Not too many businesses can boast they’ve been around for 100 years, and fewer still can say they’re independently owned. That makes Wilson’s Drug Store in downtown Bath kind of special.

This summer Wilson’s Drug Store will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in a special way. In the back of the store is a display where customers can make a small donation and receive a commemorative Wilson’s Drug Store baseball cap, tote bag, T-shirt or flying disc. All the proceeds from the promotion will benefit two Bath organizations, The Chocolate Church Performing Arts Center and Patten Free Library.

“We’re recognizing ourselves but doing it in such a way as to benefit the community,” pharmacist Jonathan Desjardins told the newspaper.

Customers have been filling prescriptions here at 114 Front Street since 1915. Desjardins hasn’t been around that long — although this month he’ll celebrate a milestone of his own — it’s his 35th year of ownership. He bought Wilson’s Drug Store in 1981 and is just the fourth owner since the pharmacy opened.

The original owner, a man named W.M. Temple, started the business when there were seven other druggists and apothecaries operating in the city of Bath.

Desjardins enjoys talking about those bygone days. At the rear of his store alongside the pharmacy is a display case containing an interesting collection of early medicines. There’s also an old fashioned standup scale where patrons could once weigh themselves for a penny. He said buying Wilson’s Drug Store three decades ago was a sort of  homecoming for him.

“I was born in Bath but my parents moved to Brunswick when I was a child,” he said. “My mother’s maiden name was Mulcahy and her family was from Bath,” he said. Desjardins (pronounced Des jar din) is French-Canadian, he added.

At a young age Desjardins took an interest in pharmaceutical studies. When he was 14, he got a job working at Drapeau’s Pharmacy in Brunswick. “It was a small family-owned drugstore on the corner of Gilman and Main Streets,” he recalled.

“I must have really wanted to work there because I waited three hours to speak to the owner. When he found out I’d waited that long to see him he hired me right then and there.”

Along with stocking the drugstore’s shelves, Desjardins said he waited on customers, delivered prescriptions and manned the soda fountain. Drugstores in those days were often places where young people gathered at the counter to enjoy an ice cream sundae or root beer float. In a lot of ways, they were the focal point of the community.

“What impressed me was how much respect and reverence people in town had for their druggist. I knew then that was what I wanted to be, that was the profession I wanted to learn,” he said.

After graduating from high school, Desjardins attended the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy at Storrs. He worked his way through college and graduated in 1971. After graduation, he returned to Brunswick where he was hired as a pharmacist for Allen’s Drug Store located downtown. He enjoyed the work and being back in Maine close to his family and friends. He also dreamed of one day owning his own drugstore and being in business for himself.

The opportunity came a few years later after he started working at Wilson’s Drug Store for Raymond Clemons, a son-in-law to Lewis Wilson, pharmacist and namesake of the business.

“Mr. Clemons owned two other drugstores in Freeport and Yarmouth. After working for him for a few years, he agreed to sell me Wilson’s,” Desjardins said adding he knew Wilson only by reputation and never met him personally.

“They say he (Wilson) was a good businessman and respected community leader. After I bought the business I decided to keep the name Wilson’s Drug Store.”

In the display case hangs a black and white photograph of Wilson who would no doubt be pleased his name was carried on.

But owning his own business wasn’t easy.

“When I first started, there was just me and I’d put in 60 or 70 hours a week. There were two drugstores on Front Street, mine and Hallet’s down the street on the corner,” he said. Hallet’s closed years ago, although its historic clock still remains on the sidewalk.

Over the last 35 years, Desjardins has seen a lot of changes. Businesses have come and gone on Front Street. Two chain drugstores have come to town as well.

He said Wilson’s Drug store continues to thrive because of it close connection with community.

“We try to get to know each and every one of our customers on a first name basis. We also continue to offer home delivery, which is pretty rare.”

Trust, he added, is what really sets his drugstore apart. “People know we’ll be here for them even if they need a prescription filled after hours.”

When the time comes for him to retire, Desjardins hopes Wilson’s will continue on as an independently owned drugstore. “It’s something I think that’s important for the community,” he said.

Wilson’s Drug Store is open seven days a week. The store and pharmacy hours are 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to noon. The telephone number is 207-442-8786.