Grand Rapids in Wood County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

Thurston Building

1896

Photographed by Craig Doda, February 7, 2021

1. Thurston Building Marker

Inscription.
Built by Azor Thurston (1861-1922), analytical chemist, textbook author, and pharmacist, this 30 x 75 foot yellow brick building served continuously as a pharmacy for 115 years, until 2011. The Thurston family lived upstairs.

The two-story Romanesque building, with projecting round turret, boasted an elegant salesroom with tall carved oak cupboards and a 14 foot stamped steel ceiling. A journal library and large laboratory enabled compounding of the highly regarded patent medicines known as the "Thurston Chemical Company Remedies.” Made with pure ingredients, they included Thurston's Pill's, "unequaled as a tonic and laxative,” and Sarsaparilla Compound, a "blood purifier."

In 1879 Thurston entered The Ohio State University, graduating with a degree in analytical chemistry. He then earned a Pharmaceutical Chemist (Ph.C.) degree at the University of Michigan, where he helped found the Phi Delta Chi Pharmacy Fraternity in 1883. He was National President and the "Grand Old Man” of the fraternity from 1915-1921.

In 1903 Thurston was appointed State Chemist for Ohio and served 19 years on the Dairy and Food Division

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of the Ohio Board of Agriculture. He was also an Instructor of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University.

In 1898 quick action saved the building's large French plate glass windows, which were boarded-up to withstand heat from the fire that destroyed 18 neighboring buildings In 2016 the largest window developed a crack and was replaced.

Erected 2018 by Walter B. Shelley, M.D., Ph.D.; E. Dorinda Shelley, M.D.; Naomi R. Bayer Twining - Historian; Phi Delta Chi Pharmacy Fraternity.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Education • Industry & Commerce • Science & Medicine. A significant historical year for this entry is 2011.

Location. 41° 24.736′ N, 83° 52.068′ W. Marker is in Grand Rapids, Ohio, in Wood County. It is on Front Street (Local Road 1616) 0.1 miles east of Carp Street, on the right when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 24187 Front St, Grand Rapids OH 43522, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Ohio’s Black Swamp,

in the Till Plains,

and in the Toledo Metropolitan Area.

It is

National Register of Historic Places plaque for the building image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Craig Doda, February 7, 2021

2. National Register of Historic Places plaque for the building

also in the American Midwest,

on the Great Lakes,

and in the Corn Belt.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

and the Northwest Territory.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: A Lasting Legacy (within shouting distance of this marker); Grand Rapids Flood Record (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); M. J. Wright Pavillion (about 300 feet away); In Memory Of Julie Pontasch (about 400 feet away); First Presbyterian Church (about 500 feet away); Grand Rapids Town Hall (about 500 feet away); The Benjamin F. Kerr House (about 700 feet away); The Grand Rapids (about 800 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Grand Rapids.

Also see . . . Thurston Building. The Thurston Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The Thurston Building was built by Azor Thurston in 1897. Thurston was a highly respected writer on pharmacology
Photographed by Craig Doda, February 7, 2021

3. Thurston Building Marker
and a most highly noted citizen of the village of Grand Rapids. He manufactured Thurston's Pills and Thurston's Sarsaprilla. The pills were advertised to cure constipation, headache, biliousness, torpid liver, dyspepsia, malaria and pain in the side or back. His remedies were highly known and used with confidence.

The building was headquarters for not only his pharmacy, but for his real estate firm and was the birthplace of the Grand Rapids Banking Company of which Mr. Thurston was the first cashier. The building has always housed a pharmacy and the one there today is much like Thurston's was 76 years ago with the original soda fountain still along the west wall.

The pharmacy survived the fire of 1898 which destroyed eighteen neighboring buildings and was later owned by Helen Thurston, Azor's daughter.

The building is important as one of few nineteenth century buildings remaining in Grand Rapids and as a late nineteenth century commercial building. Its association with Azor Thurston is notable since it provides an insight into early patent medicine.

(Submitted on December 10, 2024, by Joel Seewald of Madison Heights, Michigan.)

Photographed by Joel Seewald, August 24, 2024

4. Thurston Building Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on June 17, 2025. It was originally submitted on April 4, 2021, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. This page has been viewed 868 times since then and 80 times this year. Last updated on June 11, 2025, by John D Grabenstein of Easton, Maryland. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on April 4, 2021, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio. 4. submitted on December 10, 2024, by Joel Seewald of Madison Heights, Michigan. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.