Miscellaneous, Who's Who in Bainbridge - Harry Noyes

Who's Who in Bainbridge

Harry Noyes

Bainbridge News & Republican, Apr. 14, 1938

 

Whether or not it is to cure a stomach ache, satisfy a sweet tooth, or only to swap fishing tales, many village residents find opportunity to drop in on Harry F. Noyes.  Occupying the corner for 17 years, it is no small wonder, therefore, that returning sons and daughters stop at his place to inquire what so and so's doing now, and if such and who is still around.

 

Mr.  Noyes claims New Berlin as his birthplace.  Making pharmacy his "after school" business, even before his graduation from New Berlin High School in 1908, he continued his pharmaceutical training at the university of Buffalo, where he completed his course in 1913.  One apprentice year was spent in Leroy, and four in Rochester. 

 

Returning to Chenango County in 1918, Mr. Noyes was a part of the B.E. Reynolds drug store personnel in Norwich until 1921, when the Noyes Pharmacy became established on the corner of East and North Main streets in Bainbridge, succeeding the drug dispensary of Leland Yale. 

 

Commenting upon the changes which have taken place since he first worked in the Dykes Drug Store in his native village, Mr. Noyes says, "At present, there is only an occasional ethical pharmacy in the country.  The old time stock bottles, which lined the shelves and from which the proprietor compounded his mixtures, have given way to the merchandise which erroneously has come to characterize the modern 'drug' store.  Prescriptions are still filled, but their preparation has been shunted to the back room."

 

Fishing, hunting, gardening and stamp collecting are the only hobbies admitted by Pharmacist Noyes.  Describing his record catch as "a fish tale that is a fish tale," he confided that, in 1920, during his first experience with lake trout fishing, he brought in a lake trout 29 inches long and tipping the scales at eight and a half pounds.  The scene of this feat was Lime Kiln Lake in the Adirondacks.

 

Refusing to set a valuation on his stamps, Mr. Noyes estimates that he had 5,000 in his collection.  Although devoting his talents to United States issues, he is one of the town's most ardent philatelists.  He eagerly tracks down each "cover" as it is announced.   The most prized item in his collection is a pair of imperforates of the issue of 1851, which were found "somewhere in New Berlin."  Perhaps the item with the most potential value is a "cover" which was sent on the ill-fated flight of Amelia Earhart.