website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
Pharmacies
Brennecke and Bergmann
Gehrke
Mallach
315 E Main
Busse’s
204 E Main
1916 note: Built by Ferdinand Behlke, General Contractor
Click to enlarge
Windows reflect Adolph
Miller house across the street (316 E Main)
Wisconsin
Architecture and History Inventory
This
building was constructed around 1865 for Theodore
Prentiss, a pioneer attorney in Watertown. Prentiss was a Yankee who came
to Watertown in 1845. He was Watertown's
first mayor after the city was incorporated in 1853. He also attended the first
two state constitutional conventions in 1846 and 1847, and was an assemblyman
between 1860-61. Prentiss had his office
here during much of his illustrious career.
This building also housed some retail firms. It was the Brennecke and Steinfort drug
store between 1880 and 1885, the Robert Brennecke
drug store between 1889 and 1911, and the William Gehrke
drug store between 1915 and 1930.
Robert Brennecke, 1898
WI State Board of Pharmacy
certificate Watertown
Historical Society Collection
William Gehrke, 1907
NW Univ of Chicago, graduation certif. 
WI State Board of Pharmacy certif.
c1886 Brennecke
Pharmacy prescription ledger circa 1886.
Watertown
Historical Society Collection
"Located four blocks south of Main
St. on S. Second Street." [?]
Ledger also includes names of several
other pharmacists in Watertown.
1890s
HENRY
BERGMANN PHOTOS
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.
Watertown
pharmacist who had a sideline of postcard photography.
Boy
starting a windmill pump in the Watertown area in about 1915
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.
c.1913
< Click
to enlarge Boy starting windmill pump,
c.1915
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 Bergmann Pharmacy, [near
the intersection of] 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. WDTimes,
11 14 1987
Watertown
Historical Society Collection
Collection of items associated with
H.H. Brennecke estate
1914
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.
1953
JONAS J. MALLACH ACQUIRES GEHRKE
PHARMACY HERE
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.
Mr. Malach’s wife will also continue to work at the store as
will their son, Gerald (Jerry) Mallach who recently
graduated from the Drake College of Pharmacy at Des Moines, la.
Mr. Mallach first began his association with the business in
1920 after graduating from high school.
He is a graduate of the Smith College of Pharmacy of Minneapolis, Minn.,
and served his apprenticeship at the store under Mr. Gehrke.
Name
to Remain
Mr. Mallach said today that he will continue to operate the
business under the name of the Gehrke Pharmacy.
He will
continue to give the same prompt and reliable prescription service that has
characterized the place under the ownership of Mr. Gehrke
and he will also continue to carry many outstanding and reliable brand names of
articles, goods and supplies that have been associated with the store for many
years.
The
store was at one time under the ownership of R. H. Brennecke
who operated it as a pharmacy for many years before Mr. Gehrke
acquired the business.
Mr. Gehrke said today that he wishes to thank the public for
its generous and long years of patronage while he operated the business and
expressed the hope that the new owner will continue to receive the same
generous patronage, support and confidence on the part of the public that has
been enjoyed by the business in the past.
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.
315 E
Main
Watertown Daily Times, 08
27 1955
Gerald J. (Jerry) Mallach. A Watertown young man is one of 53 in
Wisconsin who on Saturday were awarded certificates to practice pharmacy in
Wisconsin. The list was announced in
Milwaukee following an examination conducted by the State Board of
Pharmacy. The Watertown man is Gerald J.
(Jerry) Mallach, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jonas J. Mallach, 218 North Maple Street. Mr. Mallach owns
and operates the Gehrke Drug Store, at 315 Main
Street. His son is associated with him
in the business.
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.
1965
01 16 Gerald Mallach,
1007 South Ninth Street, was chosen as president of the Watertown Association of
Commerce at a special meeting of the board of directors held this morning at
the Elks Club. Mr. Mallach
is associated with his father, Jonas, in the Mallach
Pharmacy at 315 Main Street. He has been
active in Watertown civic affairs for some time and was head of the United Fund
drive for 1964, which made its quota for the first time in years. He succeeds Clifford Warren, who submitted
his resignation due to the press of business.
02 17 Gerald Mallach,
1007 South Ninth Street, a member of the Mallach Pharmacy,
is Watertown’s most distinguished young man, having been named Saturday night
to receive the Distinguished Service Award presented annually by the Watertown
Junior Chamber of commerce. Mallach is the new president of the Watertown Association
of Commerce, and among his outstanding accomplishments toward being selected
for the award was his successful leadership in heading the 1964 Community Chest
campaign which went over the top for the first time in its history. WDT
1966
Watertown Daily Times, 05 27 1966
John Lietzow employed as pharmacist.
1967
10 03 MALLACH'S
MODERNIZATION PROJECT
The Mallach Pharmacy at 315 Main Street has completed a
modernization project which includes a new and attractive front. The pharmacy, one of the oldest continuous
drug stores in the city, dates back well before the turn of the century. It was at one time the R. H. Brennecke Drug Store.
