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Location: Home > About Morton > Morton Memories
Seventy- Five Years of Morton MemoriesReflections of a family-friendly pharmacy
I have such wonderful memories of Morton’s Drug Store. From an early age, I recall my parents talking about how they met. My dad, Harold Mahoney, went to college at the “University of Milwaukee” and moved to Neenah where he landed a job in the pharmacy on Wisconsin Avenue in Neenah. He often told of how they had to actually mix the drugs. My mother, Lucille, moved to Neenah from Marshfield and was working across the street from Morton’s at Oak’s Candy Store. They served lunches there and Dad would walk across the street and eat lunch. That’s how they met and later married. My story begins later, in 1960, when my lifelong friend, Charlotte Thiessen Larsen, and I started to work for the George Banta Company in the mailing department. On Wednesdays we would get paid and every week came to downtown Neenah to shop at Jeffrey’s, Tew’s and Jandrey’s. Then we would go to Morton’s soda fountain for a tuna sandwich and chocolate sundae with marshmallow topping. It was the highlight of our shopping. Good memories of such a clean store and friendly people. I wish we could walk back in time for just one more sundae! – Colleen Mahoney Pawlowski, Neenah
When I was in high school, I worked at the soda fountain when the store was on West Wisconsin. Sodas and malteds were popular, but so were phosphates. They were a new drink made by adding soda water to flavored syrups. We also served sandwiches. Of course there were regular customers who had their favorites. One man ordered a liverwurst on toast and a malt every time he came in.My best friend and I came to Mort’s for dinner every Friday night before we went to a movie at the theatre that was across the street. Those were the days! – Joan Tuchscherer Holloway I have fond memories of the Morton store on Commercial Street, next to Shorelane Beverage. Peter Morton knew our names when we were in first or second grade.My brother and I used to go down Crescent Drive and sneak through the Johnson’s back yard to get to the store. We’d look and look, carefully making our decision, spending our limited funds on the best candy of those days. Your commitment to Neenah and the surrounding area – both corporately and personally – is tremendous. – Keith J. Carpenter In the 1940s when I was a teenager, the place to hang out was Mort’s, which was located on East Wisconsin Avenue next to the old National Manufacturer’s Bank. There were two sides to the store, one the pharmacy and the other the soda fountain where “Dead Eyes” Owens served sodas, malts and sundaes. There were also booths and a juke box. In the rear of the soda bar, near the rear door, were the pinball machines. It cost a nickel to play. Some of the ingenious ones in our group decided that slugs could substitute for nickels, so we would manufacture slugs made of lead. For the most part, these slugs worked very well, but once in a while would get stuck in the machine. When it happened, we would casually walk away or make a beeline for the back door. Charlie Morton never said anything to us at the time, although we knew that he knew what was going on. I’ve always been a patron of Morton Drug Co. One day, when I was probably in my 20s, Charlie (Mort, as we called him) was filling a prescription for me and I asked if he remembered when I was in school and put slugs in the pinball machines. He said he knew what we were doing, but he never kicked us out. If he did, we may never have come back. “But look at you now,” he mentioned many of us by name. “You’re still some of my best customers.” – Jim Powers
I was taking a break at work the other day and noticed a small article in the paper that caught my eye. It was about Morton’s Pharmacy’s 75th anniversary. Wow, where did the time go? It took me back to a younger time in my life. It was the early 70s with a day just like many others, but not really, because today it was my turn to ride with Dad in the “drug truck.” Right about now you’re thinking, “What the heck is a drug truck?” Well, let me explain. To make ends meet, my dad worked a full-time job during the day and delivered prescriptions for Morton Pharmacy in the evening. So, to us kids, Dad drove the “drug truck.” That night, I rode with Dad, sitting in the front seat of the cargo van as he made one delivery after another, stopping at each one of the three Morton Drug stores to pick up new orders. To most, I’m sure this does not appear to be very exciting, but to a young boy growing up at a time of no video games, no cell phones, and only three channels on TV, it supplied me with a memory – a memory of time spent with Dad, who is no longer with us. So, in closing, I would like to say thanks to Morton Drug for the memory you helped make that day. – Dennis Buch, Larsen son of the late Robert Buch, Neenah
