June 27, 2026
Before the Pharmacy Act of 1891 established the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia, the pharmacy profession was largely unregulated. Many early “chemists and druggists” learned their trade through apprenticeships rather than formal education, gaining experience by preparing compounds, tinctures, and other remedies on the job. This was likely also true in Vernon, although records of these early practitioners are scarce. An 1889 provincial directory, for example, lists a W. H. Norris as a pharmacist, but little else is known about him.
The first documented pharmacy in Vernon opened shortly after the city’s incorporation. According to the records of the College of Pharmacists, Richard Noble Taylor established Vernon’s first official pharmacy in 1892. Taylor had arrived in the Okanagan in 1889 and, after working briefly on a ranch and in a store in Enderby, opened his business on 30th Avenue. To stock the new pharmacy, he purchased the entire inventory of Draper & Co., a Vancouver pharmacy that had planned to open a branch in Vernon. The result was one of the most extensive selections of drugs and chemicals in the Interior. At a time when the nearest other pharmacies were in Kamloops and Revelstoke, Taylor’s business served a wide region and quickly earned a strong reputation.
In 1896, Taylor sold the pharmacy to Samuel Muir and moved to Greenwood to establish another business. Sadly, he died the following year after what was believed to have been an accidental poisoning, having mistaken animal poison for his nighttime antacid.
Muir continued to expand the pharmacy’s role within the community. Prescriptions were often received by telephone—the Okanagan Telephone Company exchange operated from the back of the store—and medications were sent to customers throughout the region by train, with Muir personally cycling to the station to deliver them. Muir was known for preparing many of his own medicines, including tinctures, syrups, powders, pills, and tablets, alongside an increasing selection of proprietary remedies.
In 1919, Muir sold the business to E. E. Barker, who renamed it the Vernon Drug Co. Although ownership changed several times over the following decades, the business became Vernon Drug Co. Ltd. in 1931 and continued under that name until its closure in 1987.
Vernon’s second pharmacy opened in 1903 when A. P. McKenzie established a new drug store. Ownership later passed to R. E. Berry before Chester and Hazel Nolan purchased the business in 1927, renaming it Nolan Drug and Book Co. In 1966, D. A. Nolan renamed it Nolan Drug Ltd., and today it continues to serve the community as part of the Pharmasave Group of independently owned pharmacies. A third pharmacy opened in 1939, and many others would follow, each contributing to the evolving story of healthcare in Vernon.
Archives Manager, Gwyneth Evans