In 1893, Dr. Elisha C. Etchison purchased the northwest corner property at Diamond and Summit Avenues from John B. Diamond and opened a drug store. Although the business at this site has changed owners several times over the years, there has always been a drugstore at this location. The photo on the left was taken circa 1920.
| Name | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Nancy Zanner Correll | 7/29/09 | Many days after school at Gaithersburg Junior High and Gaithersburg High, I would stop in at Diamond Drugs and page through entertainment magazines and buy sundries. The pharmacist, Clifford, came to know me as a regular customer. There was a luncheonette on the left side of the store, although I never ate there. I usually left by the back door and cut through the parking lot behind Suburban Trust Bank (which has changed names so many times over the years that I have lost track of what it is now) to get over to Brookes Ave. on my way home. |
| Mitch Gardner | 5/9/10 | There was a young Asian man that would deliver perscriptions to our house in what was called Demorytown. I believe he was there for years and eventually became the Pharmacist. |
| Joe Brodt | 5/17/10 | My Dad was the pharmacist there from 1959 to 1961? It's amazing how we got to know EVERYONE in the town in a short time because of Dad's contact with all of the residents. Then he got his job with Peoples Drug and later became the Manager of the new Peoples Drug store at the Gaithersburg Square shopping center when it opened. |
| Bob Shreffler | 5/19/10 | Ate many times at Diamond Drugs. When I won the Lions Club Cadillac the druggist was chairman of the Lions raffle and 'bugged' me to take either the money ($5000) or the Cadillac but I already had a new Cadillac so took the money and loaned it to 'friends' and lost the entire amount. I also had built a lovely home for Vince Simmel in Granby Woods, my development, when Vince owned the lunch business at Diamond Drugs. |
| Laura Farkas Miller | 9/25/10 | I ate dinner here many Friday nights with my best friend Tammy McCraw and her dad Tom and mom Betty. Such great memories. |
| Robin Gardner | 11/5/10 | My mom would bring my brothers and I here for many a "cherry coke" when we were kids. I remember the layout of Diamond Drugs as it was back then as if it were yesterday. Wasn't it the "Rau" family who ran it? Ugh oh, questioning my memory now. |
| Deaner Lawless Jr. | 2/23/11 | Oh yeah cherry cokes and cheese crackers. Cream for coffee came in small jars with a paper top. Mom discovered I had taken one home and made me return it. Cried all the way back. Had to apologized and sweep the floor. |
| Fred Powell Jr | 4/7/11 | After hitchhiking round the country years I quit playing pro in the mid 80's & came home from gigging in Jax FL & I'd met the woman I'd eventually married at a coffee house I played w Danny Gatton - originally met him at Timothy's Pub) in Takoma Park, and w/ her & I became regulars for breakfast there - good coffee, chipped beef on toast eggs & juice all under $9 with tip as I recall. Wow! Laura Farkus are Linda & Mickey - your older sibs? |
| Suzanne Cissel Brodt | 10/8/11 | I was told, that as a toddler, I lived with my parents, Mary Broschart Cissel and Jim Cissel, over Diamond Drugs. Mom said I loved watching the Labor Day Parade from the window. It must have been sometime between 1947 and 1949. Loved growing up in G'burg. I have many wonderful memories. Would not know the place at all now! Such a shame. |
| Fritzi Edwards Redgrave | 6/17/12 | I well remember Diamond Drugs. We could mix wierd combinations (chocolate and cherry coke) from the fountain. At one time there was a sign on the mirror behind the cash register saying that ice cream cones had gone up to 10 cents and then "(kids with only a nickle will still one) |
| Diane Reed | 2/14/13 | My mouth waters when I think of Diamond Drugs. We would go there from IBM for lunch and they made the BEST EVER potato salad. |
| Paula Nichols | 4/15/13 | Yes the Rau Family did own the fountain for several years. My stepmom (Faye Rau Nichols)owned it fir a few years after her stepmom Christine Rau had owned it for many years. I remember working there as a young teen ager as well. Wow those were the good ole days!! Everyone that passed thru Diamond Dugs were always so friendly as I remembered it! |
| Gretchen Wall | 12/4/13 | I remember going there in the early 70s and having lunch. |
| Jon Bidwell | 3/24/14 | My Dad would take my sister and I to Perry's Restaurant (across the street from Chris' Restaurant) for a Perry Burger (McDonalds copied it and named it the Big Mac), or to Diamond Drugs for a BLT, every other week in the 60's. |
| Mark | 4/18/14 | Cliff was our pharmacist |
| Janet Fordyce (Nelson) | 5/14/14 | Almost everyday after school at the Jr high I would have fries and a real cherry coke. |
| Esther (Beitzel) Kidwell | 10/20/14 | In the 1960's I worked on Diamond Ave.at the (then)headquarters of the Mont. Co. Libraries & we would sometimes go up the street to eat lunch at Diamond Drug Store. Fond memories. |
| Sheri (Word) Baker | 10/24/14 | I worked for Rodney Thompson's State Farm office across the street, and ate lunch at Diamond Drug with my Aunt (Sharyn Dean Leiter) many times. Good memories! |
| Betsy Carl Thompson | 5/25/15 | In the late 60's a group of us from St Martin's would hear the "Uptown and Hutton Street" call and head to Diamond Drugs after school. We would enjoy grilled cheese sandwiches and cherry cokes. I remember Mr. Brodt, the pharmacist. Great memories of old Gaithersburg! |