Carson's Drug Store


Company Names, addresses, dates:
   Lyle & Carson, East Radford, VA (ca.1895-ca.1896) 1,2
  Carson's Drug Store, East Radford, VA (ca.1899-ca.1963) 3,4

Notes:
Robert Sydney Carson Sr. (1868-1928)5 was the junior member of "Lyle & Carson" in 1895, according to his wedding announcement.1
There was a fire in 1896, and the Lyle & Carson store was badly damaged. I don't know if the store continued after that, but I was unable to find any newspaper mentions of that partnership after the announcement of the fire. 2

The earliest mention I found of Carson as the sole owner of a drug store was 1899.3
His WW-I draft card listed him as a tall, slender man with black eyes and black hair.

Carson ran his drugstore until his death in 1928. At some point his son, Robert Sydney Carson Jr. (1899-1971)6 took over the drugstore.6

An ad in 1950 listed the store as "Radford's Oldest Drug Store".7
The last ad I could find for the store was in 1963, so it probably closed somewhere around that time.8

For about 50 years Carson's drug store was located at 1079 Norwood Street (modern day 1101 East Main Street), in East Radford VA. The building was constructed between 1902 and 1908, and housed Carson's drug store until the 1950s. Carson's drug store was located in an adjacent building during the construction of that building.9


Bottles:
carson_01 This is a green bottle, embossed:
round slug plate: CARSON'S DRUG STORE / Citrate / of / Magnesia / EAST RADFORD, VA.

1 Richmond Dispatch, 8-Dec-1895, p.14 (Wedding announcement for Robert S. Carson)
2 State (Richmond), 21-Dec-1896, p.3 (fire consumed 25 houses)
3 Roanoke Times, 22-Dec-1899, p.16 (article with heading "R. S. CARSON")
4 News Journal, 1-Nov-1963, p.2 (ad for Drug Stores of Radford)
5 Find-a-grave entry for Robert Sydney Carson Sr.
6 Find-a-grave entry for Robert Sydney Carson Jr.
6 US Census 1930 listing Robert S Carson as a drug store employer in Radford
7 Radford News Journal, 25-Sep-1950, p.15 (Ad for Carson's Drug Store)
9 National Register of Historic Places site VDHR# 126-0084-0226


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This page last updated on September 6, 2026.