Before becoming a museum, the Stabler Leadbeater Apothecary Museum served as a working apothecary business, otherwise known as a pharmacy. Originally founded in 1792 as a family run apothecary, the Stabler Leadbetter Apothecary Museum moved to a larger building in 1829. This not only offered space for the owner and pharmacist, Edward Stabler, to create most of the medications he sold onsite, but also provided the space for a variety of new products, such as farm equipment, cigars, mineral water, art supplies, and more.
Hard Times at the Stabler Leadbetter Apothecary Museum
Unfortunately, the Great Depression resulted in the store being sold at auction in 1933. In 1939, the building, which was now owned by the Landmarks Society of Alexandria, reopened as the Stabler Leadbetter Apothecary Museum. In an interesting twist, thousands of the artifacts on display, were still sitting in the same place they had been when the store closed.
Today, guided tours of the Stabler Leadbetter Apothecary Museum are available and allow visitors to take a unique look at the history of medicine. While the downstairs houses everything from jars with handwritten labels to old medical instruments, the upstairs is home to the compounding room. This room is packed with the equipment used by Mr. Stabler to create medications, as well as the herbs, spices, and chemicals he used to make them.
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