A New Century Dawns

ACPHS moved into its own building
(above) for first time in 1909

As ACPHS entered the new millennium, change was in the air.

The population of Albany in 1900 was a whopping 94,000 and growing larger each year, as was the number of enrollees at the College. By 1901, after 20 years of existence, ACPHS's graduating class had risen from three to 29.

The College continued to grow and change. Willis G. Tucker, M.D., Ph.D., now had been Dean for nearly 20 years, in addition to positions as Dean and Professor at Albany Medical College and his work as the Director of the Bureau of Chemistry for the State Board of Health.

With a ready-made cadre of pharmacy professors available from the ranks of the alumni, the College kept up the practice of bringing graduates on board to fill teaching positions. Theodore Bradley '95 was named Secretary of the school and, in 1902, Edwin Cunningham Hutman '91, became Director of the Pharmacy Lab. In the Pharmacy Lab, located on Maiden Lane and later on Howard Street , seniors learned compounding of prescriptions and practical dispensing.

Members of the Class of 1902

There were now eight professors, up from the original three, and, although the Pharmacy program still was just two years in duration, students were required to attend six or more lectures each week for 25 weeks a year. Scholarly texts included Gray's Lesson's for Botany, the National Dispensatory for Materia Medica and Caspari's for Pharmacy.

Courses in Physics, taught by William L. Larkin '01, and Pharmaceutical Calculations were added to the curriculum. By the end of the decade, the faculty had increased to 11 and the 28-week academic year included courses in Latin, to assist in reading and writing prescriptions; Toxicology; Hygiene and First Aid to the Injured; Commercial Pharmacy; Inorganic Chemistry; Physiology and Pharmaceutical Jurisprudence.

Chemical Laboratory, circa 1909

Students were held more accountable than in the past; there was a preliminary entrance exam and optional weekly recitations were added to prepare for the new state licensing regulations that were scheduled to go into effect for pharmacists. The extra classes and requirements were reflected in the tuition, which rose to $70 a year with a $3 matriculation fee. As ACPHS entered its third decade, alumni numbered nearly 400 and continued to meet annually on Commencement evening. With the subject of women's rights much in the forefront across society, the ACPHS Alumni Association took a radical step in 1900 when it decided to "invite ladies" to its banquet. "We have several women graduates among us, paying dues, whom we have no right to debar from the benefits of membership" read the minutes of the annual meeting.

Theo. Bradley '95

C. Hutman '91

The banquet that year was held at the swanky Kenmore Hotel in Albany and for $2.50 a plate alumni feasted on an elegant repast that concluded with Punch au Kirsch, cigarettes and the exotic sounding Spongato, an Italian-style ice cream.

By 1901, the Alumni Association had deemed that inviting women was an "experiment so successful" that the men were advised to "come and bring your better half" every year. From that point on, both alumnae and spouses of alumni were invited to the banquet annually.

A.M. Littlefield '98

The pharmacy field was going through its own changes. In 1904, Chapter 554 of the New York State Law passed, decreeing that "all candidates for license appearing before the Board of Examiners must be graduates of a college or School of Pharmacy regulated by the Board of Regents in the State of NY , which requires 12 Regents counts for entrance." The law, which took effect in January 1905, "elevated very materially the standing of pharmacy in the state."

To attend ACPHS, students needed a Pharmacy Student Certificate issued by the New York State Education Department, though they no longer were required to have drug store experience upon entrance to the College. However, students still needed to get in a certain number of hours of hands-on experience before graduation, and diplomas were withheld until the College requirements were met.

There were changes in the workplace as well. Under the new law, pharmacists could not work more than 136 hours in two consecutive weeks or more than 10 hours a day (12 on Saturday). And, in 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act established the Food and Drug Administration, which had regulatory oversight of labels and packaging information for over-the-counter drugs, requiring pharmacists to accurately label patent medicines containing opium, morphine and other drugs.

Pharmacognosy Room, circa 1909

In 1905, the first ACPHS Alumni Directory was published and pointed up the wide diversity in jobs held by graduates during the first 20 years of the College's existence. Some alumni returned to the College to teach, including Garret V. Dillenback '84, Ph.G., who came on board when Gustavus Michaelis, Ph.G., stepped down as an active Professor of Pharmacy in 1903.

A 1902 Alumni
Association bookmark

Others, such as Birdsie L. Maltbie '85, President of the Maltbie Chemical Corporation of East Orange , N.J. , became wealthy owners of their own pharmaceutical companies.

Warren L. Bradt '89 was Secretary of the New York State Board of Pharmacy, Robert Lamb '89 was Superintendent of the State Hospital at Dannemora and Harry Mason '94 was editor of the Bulletin of Pharmacy.

Two years after leaving ACPHS, Burt Orrin Kinney founded his first pharmacy in 1903. The Gouverneur-based chain that bears his name now includes 80 employee-owned stores in New York and Vermont .

Still other graduates became "commercial travelers" or traveling salesmen, proprietors and physicians.

In 1907, ACPHS experienced a temporary lag in enrollment due to the more stringent entry requirements under the new law, but no one seemed unduly worried. A history of Union University written that year stated that the College's "chief need is a building of its own."

By 1909, that wish had come true. ACPHS moved into the former Humane Society Building on Eagle Street , right across the street from its former home at Albany Medical College . A four-story building proudly labeled with the College's name in large gold letters, the new facility provided lecture room for 100 and labs for Pharmacy, Microscopy and Pharmacognosy, although the Chemistry Lab still was located at AMC.