Wainwright Pharmacy


Company Names, addresses, dates: 1
  Fountain & Smith, 607 Botetort Street, Norfolk VA (1922-1925)
  Fountain & Smith, 601 Botetort Street, Norfolk VA (1927-1934)
  Fountain & Smith Drug Co, 227 W Bute Street, Norfolk VA (1935-1958)
  Wainwright pharmacy, 227 W Bute Street, Norfolk VA (1934-ca.1963) 1,2

Notes:
 Wright William Fountain (1890-1960)3 and William Andrew Smith (1891-1960)4 were both drugstore clerks in the 1910's. In 1919, they were both pharmacists, working at the Burrow, Martin & Co drug store. 1

By 1922 they started the Fountain & Smith drug store.2

About 1934 they moved into the Wainwright Building at 227 W Bute Street, and adopted the name Wainwright Pharmacy, although they also kept the name Fountain & Smith.1
The bottle depicted below has the name "Wainwright Pharmacy" with "Fountain & Smith" in parenthesis.

The 1928 city directory listed Fontain as the president of the Twelfth Street Pharmacy, so he was pulling double duty. Also, in the 1930s, Smith was listed as the president and Fountain as the vice-president, so it seems like they took turns being president.1

They both passed way in 1960. Newspaper mentions of the store lasted until about 1963.2

Bottles:
wainwright_01 This is an amber 3.5" machine-made screw-top bottle with a label from 1946 that says:
label: 12-13-46- YS- / FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY / WAINWRIGHT PHARMACY / (FOUNTAIN & SMITH) / WAINWRIGHT BUILDING / PHONE 25771 NORFOLK, VA.

1 Norfolk City directories, 1900-10,12-16,19,20,22-25,27,28,30,33-35,38-40,49,51-54,60
2 Virginian-Pilot, 4-Oct-1963, p.48 (last mention I found of Wainwright Pharmacy)
3 Find-a-grave entry for Wright William Fountain
4 Find-a-grave entry for William Andrew Smith


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This page last updated on March 27, 2026.