City Drug Store

30 Oct 2021, last revised 02 May 2026

With several bottles from the City Drug Store, we expected the store to have been in business for some time, and it was. Throughout its life, it certainly faced competition on Quincy St., with the likes of Geo. H. Nichols, A. J. Scott, P. H. Gallagher, and the store run by Dr. S. E. Campbell and others.

Lindbohm as Founder

The drug store was established by Dr. A. W. Lindbohm (37), and the 1895 and 1897 Polk directories listed his wife (3), Naema Lindbohm, as the druggist at 205 Quincy St. (8,9). Lindbohm suffered from ill health and could not tend to the store, so he sold it to Andrew Bram in Mar 1898 (11). He was in business for four years before selling the store (11), which would mean that the store opened in 1894.

Bram as Proprietor

Andrew Bram was born on 30 Nov 1869 in Finland (2). He immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1881, and they settled in Hancock (4). Before purchasing the drug store, Bram was a clerk for S. D. North & Son's general store in Quincy (4,8,9,11).

Bram's obituary stated that the drug store became the City Drug Store after Bram purchased it (4), indicating that Bram originated the name. The 205 Quincy St. address of the drug store (8,9) was on the north side of Quincy St., between Ravine St. and Tezcuco St., and it was previously 412 before the street was re-numbered.

When purchasing the store, Bram hired Arthur Ellsworth from Green Bay as manager, who previously managed Nichol's drug store (11). The 1899 directory listed Andrew Bram as proprietor of the "City Drug Store" (1). In Mar 1900, Bram reported business being "better than ever before" (28), and started to renovate the store, including moving and expanding the prescription case, extending shelving, reducing the size of the private office, and re-decorating the entire store (35). In Jul 1901, he added new cases and counters to be able to accommodate a large crowd in preparation for a grand carnival (29). In Apr 1904, he was building a gallery in the rear to deal with crowding in the room (30), and then in May, he installed a new cabinet for holding the ice cream freezers (31). In Jun 1907, the store was re-papered and painted (32).

Like other drug stores, the City Drug Store employed a team of people. In Mar 1900, Frederick Laurin, who recently arrived from Finland and spoke German, Swede, and Finnish, joined Ellsworth with the prescription department (36,34). In Oct 1902, George E. Blodgett, who previously worked at the Marquette prison, accepted the position of manager of the store (27). In Sep 1904, John Kivela, who previously worked at the Sodergren & Sodergren store, joined the City Drug Store (32). Blodgett was head pharmacist for 10 years (21), and then he was appointed to Chief of Police of Hancock in May 1912 (22).

The store continued to be listed at the same location with Andrew Bram as proprietor up to the 1912 directory (10). In Jul 1912, Bram sold the store to Werner Nikander (23).

Aside from being a druggist, Andrew Bram was a prominent Finnish republican in the city (33). He served as alderman on the common council of the city of Hancock for two years, as Hancock representative on the Houghton County board of supervisors, and treasurer of Houghton County for two terms (4). After selling the store, Bram was appointed to postmaster of Hancock in 1913 (24) and held the position until 01 Aug 1935 (4). Curiously, he had the occupation of druggist on the 1920 U.S. Federal Census (5). He was listed as a salesman for a monument company on the 1940 census (15). Bram then died on 07 Mar 1944 at the age of 74 in Detroit (2), where he was spending the winter with relatives (4). He was buried in Lakeside Cemetery, Hancock (2).

The City Drug Store after Bram

Werner Nikander previously worked for Carl Printz in Hancock (17), with C. J. Sorsen in Red Jacket (18), and then became proprietor of Eagle Drug Store in Red Jacket (8). Axel Durchman was a pharmacist at the City Drug Store by at least Jul 1914 (25). Previously, Durchman was a pharmacist at Fichtel's Pharmacy shortly after arriving from Finland in 1903 (14) and had a drug store in Chassell until it was destroyed by fire in Jun 1910 (6).

By Oct 1916, Nikander had sold the store to Axel Durchman and Werner O. Nikander, his son (19,20). In Aug 1918, the proprietors announced that the drug store would be moved from the Northey block on Quincy St. to the Kauth building on Ravine St. and Quincy St. (37), and move was completed by early Oct 1918 (38). The drug store was said to have occupied the Northey block for a quarter century (38). The 1921 directory listed only Durchman for "drugs and stationery", while a Werner Nikander (probably the son) was listed as secretary of the Finnish Lutheran Book Concern (14), so apparently the partnership dissolved at some point.

