Harry “Doc” Cook was in the drugstore business in Norfolk for almost 50 years. His store was located in the northwest corner of the Royal Arcanum building, where the Wood Creek Bar & Grill is now housed. The genial Doc Cook dispensed medicinal cures of all sorts, along with a variety of goods including lamps, housewares, toys, paints and sports equipment, while presiding over the popular soda fountain pictured here in 1945. Cook came to Norfolk as a young man, first working for George T. Johnson, owner and proprietor of the George T. Johnson Drug Company. Doc Cook purchased the business in 1939 and named it the Harry H. Cook Pharmacy. In 1951, Cook sold the pharmacy to Joe Pallone who operated the Norfolk Pharmacy for 35 years, moving to new quarters (now site of The Hub) in 1960.

Text by —Ann Havemeyer
Photo Courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society