Where Can You Get an Iron Port, Phosphate, or Suicide?

Where Can You Get an Iron Port, Phosphate, or Suicide?. . Today it would be difficult, but in 1946 you could have ordered one of these soft drinks at a soda fountain. Vernal's most popular soda fountain was part of Vernal Drug which was located in the building across the street. At the marble counter, soda jerks mixed a variety of soft drinks and ice cream delights. A popular treat was cherry phosphate (cherry syrup, soda water, and citric acid); you could also order a cherry or vanilla Coke. Vernal was one of the few places you could find "Iron Port," an old-fashioned ice cream soda. If you wanted chocolate ice cream, you would ask for a "dip of mud;" a chocolate cone was called a "black stick;" a "houseboat" was the common term for a banana split. In the 1950s the soda fountain was a focal point where young people gathered after school or with a date. , , The soda fountain hosted its first customer in 1900 when Vernal Drug opened its doors. The drugstore relocated several times, but in 1917 it found a permanent home. In 1960 the drugstore expanded into the Vogue Theater building. In 1991 Vernal Drug closed after 91 years in service, giving way to discount store pharmacies and the changing tastes of youth. So today you can't get a "suicide" (a squirt of everything in the soda fountain) in Vernal. , , (photo captions) , Vernal Drug, ca. 1920 , , Soda fountain in 1952 , , Vernal Drug after its remodeling, 1960 ,