Cora Dow, Pharmacist

Cora Dow Goode is a fitting subject for today, as it is International Women's Day. Although she was not a suffragist, she was a wonderful example to girls and women (and still is): a self-made entrepreneur who amassed three quarters of a million dollars and a chain of eleven drugstores by the time of her death in 1915.

She was born Margaret or Martha Cornelia Dow on March 11, 1868 in Paterson, New Jersey, daughter of Edwin B. and Catharine (Hook) Dow. Her family moved to Cincinnati when she was a child, where her father was a pharmacist. In the 1880 census Edwin's profession is listed as "Patent Medicine." He sometimes worked as a peddlar selling porous plasters and other medicinal items, but had a store of his own by the mid-1880s.

When Cora was 16 years old, her father suffered a stroke and was unable to work. She had been working as a music teacher and dreamed of studying music seriously. But instead, she took over her father's store and began to study at the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy. She graduated in 1888, only the second woman to do so (the first was a Mrs. H.M. Merrell in 1884).

One of Cora's first business acts was to buy the drugstore that was her main competition, then close it. She then added several attractions to her own store, including a soda fountain and a perfume and cosmetics department. As her business grew, she opened more and more drugstores in Cincinnati and established the Dow Drug Company. She gained more customers by buying supplies in bulk and then giving consumers special low prices (hers were among the first "Cut-Rate" drugstores).

She married confectioner William W. Goode sometime in the 1890s. They were divorced less than a decade later. Cora used her maiden name professionally, and reverted to it entirely by the early 1900s. She was a keen supporter of music in Cincinnati and was a strong advocate for animals; at one time she was the Vice President of the American Humane Society.

Goode died October 17, 1915 in Cincinnati, at the age of only 47. She left a sizable legacy to the Cincinnati Symphony, where there is still a Cora Dow Endowment Fund. Her drug company survived until 1959, and the last Dow drugstore was closed in 1961.

SOURCES

Grace, Kevin and Tom White. Cincinnati Cemeteries (Arcadia, 2004), p. 85.

Henderson, Metta Lou and Dennis B. Worthen. "Cora Dow (1868-1915): Pharmacist, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist," Pharmacy In History, 46 (3): 91-105, 2004. This is an excellent and detailed article, well worth reading; it provides a detailed account of Dow's life with wonderful photographs.

Willard, Frances E. Occupations For Women (Cooper Union, NY, 1897), pp 402-4.

Edwin B. Daws [sic] household, 1880 US Census, Cincinnati Ward 4 Prec. 3, Hamilton, OH; FHL# 1255024, NARA T-9-1024, p. 346B:

Edwin B. DAWS 35y NH Patent Medicine NH NH
Kate H. DAWS 35y NJ Keeps House Netherlands Netherlands
M. Corra DAWS 12y b NJ At School NH NJ

Family Search Labs, Ohio Deaths 1908-1953: Death record of Margaret Cornelia Dow, Druggist.