Vosmek Drug Store

Platted in 1880 by the founders of the town, the site of the old Vosmek Drug Store has a storied history that stretches back to Antigo’s beginnings. The northern part of the building, constructed in 1888, and was initially home to a hardware store, and over time would host tenants ranging from barber shops, to pharmacies, to a Masonic fellowship. Most notably, the property was the site of Vosmek’s Drug Store, a pillar of downtown Antigo for much of the latter half of the 1900s.

The property the structure is built on was platted in 1880 by the town’s founders, Francis and Mary Deleglise, and sold by Mary Deleglise for $15 (approx. $435 in 2022 dollars) to Joseph Somann that same year. In 1888, Somann sold the property to early settler J.C. Lewis and his wife, who built the northern half of the structure that year and opened a hardware store there in 1889.

In 1899, the property was sold to J.L. Meade and Co., who opened a pharmacy called City Drug Store. The drug store became a fixture of the community and remained open throughout the decades despite changing owners and pharmacists many times. In 1940, the drug store was acquired by George A. Vosmek, who changed the business’s name to Vosmek Drug Store and operated it for almost 40 years.

Throughout the 20th century, the northern part of the property, built in 1902, was also the home of numerous other tenants, including Harry Kelly Insurance Agency, the Antigo Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Virgil Landretti’s practice, no less than three barber shops, and a second-floor apartment.

Perhaps most notably and unusually, from 1883 to 1946, various parts of the building were occupied by Antigo Lodge No. 310 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The Odd Fellows, a fraternal order in the tradition of the Freemasons, utilized the second and third floors of the building as a meeting place and lounge for a time. The Odd Fellows’ legacy can still be seen on the structure’s facade, which features significant iconography related to the order, including eyes, shining suns, and interlocking chains.

In 1998, the drug store relocated to the former site of Hunter’s Supermarket on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Field Street, rebranding as Lakeside Pharmacy and Grocery, which remains a cornerstone of the community to this day.

The former Vosmek Drug Store building has since gone in and out of use, and as of 2022 is empty.

Antigo Daily Journal. “Vosmek Team Works on New Store,” September 16, 1998. Vol. 93, No. 306.

Independent Order of Odd Fellows. “History of American Odd Fellowship,” January 6, 2018. https://odd-fellows.org/history/wildeys-odd-fellowship/.

Poss, Robert J. “Masonic Bodies in Langlade County,” June 15, 1978. Langlade County Historical Society Archives.

“Vosmek Drug Store.” In Business and Industry. Antigo-Langlade County Centennial Historical Monographs, Vol. III of VIII. Antigo, WI, 1979.