Potential historic landmark allows past to become present

By Kennedy Williams

One historic East Austin building connects generations and families. Once Hillside Drug Store, a black-owned pharmacy that supported an underserved community, the space now functions as Hillside Farmacy, a restaurant that pulls from this history.

On Oct. 22, the Austin Historic Landmark Commission voted unanimously to recognize Hillside Drug Store at 1209 E. 11 St. as a historic landmark. This vote amplifies the importance of the store and helps to recognize the work of black entrepreneurs, according to members of the commission.

Steve Sadowsky, a historic preservation officer, presented the application to the commission.

“It brings me great pleasure to bring this case before you,” Sadowsky said. “Staff believes that this building qualifies for landmark designation under architecture, historical associations, and communal value as it tells the story of the African-American business community.”

Communal ties are central to the building’s story.

Greg Matthews co-owns the Hillside Farmacy restaurant with his wife and business partner Jade Place-Matthews. The Matthews worked closely with descendants of Ulysses “Doc” Young, pharmacist and proprietor of Hillside Drug Store, to create an environment that merges past and present.

When planning their restaurant, the Matthews consulted Yvetta Turner, daughter of the owner of Hillside Drug Store, and her family on several design choices like the shade of the green exterior and the trinkets in the dining room. Some of Young’s original prescription pads adorn the cabinets in the restaurant.

“When we met the Turners, we fell in love with Ms. Turner and her husband,” Matthews said. “Seeing how important the building was and seeing the glint in Ms. Turner’s eye, we knew exactly what we had to do.”

This connection allowed the Matthews family to be included in important moments in the Turner family’s story, Matthews said.

The day after the Matthews received permission to open Hillside Farmacy’s doors to the public in 2012, they learned of Turner’s husband’s death.

“I immediately called Ms. Turner and was like ‘I am so sorry. If there’s anything you need, we are happy to help,’”Matthews said. “She said they were going to need some food for the wake, and we said ‘Of course, we’ll get you some food. Just let us know when.”

Hillside Farmacy held a soft opening the next day, and the entire Turner family stopped by for lunch. The Matthews ushered the family inside.

“Ms. Turner sat there with her whole family just holding [her son’s] hand,” Matthews said. “It was the most touching moment you could ask for with her silent pride in what we did. It was totally magical.”

Honoring those unseen moments is what motivated Alton Turner to bring the case to the attention of Austin Historic Landmark Commission during the summer. Turner inherited the building from his mother after she died in 2015.

“A lot of the youth in Austin don’t really know the history of East Austin or know any of the struggles that people went through to have access to medicine,” Turner said. “People of color could not go the regular hospitals, so my grandfather really brought a lot to Austin.”

In 1939, the Young family opened a pharmacy downtown on San Jacinto Street. Young was one out of a handful of black pharmacists at the time.

More African-Americans moved their homes and businesses to abide by the 1928 City Plan, which segregated the city with the creation of a “Negro District” in East Austin. In 1949, The Youngs moved their business from downtown to the heart of the African American business district on East 11th Street.

“It shows you the tight connections between these African-American druggists and professionals at that time,” Sadowsky said.

While Hillside Drug Store was an important gathering place for the black community, it was also a space in which generations of the Young family celebrated, Turner said.

“I have memories of me wearing one of my grandfather’s doctor’s coats that my grandmother would roll the sleeves up on,”Turner said. “I remember eating a lot of candy and drinking a lot of soda pop there. Luckily, I don’t have a bunch of cavities.”

Turner’s mother worked at the cash register and the soda fountain. His uncle, Ulysses Young Jr., delivered glass bottles of medicine to patrons in East Austin.

Commemorating this communal history is central to Sadowsky’s interest in helping designate Hillside Drug Store as a historic landmark.

“We’ve long had a realization that our society, in general, has ignored aspects of our history, includingAfrican-American history,” Sadowsky said. “It’s all a part of an effort to recognize that history and bring it up to equal standing with the history that people know and that people are familiar with.”

For Turner, the building’s recognition is an acknowledgment of his family’s legacy, he said.

“I hope that my grandfather and my mother are proud of me, and that they know I am keeping to my word,” Turner said. “I thank God for my grandparents paving the way for all of this.”