Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice
Historic Businesses of the Tri-Counties
Local Business History Section
Chemung County NY
Home Guide Business Elmira Page
Ed Marks, Pharmacist, Elmira NY
Joyce's Search Tip - January 2008
Do You Know that you can search just the Business pages of the site  by using the Business button in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current What's New Page? You will also find extensive business information in the Directory section.
Ed Marks at a wedding about 1945
 
Joyce's Search Tip - January 2008
Do You Know that you can search just the Business pages of the site  by using the Business button in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current What's New Page? You will also find extensive business information in the Directory section.
Morse Code
By Jim Morse
Elmira Star-Gazette Clipping - undated

About ?Buzz Saw? Marks
This is going to be about a pharmacy on the corner of Railroad Ave. and Church St.  I was about to refer to it as an Elmira institution, but then, no one likes to enter an institution and people do like to enter Ed Marks? place.

Ed has been doing business at the same old stand for 37 years.  The times and Ed have changed, but some of the customers are the same.

The other day an Elmira minister asked ?Buzz Saw,? as Ed is known by more than a few of his flock, to fill a prescription for a throat spray he uses before every Sunday service.

Ed noticed in his records that he had been providing the minister with the same tonic for 28 years.  ?I told the reverend that I?ve helped him preach a great many sermons.?

About the nickname ? Buzz Saw.
It came about when the pharmacy became the headquarters for members of the younger set.

?I knew I?d have to let the boys know I was running things,? Ed recalls, ?and I told them what they could do and what they couldn?t do.  For instance, I won?t let them hang around here if they?re skipping school.

?To try to get a little respect from them, I said that when I was in the ring I was known as Gorilla Marks, the Human Buzz Saw.  I was joking, of course, but they?ve been calling me Buzz Saw ever since.?

Ed doesn?t mind the tag.  His wife, however, wasn?t overjoyed when she walked out of church one Sunday and overheard someone referring to her as Mrs. Buzz Saw.

Ed?s place, the Federation Pharmacy, is as much a social club as it is a spot to fill prescriptions.

?I couldn?t live without the associations I have here,? Ed says.  ?We have all types, from stockbrokers to kids, and most of them come in regularly.  And we get letters every week from kids in college and in the service.  A fellow appreciates things like that.?

The Federations sells an average of 600 cups of coffee a day, with cream, sugar and conversation.

Sometimes it is difficult for Ed to understand why the world is in such bad shape.

?All problems are settled over our lunch counter several times a week,? he says.

As a guy who can take juke boxes or leave them alone ? and prefers to do the latter ? I can?t help but admire Ed?s clientele.

His juke box is rarely used.  ?Once or twice a day someone drops a nickel in the thing,? he says, ?but none of our regular club members ever do.?

Perhaps that?s why business is so good at the corner of Railroad Ave. and Church St.


The photograph at the bottom of your page appears to be East Church and Railroad Ave. in Elmira.  My grandfather ran the Federation Cut Rate
Pharmacy on the left next to the railroad viaduct, the building with the awning. His name was Edward Charles Joseph Marks also know as "Buzz" and he operated that business until the early 1960s when it was destroyed by fire. The building was later torn down for the NYS Telephone building construction.  I am not sure when he purchased the business, but it was operating during the prohibition period and also was there prior to the railroad being elevated across the downtown area.  Family history dictates there was some medicinal gin sold from there.  His brother Raymond Marks was arrested selling a bottle of gin from the business generating a $500. fine, which was a lot of money at that time.  In addition to the drug store, he operated a restaurant and soda fountain which did a brisk lunch business. He died in 1980 in Geneva, New York.

I've attached an old Elmira Star Gazette article about the pharmacy, unfortunately I don't know the date of the article. The photograph attached is Mr. Marks, circa 1945 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

Patrick A. Patterson
Boerne, Texas
ppatterson1@satx.rr.com
 

Chemung County NY
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Published On Tri-Counties Site On 06 NOV 2007
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