“The father of the drug business in Cambridge”
The Orne pharmacy was established in 1838 by Charles G. Wells. When Charles A. Orne (1823-1850) took over the business around 1840 he renamed it “Charles Orne & Co.” His brother Joel Stone Orne joined him and succeeded Charles in 1842. Joel’s obituary states that at that time Cambridge had 8,000 residents served by only two drugstores.
The pharmacy was at 395 Main Street in Lafayette Square (now no. 427) near the intersection of Main Street and Massachusetts Avenue. The Ornes operated the store for 65 years, from 1841 to 1906.
The brothers lost no time in advertising in the Cambridge Chronicle:
Clippings from Cambridge Chronicle, Volume I, Number 5, 4 June 1846
The Ornes were a prominent family whose ancestors arrived in Marblehead, Massachusetts, around 1630. Their father John Gerry Orne (1786-1838) was the great grandnephew of the fifth Vice President of the United States, Elbridge Gerry. J.G. Orne was married to Ann Stone. Her father, Moses Stone, arrived from England in 1735 and owned a large portion of the land that is now part of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Their sister, Caroline (1818-1905), was a well-known poet who hobnobbed with Longfellow and James Russell Lowell. She was the librarian of the Dana Library at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Pleasant Street and became the first librarian of the Cambridge Public Library. The Orne house on Auburn Street had been in the family since 1816 and served as a barracks during the Revolution.
Not much information is available about Charles A. Orne apart from the fact that he died in Panama on March 23, 1850, while returning home from California. He was 27 years old.
Joel S. Orne began in the pharmacy business at the age of 13 when he apprenticed to the druggist Isaac Snow of Boston and was only 16 when he joined his brother’s company.
Joel married Rachel Atwood Brown in 1852, and they had three children. Charles Parker Orne (1853-1912) became a “manufacturing chemist” and druggist at 837 Main Street (now Massachusetts Avenue), at the corner of Trowbridge Street. Daughter Maria became the first licensed pharmacist in the city, practicing alongside her father. Daughter Jennie married Charles Smith Brooks, a boot and shoe salesman.
Joel S. Orne was active in the Cambridge Veteran Firemen’s Association, a member of various Druggists’ Associations, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Amicable lodge of Masons. He died in 1906.
After his death the business was bought by John Minon:
In 1907 the pharmacy was described as having “…a marble floor, walnut fixtures, a neat and attractive soda fountain, and the generally well-ordered appearance of an up-to-date and prosperous place” (Cambridge Chronicle 27 July 1907).
It is unclear what happened to the Orne/Minon Pharmacy after 1912. By 1916, there is no pharmacy listed at 427 Mass. Ave. By 1920, Minon is listed in the Boston Directory as a druggist.
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer, Kathleen Fox.
Sources:
Cambridge Public Library Newspaper database
Ancestry.com
FamilyHistory.com
Newspapers.com
