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Thomas Drug Store is Georgia's oldest drug store and has been doing business at the same location for 131 years. It opened as a drug firm at 108 South Broad Street, Thomasville, Georgia in 1869, four years after the Civil War ended. Its opening was 41 years before insulin was discovered and nearly half a century before the first antibiotic, pencillin, was discovered. Capsules were made by hand with the pharmacist inserting medicinal powders into the small oval containers. The powder was weighed on scales, then divided with a spatula into as many little piles as the number of capsules to be filled. Ointments and liquid prescriptions were also mixed and made according to the doctor's prescriptions. The drug store opened in a Victorian atmosphere and in an era when Thomasville was known as a winter resort. In 1881, the store was bought and named Thomas Drug Store by Robert Thomas, who ran the store until his death in 1935. W.R. "Bill" Thomas, Sr. joined the firm in 1918 as a pharmacist. He earned a salary of $70/month, $840/year and worked from 7:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. weekdays and 6 hours on Sundays and Christmas. In 1935 the store was sold to Bill Thomas and Frank Eidson. In 1945, Thomas bought out Eidson and headed the business along with his two sons, W.R. Thomas, Jr. and James A. Thomas.