As an old fashioned ice cream scoop passes through her fingers, Judy Nester’s memory drifts back to pleasant times spent at Fasnacht Pharmacy, 602 West Broad St., Bethlehem.

She was young then, but standing before the glass-front candy counter, gazing at the myriad of colorful and delicious treats within, is a vision which stands out in her mind.

“I remember picking out candy which I didn’t have to pay for,” laughs Judy, a retired school teacher and lifelong resident of Bethlehem.

And why should she have to pay, when Allen H. Fasnacht, the pharmacist and owner of the drug store, was her very own grandfather?

Al Fasnacht was the first in his family to graduate from college, earning his Ph.G. from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1919. In the early 1920s, he and his wife Edna moved from Reading to Bethlehem where he was hired as a clerk at Edward T. Gallagher’s Pharmacy at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West Broad Street.

Soon after working at Gallagher’s, Fasnacht became manager and changed the business’ name to his own.

In what would have been unimaginable to her grandparents, today Judy has the ability to browse through the interior of her grandfather’s pharmacy on her phone, thanks to a series of photographs sent to her by her cousin.

Though not a large store, every space imaginable was packed with cabinets, counters, and glass cases full of merchandise. A close look at the old photos shows products such as Purex quality pipes, Parker pens, and Westclox clocks all on display. Signs advertised Kemp’s salted nuts, Schrafft’s hard candies, and everyone’s favorite, Whitman’s chocolates.

Outside, the large windows were decorated by Judy’s grandmother, Edna, and looked especially nice during the Christmas season. Back then, trolley cars ran up and down West Broad Street, passing by Fasnacht’s, as well as other nearby drug stores like Treon’s and Yohe’s.

In addition to the merchandise displays, all available wall space was lined with wooden shelves containing countless jars, bottles and vials, each labeled with the name of a specific medicine or ingredient.

But truly the focal point was the large marble soda fountain.

Judy’s mother, Anne, as well as her aunt Dorothy, worked the fountain as teenagers, pulling and jerking the various shiny metal dispensers to concoct all sorts of delicious treats. For many customers, fruit flavored phosphate sodas were a popular choice, and one could never go wrong with a sundae or float made with Breyer’s ice cream. Adding just the right combination of flavored syrup, carbonated water, and ice cream was an art.

“My grandfather would specifically tell her how many scoops to put on, and how to make the ice cream soda,” Nester explains.

Judy’s old fashioned scoop, with its well-warn wooden handle, is a treasured heirloom for a special reason.

“When my mother passed it on to me, she said, ‘This was the one that I used.’”

Oftentimes drug stores received more of their income from the soda fountain than through the sale of actual medication. But one thing’s for sure; the pharmacy played a vital part in the health of the community.

As the pharmacist, Al Fasnacht compounded medications by hand, no doubt using mortar and pestle, test tubes, miniature scales, and a variety of chemicals and bottles which were all necessary since mass produced prescriptions didn’t come about until the early 1950s.

`“He was almost like a country doctor, too, back in those times,” Judy observes. “He would always know. ‘Oh, you have something wrong with your eye? Well, do this or that.’ He knew healing factors of different compounds and substances, and what they could do for your body.”

In some photographs, Fasnacht is seen wearing a white coat and in others a shirt and tie. No matter his attire, his professional manner made customers feel confident that he’d fill the prescriptions correctly.

Al Fasnacht had a genuine care for his customers, evidenced by stories Judy’s heard over the years highlighting the generosity he displayed throughout the Great Depression.

“He really helped people who were hurting financially,” Nester explains, “so that they could still have their proper care and not have to go without medicine just because they didn’t have any money.”

After a significant heart attack, Fasnacht sold the pharmacy to Abraham Staller who kept the business running for another 25 years, 1952-1977.

For Judy and her family, a number of heirlooms passed out after her grandfather retired help keep the memories alive.

“I have two glass jars that held hard candy, and a clock that I’m almost positive comes from the store.” In addition to these and her scoop, Judy has a number of jars that once contained various mixtures. One little jar reads “unguentum,” which was an ointment used to treat dry and damaged skin.

Today, a whole generation of children, now grown, will remember walking down to Staller’s Pharmacy to pick out candies and soda after school let out at Sts. Simon and Jude’s. Even after Staller bought it and the name was changed, Judy would still visit the pharmacy to buy treats.

She wasn’t the only one who continued to make their way to the pharmacy; Nester suspects her grandfather did, as well. As a girl, Judy would often see him out walking.

“He was always heading in that direction,” remembers Nester. “I think he would go down there afterwards and just sort of reminisce and check things out.

“I think the pharmacy was very dear to his heart”

Please share your memories of Fasnacht Pharmacy by writing me in careof the Bethlehem Pres or by emailing me at bethlehemhistory@gmail.com.