Photo by Joyce Cleary
In 1865, Pickerington was home to 37 buildings and just 150 people. The railroad that passed through town laid its final tracks and opened for business in 1879, forever changing the course of the town history, as its population and facilities would boom shortly thereafter.
Courtesy of Pickerington Violet Township Historical Society
Kraner family and Drug Store
Erasmus Darwin Kraner was born in 1844 and served as postmaster for 30 years. Anticipating the growing town’s needs, E.D. Kraner was ahead of the curve when he acquired W.M. Curtis’ store in 1872 on the corner of East Columbus Street and Lockville Road. He opened a pharmacy within the store for his son, local doctor Charles Kraner, who lost his hearing and could no longer practice medicine. E.D. Kraner ran the business for 42 years before passing away in 1914.
Pharmaceutical study advanced relatively quickly in the United States due to the sharing of various traditional remedies, many coming from those with European and Native American backgrounds, for treating common illnesses throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.
The store would remain in the family for the next 75 years (1872-1947), and a wide variety of goods and services were sold at the location before it became Beckham Photography.
Courtesy of Pickerington Violet Township Historical Society
Simon's Drug Store
But before that, Russel Stiverson upheld the location as a drug store from 1951-1970. Bill Simon purchased the store and operated Simon’s Pharmacy until he passed in 1983. Next, Dane Drugs took over the space in 1985, which may sound familiar to some longtime Pickeringtonians.
Since then, the building has served as a general mercantile, a post office, an art-framing studio, a birdseed store, a sign company and it even offered duckpin bowling on the second floor at one point.
Today, hundreds of high school seniors, families and models have had their pictures taken by David Beckham within the walls that Kraner inherited more than 150 years ago.
Tyler Kirkendall is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at tkirkendall@cityscenemediagroup.com.
