail display of Christmas ornaments in Watertown in about 1905.
The
calendar includes some brief information on Bergmann who is featured on several
pages. It says he was born in Watertown in 1876. He began clerking in a Watertown drugstore in
about 1895 and for most of his life operated pharmacies either in Watertown or
South Milwaukee. He began taking
photographs in the early 1890s, soon transforming his hobby into a sideline as
a postcard photographer and taking pictures of parties, businesses, expositions
and distant cities and points of interest. There are 600 of his plates in the state
society archives and the South Milwaukee Historical Society also holds a
substantial number of them.
His
pharmacy, the Brennecke and Bergrnam Pharmacy, Fourth and Main streets, is now
the location of Watertown Mutual Insurance. The pharmacy was operated by Jerry and
Jeannine Mallach for many years and later by Mike and Katherine Chandler.
Today,
Mrs. Mallach owns Mallach's Book Store on North Third Street, one of several
locations from which the 1988 calendar can be purchased.
