George Edwin Greene kept a quiet demeanor and a stiff upper as the local temperance ladies talked. As far as they were concerned, a druggist coming into town could only mean one thing; the demon alcohol being sold right over the counter and ruining the lives of townsfolk.
A graduate of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, the 23-year-old Greene set up shop in the big brick Chase building on Bank Street. While the suspicious gossiped that the pharmacy must surely be a veil for illegal activity, the druggist calmly went on with business. He cured minor afflictions with herbal concoctions, informed local doctors of the best treatments for the seriously ill, pulled the occasional tooth and offered advice on health and wellness. Eventually, the prohibitionists learned that Greene didn’t support alcohol consumption any more than they did. He was quickly realized to be a hard-working man, earning a clean living and saving lives. Though he was glad when the suspicions died down, it hadn’t been something he was overly focused on anyway. He had work to attend to.
A son of Benjamin and Lydia (Larkin) Greene, and the husband of Mary Champlin, Greene decided in 1877, eleven years after opening the first Hope Valley pharmacy, to relocate the store. He built a large structure on Main Street known as Greene’s Block and set up shop on the ground floor. He rented out the top floor to the Masons. Clad in his round cap, thin spectacles and neat bowtie, Greene spent his days behind the counter of his shop, measuring doses, studying the latest publications about illnesses and their cures, and doling out advice to physicians and customers alike.
In the winter of 1899, Greene was approached by 71-year-old Samuel Schuyler Fisher, who rented a store space from Greene, where he conducted his dry goods business. A lifelong merchant, Fisher was a widower who had lost his wife Sarah (Hall) in 1878 when she committed suicide by strangling herself.
On that brisk fall day, just months before the turn of the century, Fisher went to Greene asking if they might cut a deal. Quite some time earlier, Greene had gotten a loan from local capitalist Robert B. Richmond and had not yet paid it back. Richmond, therefore, offered to sell the note to Fisher at a reduced price. The two men thought this would be a great idea. Richmond would get back at least some of his money, and Fisher could then deduct the whole amount from the rent he owed Greene. Or so they thought.
The local newspaper would soon offer reports on a dispute between Greene and Fisher, stating that when Richmond had been unable to collect the money Greene owed him, he went to Fisher’s store and asked what he would be willing to pay for the note. Fisher made an offer and Richmond accepted it, passing the note over to Greene’s tenant. The article went on to state that when Fisher’s rent came due, he entered the note to offset the amount owed. The newspaper announced that Greene then forced Fisher to vacate the premises.
Greene was quick to publicly respond with a letter to the paper. “The article was misleading as some of the most important facts are not even mentioned. Therefore it does me an injustice”, he wrote. “Several months ago, Mr. Fisher told me he held a note against me and asked if he could take it as Mr. Richmond would trade it out and profit. I stated that while I would be glad to do so, it would be impossible as I had my mortgage interest to meet. Two or three day later, Mr. Richmond came to me and asked what objections I had to Mr. Fisher’s proposition. I gave him the same reasons. I would meet the note later from another source. I heard no more until recently and supposed the matter rested as I left it. Recently I learned the deal had been made and, in early January, it was forced upon me, the owner refusing to listen to me for my reasons why I could not accept it at this time”.
In trying to pay off his mortgage, Greene had fallen behind and his store and the contents were going up for public auction. Greene announced that he intended to bid on his own property when it went up on the block and apparently he did so because he continued running the store until he suffered a shock in 1924, the same year his son Charles died. Charles had gone into business with his father, opening an ice cream parlor at one end of the pharmacy, scooping out such unique flavors as sweet corn, gingerbread and sea moss. Charles’s son Chauncey took over the business in later years.
Greene died in 1929, having conducted his life and his business in the same certain manner; he never let anything shake him up or deter him from the road he was traveling down. He would be remembered through history as one of Hope Valley’s most valued and trusted residents.
Fisher closed up shop after his eviction and moved to Providence to live with his son. He died there in February of 1911.
