Serendipitous Timing

1916 Calendar – Courtesy of the San Juan Historical Society & Museum

This month’s history column from the San Juan Historical Society & Museum…

While looking randomly in our digital archives for January’s topic, a photograph of a Friday Harbor Drug Co. calendar from January, 1916 popped immediately into view. What better choice for this month, exactly 100 years later, when our same drug store still has its calendars for customers. What is different is that in 1916 a small bottle of cough syrup cost 25 cents and it’s $4.39 today.

Here’s another difference between life 100 years ago and today: The Washington state liquor prohibition law took effect on January 1, 1916, closing down saloons statewide and severely limiting personal possession of alcohol (following Friday Harbor’s own town ban in place since 1910), but islanders could still get a prescription for such spirits — when signed by a doctor for medicinal purposes — or a clergyman for religious purposes. One wonders how many people got religion that year.

We thank the Nash family for safeguarding this calendar artifact all this time, and for generously allowing the Historical Society and the San Juan Island Library to digitize it for posterity. More historical photos from the San Juan Islands can be found online in the Washington Rural Heritage collection, hosted by the Washington State Library at www.washingtonruralheritage.org. You know where to get the cough syrup.

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