FLORENCE

DRUG STORE BOTTLES

TRADE TOKENS

BIOGRAPHIES

KATES, GEORGE W.

Moving from Newton, KS, George W. Kates buys the Palace Drug Store in Florence, KS, in 1888.  He offers the usual wide array of merchandise, including patent medicines, prescriptions, wallpaper, paint, jewelry, clocks, watches and books.  His civic activity included serving on the city council for several years.  For several years in the 1890's, he took on a partner, as the store was advertised as the Kates & Blackburn Store.  It was back to just "Kates" by 1900 when the rural life was calling him and he removed to a ranch in Tennessee.  The rustic life must not have lived up to expectations, for the very next year a short article in the Florence newspaper announced he was returning to Kansas and a drugstore in Newton.