Later it became the Gehrke Drug Store. The late William Gehrke
went to work for Mr. Brennecke as a boy and took over
the business in 1914, changing the name.
In 1918 the late Jonas Mallach went to work
for Mr. Gehrke and in 1953 took over the business
from him. Gerald (Jerry) Mallach began working at the pharmacy under his father in
1954 and following his father’s death in November of 1956 took over the
business which he now operates with his mother, Mrs. Jonas Mallach.
1986
Watertown Daily Times, 07
31 1986
Mallach's Pharmacy consolidated with Busse’s
Mallach's
Pharmacy, 315 East Main Street, and Mallach's Clinic, 123 Hospital Drive, will
be consolidated with Busse-Good Value Pharmacy as of Friday.
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. There are no new plans for the
store at this time.
On
Dec. 1, 1982, Chandlers purchased Juneau Pharmacy which had been owned by Ralph
Heacox of Juneau.
They
will continue to reside in the town of Watertown at W6818 Silver Creek Road
with their three sons, John, 22, Daniel, 19, and David, 14.
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 Nov. 1, 1984.
Shumaker has been a pharmacist at Busse's since 1967 and has operated
the drug store since 1976.
He is
a 1967 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy. He
and his wife, Mary, reside at 611 Clyman Street with their three daughters,
Kim, Patti and Ellen.
_________________________________________________________________
Watertown Daily Times, 09 20 2010
Michael Chandler
1942 - 2010
Michael
Chandler of Watertown was called to eternal peace on Friday, Sept. 17, 2010,
after a long battle with heart and lung disease.
Michael
was born in Quasqueton, Iowa, son of Erma and Jasper Chandler on March 21,
1942. He graduated from Independence
High School, Independence, Iowa, in 1959.
From there he attended Northwest Institute of Medical Technology,
Minneapolis, Minn., with high honors in 1960. It was there that he met his
wife, Katherine Stark. They were married
on April 28, 1962, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Palmyra. Both Mike and Katherine worked at Wood
Veterans Hospital in West Allis. He
later started pharmacy school at UWM 1963.
After two years he switched to University of Wisconsin-Madison where he
also worked at St. Mary's Hospital. He graduated
from UW-Madison in 1968. He was employed at Stein Walgreen rising to the
position of vice president.
1973 Mike and his family moved to Watertown to work at Mallach Pharmacy later purchasing
the business. Mike later obtained Juneau Pharmacy in Juneau. Mike loved
golf, playing cards, traveling and spending time with his family. He was on the
board of directors of the Watertown Food Pantry, Watertown Country Club, St.
Bernard's Parish Council, and was a past president of the Watertown Lion's Club.
He was a member of Watertown Country Club for 37 years . . .
2013 Gerald
J. Mallach, 1932-2013
Gerald J. Mallach, 81, of Watertown, passed away on Friday, Sept. 6,
2013.
Gerald was born on June
2, 1932, to Jonas Mallach and Edna (Schultz) Mallach. After
graduating from Watertown High School in 1949, he went on to study pharmacy at
Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. On
June 19, 1954, he married Jeannine Krebs.
From 1956-58, he served in the U.S. Army with Jeannine at the Dugway
Proving Grounds outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Gerald was best known
as the owner of Mallach’s Pharmacy, initially joining
his father’s business as an intern and becoming the sole proprietor in
1965. Later in life, he established a
second career as a counselor, working at several area hospitals and private
facilities before accepting a position as a counselor at Jefferson County Human
Services.
Gerald fostered a deep
and lasting commitment to the Watertown community. He helped to revive the chamber of commerce
and was a longtime member of the Rotary Club, served as the president of the
Watertown Historical Society, the Lions Club and Easter Seals and held many
positions at the First Congregational United Church of Christ.
Those who knew him will remember his sense of humor,
compassion, ethics, generosity and enduring optimism.
He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Jeannine; his
son, Jeff of Hartland and his wife, Lynn, and daughters Amy Eckert of Watertown
and Sarah Buss of Janesville. Gerald’s five grandchildren, Jessica Mallach (Pangborn), Quincy
Eckert, Savannah Buss, Steven Buss and Cameron Eckert, and three
great-grandchildren, Mason, Broderick and Adelyn Pangborn,
will all miss him dearly.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at 11 a.m. at
the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 120 Kuckkan
Lane, with the Rev. John Kennedy officiating.
Visitation will be held at the church on Saturday from 9-11 a.m.,
followed by a luncheon.
Memorial gifts to the First Congregational Church UCC
or the Watertown Humane Society, 418 Water Tower Court, would be greatly
appreciated.
Schmutzler-Vick Funeral and Cremation
Service 500 Welsh Road Watertown
Cross
References:
Glass pharmacy bottles. Watertown
Historical Society Collection
History of Watertown, Wisconsin