Hook’s Drug Stores were an Indiana institution for almost 100 years, until pharmacy consolidation saw the chain merged into Revco, which was then merged into CVS. They’ve been on such a buyout jag for so long that I think someday every drug store will be a CVS.
One remaining vestige of Hook’s is the Hook’s Drug Store Museum on the Indiana State Fairgrounds. It operates during the Indiana State Fair but also during many other fairgrounds events, such as the annual Mecum Spring Classic car auction. I always stop in at the museum during the Mecum because a small, working soda fountain is inside. I get a pop or some ice cream and sit for a minute. So it’s fitting somehow that the only photo I’ve taken with the museum building in it is actually of a Mecum car, a 1962 Lincoln Continental convertible.
The museum is full of turn-of-the-20th-century pharmacy items, configured to look like a working pharmacy. I took several photos inside during the State Fair last August with my Pentax ME and my 50mm f/1.4 SMC-Pentax M lens on fast Fujifilm Superia X-tra 800 film. It wasn’t until I assembled the photos for this post that I realized I have no wide shots of the interior. There are just so many interesting details that I tend to focus on them! My shot of the stove in the middle of the museum should give you a sense of the space.
While I’m at it, I might as well share some photos I took on another day during last year’s fair with my old Kodak EasyShare Z730. One small section of the museum offers nostalgic candies and even limited drug-store items for sale.
