By Leah Milowe, Museum Administrator and Curator, Vicksburg Historical Society
Many of us familiar with Vicksburg history refer to the Hill’s Building when talking about the buildings north of the hardware store on South Main. The Hill’s Building is made up of 110 South Main on the south and the often-overlooked 108 South Main on the north. It’s home to The Mill at Vicksburg’s Cone Top Brewery Museum.
Built in 1872 by John Long, the earliest tenants of 108 South Main operated a dry goods store. Customers could find all their necessities in one place: groceries, hardware, clothing, and textiles. And upstairs, they could find the local dentist, Civil War veteran W. W. Scott.
Dr. Scott’s office took up a small space on the upper floor. A public hall took up the rest. Fraternal organizations like the International Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Free Masons, and Knights of the Maccabees used the hall for their meetings and events. The Vicksburg Comedy Company presented shows in the hall along with other public events. One flyer from around 1890 advertises a social party at Long’s Hall to benefit a local resident for “proper medical treatment”.
Like so many buildings in downtown Vicksburg, businesses moved in and out until 1917 when it became Brooks & Cobb Drug Store. For 70 of the next 80 years, 108 South Main would remain a drug store.
Frank Brooks and George Cobb sold their drug store to Kalamazoo pharmacist Carl Hanichen in 1927. Mr. Hanichen moved his young family to Vicksburg and operated Hanichen Drug Store, a Walgreen’s franchise until 1945. At that time, Mr. Hanichen moved to St. Joseph County and continued his career as a pharmacist. He sold the Vicksburg drug store to Harry Hill.
Before 1927, anyone could be a pharmacist, or druggist. Michigan’s Act 359 of 1927 required that a pharmacist own at least 25% of a drugstore or pharmacy. This is likely why Brooks and Cobb sold to Hanichen.
Harry Hill was not a licensed pharmacist. When he purchased Hanichen’s Drugstore in 1945, he had been living in Jackson and working for Upjohn Company as a pharmaceutical salesman. This didn’t stop him from rebranding Hanichen’s as Hill’s Pharmacy. His official job title was pharmacy manager, and he brought in a licensed pharmacist with partial ownership to operate the pharmacy.
Hill was ready to sell the pharmacy by the late 1950s. He put advertisements in the newspapers, including all the way in Chicago. However, that advertisement was missing one little detail: the name of the business.
Whether it was fate or luck, the stars aligned, and that advertisement was read by a man named John Everett Hill, a pharmaceutical sales representative in Chicago. This second Hill was no relation to the first, but he was a pharmacist.
John Hill graduated from Ferris State College in 1934 with a degree in pharmacy. He went on to serve as a pharmacist’s mate during World War II before returning home to marry June Peterson. The advertisement in the Chicago newspaper led John and June to make a trip to Vicksburg in 1959. When they saw the name of the drugstore, they knew it was meant to be.
Hill’s Pharmacy continued with the second Hill in charge. Around 1970, Hill number two joined into a partnership with Dick Masse and the pharmacy moved next door to 110 South Main. This left 108 to begin a decade of fluctuating businesses.
In 1981, Hill’s Pharmacy expanded back into its original space. The pharmacy changed ownership in 1991, but it continued as Hill’s Pharmacy until closing in 2017.
Paper City, LLC has begun a historic restoration of this beautiful building. When restoration is done, Cone Top Brewery Museum and The Mill Visitor Center will remain, until Cone Top moves into The Mill. When that happens, another business will have the chance to prosper in downtown Vicksburg.
