Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum

About Us:

Early in the 1970s, pharmacist Ralph Enix and several of his colleagues began an ambitious project to provide a venue for the collection, preservation and sharing of artifacts and information relevant to the pharmacy and medical health professionals in the state of Oklahoma.

The project culminated in the establishment of the Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum, located in the Historic District of the First Capital of Oklahoma, Guthrie. The Museum opened in 1992, and is managed by the Oklahoma Pharmacy Heritage Foundation, Inc. Located in the downtown Historic District in the beautiful Gaffney Building (Circa 1890), the museum is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary. Pam Ekiss, longtime resident of Guthrie, is the current curator and manager.

The Oklahoma Frontier Drugstore Museum collections reflect the history of pharmacy and medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Oklahoma and Indian Territories and the State of Oklahoma. The artifacts and ephemera exhibited in the Museum were coincident with the westward migration of pioneers, shopkeepers, families and pharmacists as well as a host of other health care providers who populated the frontier regions of the United States.

To celebrate its Silver Anniversary, The Oklahoma Pharmacy Heritage Foundation initiated a campaign to aid the funding of an Apothecary Garden located on the Museum grounds. The Garden opened in the late spring of 2006 as a fitting memorial to the pioneers who settled the Territories and a welcome addition to the historic flavor of downtown Guthrie and the State of Oklahoma.