The Watkins Buildings And Downtown Memphis: Just What We've Been Looking For!

For the past six years, we've tried every way we could think of, (libraries, Historical Society, the internet), to find information about The Watkins Medical Company, while they were located in Memphis, 1905-1965 +-. We never did come up with all we were hoping to, but I did have a thought out of the blue, look on ebay. And so we have. Neither one of us can believe we never thought of this before.

This is the front cover of a 1913 Watkins Almanac, Home Doctor And Cookbook. Isn't it beautiful?

This is the back cover, it looks like some little person got hold of it. And, it has the Watkins Man's name on the bottom.

This beautiful building is the Watkins Administration Building in Winona, MN.

Some of the colorful advertisements.

Their prices seem extremely reasonable.

More pretty ads.

This is what we've been WAITING and LOOKING for, and it was on ebay all along. It's OUR Watkins buildings, well it's the first one, built in 1910. "WATKINS MEMPHIS BRANCH AT NIGHT". Can you believe it? We didn't have a clue that they worked at night. And look at the interior pictures. I cropped each one separately, and put recent pictures under each. (We realize no one else is going to enjoy this like we do).

Lit up for the night shift.

Look at the old pictures, then imagine the people and things in the recent pictures.

That green and beige thing, on the far side of the room, is the restroom.

Lovely, huh?

Here's a picture of the exterior. Look real close, you can see a horse and buggy, an automobile and a trolley car at the far right.

Black and white picture as it looks now.

Color picture as it looks now.

This is an email from John Goplen, the Archivist with Watkins. He's up there with that beautiful Administration Building in Winona. We were really hoping he was going to be the answer to all our questions. But that wasn't to be. He has been extremely helpful, and we really appreciate that.