(Le Soeil. Ridendau)
Admit that they look great, the deliverers of the Brunet pharmacy, on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Standard is standard. Good weather bad weather, it seems that the complete and the tie is rigorous!
At the time, the Brunet pharmacy on rue Saint-Joseph promised a quick service in all parts of the city. Suffice to say that for delivery people, the task should not be easy. In the mid -1930s, despite the rapid increase in the number of vehicles, there is not even any traffic light in the streets of Quebec!
Verification made, the first traffic lights will be installed in 1937, on the Dorchester and the Crown streets! In the meantime, the police who make traffic are increasingly overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by events.
Fortunately for our deliverers, Quebec City is less extensive than today. Half of the 135,000 inhabitants are concentrated in the Basse-Ville. To the west, homes become rare after the Belvedere district. To the north, they end in Limoilou.
For the record, note that the founder of the pharmacy, Wilfrid-Étienne Brunet, bought the field on rue Saint-Joseph in 1872 for the tidy sum of $ 3,000 (around $ 80,000 in money today).
The following year, he built a second Empire style building on the scene. The ultimate for the time.
A century later, in 1987, the Brunet banner was bought by McMahon Pharmaceutical distributor, a metro subsidiary. But the branch of rue Saint-Joseph would constitute the oldest pharmacy in Quebec still active, in the same building.
When the pharmacy opened its doors in 1873, Queen Victoria reigned over the British Empire. Russia is headed by Tsar Alexandre II. And a nevada tailor has just obtained a patent for a new reinforced work pants with metal rivets: Blue-Jean.
Thanks to Mr. Henri Rhéaume for this photo from his father’s archives, who was an employee of Brunet for more than 40 years.
Sources: Renald Lessard, Wilfrid-Étienne Brunet, founder of Brunet pharmacies, Cap-aux-Diamants, vol. 4. No. 4Winter 1989 and The sun24 mars, 1934, p. 4.
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