City Drug, 1967
City Drug, on the corner of Mountain and College since 1967, is the best kind of anachronism. Not a horse-drawn carriage, striped sticks of candy by the refurbished antique cash register kind of anachronism.
The other kind.
The kind that never changed out the pastel pink and green signs, even after the Jean Nate and Noxema moved on:
The kind that displays that which Wal-Mart Pharmacy wouldn’t dare:
The kind that keeps its most extraordinary item of all behind the counter where you can’t see it.
City Drug is the oldest business in Fort Collins (since 1873), occupying several downtown locales over the years. My guess is that this safe has been hauled around with the business since some time before 1891, the year safe maker Mosler and Bahmann left Cincinnatti (if you clicked the photo a time or two, you’d see Cincinnati painted on the safe).
The current owners are moving the business north of Old Town soon, and they say they don’t want to take the safe with them.
What do they plan to do with it?
“Tell your readers to make us an offer,” they said.
Okay. But I hope it’s our readers at the museum who get there first.
Update 10/3/2009
The safe was sold just before City Drug moved. The new owner, a manager over at Ace Hardware, took delivery via forklift, restored the safe, and has begun the meditative task of trying to guess the combination…it seems nobody remembers it.
By the way, I just noticed another Mosler safe in the window at Silver Grill ….
Credits
Reader David Newman suggested Lost Fort Collins look at all the left behind bank vaults in town. He told me about three of them (upcoming post). In my research for that post, I found this safe at City Drug. Thanks David!
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