Axel Durchman died on 18 Jun 1926 in Hancock at the age of 45 (39), and was buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery, Houghton (40). The 1930 and 1939 directories (12,13) listed Leslie Durchman, Axel's wife (7), as proprietor of City Drug Store at 300 Quincy St. The 1917 Sanborn map shows this address on the southwest corner of Ravine St. and Quincy St. The City Drug Store was still listed at the same address in a 1947/1948 business directory (26). It is unknown when it closed.

The Legacy

The bottles for the City Drug Store have features of later pharmacy bottles (16). They all have the easy-pour shoulder instead of the rounded shoulder. Bottle #s23 has a collared top, and #s23 and #s38 have graduation marks. It wasn't long after these bottles were produced that pharmacy bottles started to be made by machine. The transition to ABMs marked the end of embossing pharmacy bottles (16).

Citations

1. R. L. Polk & Co. 1899. Houghton County Directory 1899-1900. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
2. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records (accessed on ancestry.com).
3. U.S. Census Bureau. 1900 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
4. anonymous. (1944, Mar 08). Andrew Bram taken by death Tuesday morning in Detroit. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 3.
5. U.S. Census Bureau. 1920 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
6. anonymous. (1910, Jun 09). Chassell drug store burned. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 8.
7. Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952 (accessed on ancestry.com).
8. R. L. Polk & Co. 1895. Houghton County Directory 1895-96. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
9. R. L. Polk & Co. 1897. Houghton County Directory 1897-98. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
10. R. L. Polk & Co. 1912. 1912 Calumet, Hancock, Houghton and Laurium Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
11. anonymous. (1898, Mar 24). Portage Lake news. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
12. R. L. Polk & Co. 1930. Polk’s Hancock (Michigan) Directory 1930. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
13. R. L. Polk & Co. 1939. Polk’s Hancock (Michigan) Directory 1939. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
14. anonymous. (1903, Feb 04). The city. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 8.
15. U.S. Census Bureau. 1940 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
16. Lindsey, B. accessed in 2021. Historic Glass Bottle Identification & Information Website. secure-sha.org/bottle/medicinal.htm
17. Holmio, A. K. 2001. History of Finns in Michigan. Wayne State University Press. Detroit, MI.
18. anonymous. 1895. Memorial Record of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan. The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, IL.
19. anonymous. (1916, Oct 05). News happenings in drugdom. N.A.R.D. Journal 23: 36.
20. anonymous. (1916, Oct 04). Business news. Trade: A Journal for Retail Merchants 23: 12.
21. anonymous. (1914, Jan 05). Geo. E. Blodgett taken by death. The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 2.
22. anonymous. (1912, May 10). G. E Blodgett chief of police. The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
23. anonymous. (1912, Jul 27). City Drug Store sold. The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
24. anonymous. (1913, Feb 04). A. Bram will be postmaster. The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
25. anonymous. (1914, Jul 02). Novel clock in Hancock. The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 2.
26. The Daily Mining Gazette. 1947 or 1948. Copper Country Classified Business and Professional Directory. Houghton, MI.
27. anonymous. (1902, Oct 03). Blodget honored. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
28. anonymous. (1900, Mar 02). untitled. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
29. anonymous. (1901, Jul 03). Portage Lake briefs. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
30. anonymous. (1904, Apr 06). Portage Lake briefs. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
31. anonymous. (1904, May 19). Portage Lake briefs. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
32. anonymous. (1904, Sep 12). Calumet briefs. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 4.
33. anonymous. (1900, Mar 15). Hancock brevities. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 3.
34. anonymous. (1904, Feb 29). Mr. Bram's position. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
35. anonymous. (1900, Mar 02). City Drug Store down to date. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 3.
36. anonymous. (1900, Mar 14). Drug business expansion. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 3.
37. anonymous. (1918, Aug 07). City Drug Store will occupy Kauth building. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 3.
38. anonymous. (1918, Oct 04). City pharmacy now located in new home. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 3.
39. "Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFSY-WFW : Sat Mar 09 01:55:29 UTC 2024), Entry for Axel Durchman and Joseph Durchman, 18 Jun 1926.
40. Find a Grave. accessed May 2026. Axel Durchman. www.findagrave.com/memorial/252842711/axel-durchman