In a story in the Dec. 22, 1960, Mansfield News Mirror, retired pharmacist, J. B. Chorn, 76, recalled the flu epidemic of 1919 in Mansfield.
Chorn was born in Mansfield and attended the Mansfield Academy before getting his pharmacist certificate at Southwestern School of Medicine in Dallas in November 1905.
He was employed as an assistant cashier at Mansfield’s First National Bank when the two city pharmacists came down with the flu (J.N. Board and N.B Ward). Chorn was asked to fill prescriptions.
At one time, over 200 people were sick, including some local doctors, said Chorn. The treatment at the time was creosote carbonate and Dobers Powders, both scarce. During the epidemic, Chorn said the price for both soared to $60 per pound.
After the epidemic, Chorn bought Board’s drugstore and advertised every week in the News-Mirror for 33 years.
To learn more about Mansfield history, check out the Mansfield Historical Museum, 102 N. Main St., open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free. For more info, call 817-473-4250, email museum@mansfieldtexas.gov or go to mansfieldhistory.org.
Photo courtesy of the Mansfield Historical Society.
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