A. Chipman Smith & Co. Ltd: The Oldest Business in the City Market

Established in Saint John in 1791, A. Chipman Smith & Co. Ltd. was the oldest business to occupy space in the City Market building. The pharmacy was already more than eighty years old when A. Chipman Smith (1839–1901), a former mayor of Saint John, moved the family business from Prince William Street to the Charlotte Street tower of the City Market in 1877. The business had been established by Dr. Nathan Smith (1737–1818), shortly after the family’s arrival in Saint John as Loyalists. It originally operated on St. James Street in the area of Reed’s Point.[1] During these early years, Dr. Nathan Smith ordered his supplies directly from England.[2] In the 1830s, the business moved to the corner of Prince William Street and Market Square. That building was destroyed in the fire of 1837, rebuilt, and then destroyed a second time during the Great Fire of 1877. Following the Great Fire, A. Chipman Smith relocated the family drugstore to the newly built City Market, where it would remain for almost ninety years.

For much of the nineteenth century, the business passed from one generation of the Smith family to the next. Upon Nathan Smith’s death, the business passed to his son, Dr. William Howe Smith (1777–1822), and later to the third generation, William Odbur Smith (1804–1871). When A. Chipman Smith took over the business from his father in 1871, he became the fourth generation of the family to serve as proprietor. The Smith family was also deeply involved in the civic and political life of Saint John and New Brunswick, with successive generations holding prominent positions in public life.

As A. Chipman Smith and his wife did not have any sons to take over the family business, the firm eventually passed into the hands of other proprietors. The first was Struan Robertson (1855–1929), who had worked for the firm since 1882. After becoming a partner and assuming responsibility for the drugstore during the latter part of Chipman Smith’s lifetime, Robertson continued as proprietor until 1920. He was succeeded by Thomas Totten (1894–1934), who had been associated with the business since 1908, and Charles Nevins (1854–1921).[3] The drugstore changed hands several more times during the mid-twentieth century, while continuing its long association with the City Market. In the 1930s, Austin Smith served as manager.

By the 1930s, A. Chipman Smith Co. Ltd. advertised itself as the oldest established drugstore in Canada and was well known in Saint John as an establishment of quality. In 1938, the firm proudly emphasized its traditional approach to pharmacy, noting that “the original drugstore plan is still carried out.” Unlike many modern drugstores that had expanded into other lines of business, the company claimed to have remained strictly devoted to its original purpose. A newspaper article from the time boasted that there was no physician’s prescription that “'Chip’ Smith’s” could not fill.[4] Between 1888 and 1920, the firm also operated a branch in Bathurst, demonstrating that its business extended beyond Saint John.

Over the course of its lengthy history, A. Chipman Smith Co. Ltd. sold much more than prescriptions and medicines. Like many nineteenth and early twentieth-century drugstores, it offered a wide variety of personal, household, and novelty goods. Advertisements in Saint John newspapers reveal the range of merchandise available from Chipman Smith’s, including toilet paper as early as 1880 and patent medicines such as “K-wren troches,” lozenges advertised as remedies for throat and lung diseases and touted as “the greatest medical discovery since cocaine.”[5] In the final decades of its operation, the store also sold fine china, ceramics, cards, and a wide variety of gifts.

After more than 175 years in business, including nearly ninety years in the City Market, A. Chipman Smith & Co. Ltd. finally closed its doors sometime after December 1966. From its beginnings as a small family pharmacy established shortly after the Loyalist arrival, through multiple devastating city fires and generations of changing proprietors, the business became one of the longest-running commercial establishments in Saint John and an enduring part of the history of the City Market.

[1] “A. Chipman Smith Drug Store Has Long Record of Service.” The Evening Times-Globe. 31 May 1939, Pg. 16.

[2] “A. Chipman Smith and Company Ltd.” The Telegraph Journal. 19 June 1937, Pg. 14.

[3] “City Very Young at Time this Drug Store was Opened.” The Evening Times-Globe. 14 October 1930, Pg. 10. 

[4] A. Chipman Smith Co. in Business Ever Since 1791.” The Evening Times-Globe. 17 November 1938, Pg. 27. 

[5] “K-wren Troches.” The Daily Telegraph. 21 June 1887, Pg. 1.

Photos: (above) Crowds on Charlotte Street in front for A. Chipman Smith & Co. Ltd celebrating the centenary of the Landing of the Loyalists, c. 1883 (PANB P194\585);

(below) Ad for A. Chipman Smith & Co. Ltd from the Evening Times Globe, October 1930.