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Our most
famous customer at Woodbury was Abraham Lincoln, who traveled as a
circuit lawyer and often stopped at the circuit court in Danville.
Lincoln
frequently purchased medicine, books, and stationery there while
lodging at the McCormick House on West Main. |
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Illiana
Medical Equipment & Supply
Since
1846 "Still One of a Kind
"
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The
business was founded in 1846 by James A Sconce. The
store then carried both books, medical items and food.
In 1850, Dr. William W. R Woodbury bought half the
business for $563.61 and the drug store became know as
Sconce & Woodbury.
Three
years later, Woodbury & Co. was formed when Sconce
left and two other partners were added.
Woodbury
took over in 1857. His motto was "Do as near right as
you can" |

Dr. William W. R Woodbury |
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In the late 1850s, rent for the drug store was $75 a
year. Merchandise came by river or
canal to Perrysville, IN., and Covington IN., and then
was brought over land by wagon.
A
shopper could find items with the following prices:
Sugar 8 1/3 cents a pound; eggs 6 1/4 cents a dozen;
castor oil, $3 a gallon; quinine, $5 and ounce;
whiskey, 10 cents a quart; oysters, $1.50 a can;
putty, 12 1/2 cents a pound; and tobacco, 37 1/2 cents
a pound.
A
booklet about the company's history put together in
1911 cited two memorable events: One was the marriage
of Woodbury to Maria Williams the daughter of Amos
Williams, who helped start Vermilion County and was
the first postmaster in 1827.
The
second event was the arrival of the Great Western
Railroad in 1857, sparking life into the young town
and helping increase it's population from 736 to
1,632 by 1860. |
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Woodbury
was such an ardent admirer of Lincoln's that he named
the building housing the drug store Lincoln Hall
in 1859.
When Woodbury died in 1901, his sons -
Amos Gardener Woodbury and Charles M.-- continued the
pharmaceutical business at the Main Street location.
Woodbury's two daughters founded Woodbury Book Co.. in
1900 at 4 N. Vermilion. Although the bookstore has
kept the Woodbury name, it has had different owners
and now is located on N. Gilbert Street.
From
1905 to 1915, the drug store employed a pharmacist
named Thomas A. Gulick, who was the grandfather of Tom
Gulick the firm's current owner. The grandfather left
Woodbury and worked at several other pharmacies in
town before establishing his own business.
The elder
Gulick operated three or four drug stores at different
times and different locations until 1936, when he
bought Woodbury Drug Co. T. A. Gulick purchased
Woodbury's for his son Lee "Bud" Gulick who, had just
graduated from the University of Wisconsin as a
pharmacist. Shortly after the purchase Lee Gulick was
killed in an automobile wreck. T. A. also owned Gulick
Drug Co. at North and Vermilion - owning two stores in
the middle of the Depression was a remarkable feat, J.
T. Gulick said. |
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In
1937, the two businesses were consolidated into one
store on West Main.
The younger Gulick bought the business in 1953 and
bought Carson Pharmacy in 1971.
Although Woodbury on Main Street was routed by urban renewal
in 1960s, and now is being absorbed into another
business, it's history hasn't been lost in the
shuffle. Gulick said when he was preparing to move in
1968, he came upon some prescription records dating
back to 1874.
Some
of the old files were destroyed, but Gulick has
preserved the business' history-- the photographs,
booklets, and stories.
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After
running two drug stores for several years in two
different locations, and after operating Woodbury Drug
for 26 years, Gulick said, "Its about time I changed
it to my name." In 1979 he merged Woodbury Drug and
Carson Pharmacy into one building at
912 N. Vermilion where it still is today (Gulick
Pharmacy).
Right
after merging these two drug stores, Gulick, his wife
Loretta, and son Steve formed Illiana Medical
Equipment- and Supply a home medical equipment
company, providing home medical equipment such as
oxygen, hospital beds, wheelchairs, etc. for patients
at home. This business is also located at 912 N.
Vermilion.
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