McGill Historical Drug Store

Step into a time machine that will take you back to the period during Watergate, disco dancing as well as times before, and when you do you’ll find yourself standing in the McGill Drug Store and Company. McGill Drug Co., which stands on the east side of U.S.93 in downtown McGill, 12 miles north of Ely, is an old small-town drugstore frozen in time.

Brand names whose luster faded decades ago remain on the stores’ shelves. Tubes of Ipana toothpaste sit across the aisle from jars of Dippity-do, an industrial-strength styling gel used to hold woman’s hair in place several inches above her head. Customers purchased not only manufactured drugs but also home remedies and prescriptions, many of which were mixed in the store.
In 1906 construction began on a mill and smelter at the present site of the town of McGill. In 1908 the Nevada Consolidation Copper Company decided to build a company town to house its employees. Approximately the same time the Steptoe Drug Company built the drug store. The corrugated steel-on-frame construction was typical of commercial buildings in western towns around the turn of the century. It was relatively fire-proof and that was an asset.

Business Fax: 775-235-7802

ZIP Code: 89318