Peter Weitz, a lifelong resident of Neenah, worked as a soda jerk behind the counter at Mort’s on Wisconsin Avenue when sodas were a nickel and a banana split (with three scoops of ice cream) was a dime. “Mort’s” was the only place for the young people to gather back then. Mr. Weitz recalled one day a woman complained to Charlie Morton about the noise the young people were making. She hinted that Mr. Morton should kick them out of the store. He told the woman, “Are you foolish? They’re my future trade.” He didn’t appease that customer’s request, though there were a few times when the truly rowdy had to be sent away. Mr. Morton respected the young people and recognized them as his clientele in the years to come. His plan worked – Mr. Weitz is still a customer after all these years. Kathryn Paulson Ziske worked for Morton Pharmacy, her mother Gen worked for 25 years as a clerk in Menasha, her sister filled unit doses for nursing home patients, her brother was a delivery driver, and her dad worked in maintenance for the pharmacy after he retired from Kimberly Clark. No wonder the Mortons consider the Paulson family an important part of their history, their success. As Kathryn Paulson Ziske tells it, the Morton and Paulson families naturally made strong connections beyond the workplace. She even babysat for Peter and Darlene’s kids: Steve, David, Kathryn and Jennifer Morton. When her sister was tragically killed in an accident, “Grandpa Charlie” had a caterer supply all the food for her funeral meal. “Steve and Peter took such good care of us,” she reminisced. It’s apparent the affection was mutual.
Wilbur "Will” Voss made the move from a 14-year pharmacy career in Clintonville to Morton Pharmacy in1973. Back then, pharmacists communicated their wishes for new positions via the drug reps that traveled the circuit, and a rep connected Will to Peter Morton in Neenah. “I worked one year with Robbie (Millard Robinson, R.Ph.), and that was a great experience. Then I moved to the Menasha store for the next 13 years. After I retired in 1988, I still worked part-time for four years, ”Will recalled. That is, right up until a new computer system was introduced! Will was also the pharmacist who encountered an armed robber at the Menasha store in 1974. He recalls it was a rainy day, and the robber had the presence of mind to wear a rain suit. “He was looking for drugs, but he took our money purse, too,” Voss remembered. Since it was closing time, Voss was alone in the store, and his biggest concern was,“How are we going to part company?” Since Voss knew there was an exit from the basement, he was relieved when the robber forced him to go there. After Voss got out the back door, he called police, but the robber has never been caught. Mort's was always there during my childhood. It was the place to fill prescriptions, get the latest Life or Liberty magazine, have a soda or a Coke. And we always stopped there on Christmas Eve on our way to church so my mother could buy one last gift (usually a bottle of perfume) for someone.
The thing I remember most is that we who were in high school during the 1940s would often stop at Mort’s after school to have a cherry Coke and a small bag of potato chips (total bill = 10 cents).My friends and I would sit in one of the booths for an hour or two hashing over the day’s school activities. The very handsome Charlie Morton never seemed to care that we occupied a booth for so little for so long. Another crowd at this time was composed of wives and girlfriends of the military who would meet their friends at Mort’s to share letters and hopes for the future. Often those gals would treat themselves to an olive-nut sandwich put together at the soda fountain. My sister met her future husband at Mort’s. What a wonderful organization is Morton’s to have survived and grown and still maintained the “family” feeling. Those early patrons didn’t realize they were developing a pharmacy loyalty which would carry over to their old age. I would wager a great deal that many of those 1940s teenagers are now Prescription D customers of Morton’s Pharmacy. – Barbara Jersild Hill
In 1947, Neenah was still a small town. There was a dry goods store and a “dime store.” A penny bought candy for the kids. Morton’s Drug Store was right next to the National Manufacturer’s Bank and featured a full-service soda counter where I worked for 30 cents an hour. One lovely summer afternoon, two young men came in for “malteds” to celebrate their sailing victory. Teenage small talk and warm smiles came naturally over the best malted milks in town. Little did I know I would meet Bob, one of the two who happened in that summer day, seven years later in Madison. We fell in love in Madison and were married, but Mort’s is where it all started. We have been married 52 years and he still thinks my malteds are the best ever. – Pat Meier Schultz,
Oshkosh
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