80 Years!

Aiton Drug Wholesale Company

80th Anniversary - June 1, 2026

Or it could go back as far as 1895....
Estey and Curtis Co. Ltd. Wholesale and Retail Drugs

The Estey and Curtis Drug Store began in a modest shop inside the Taylor Block building, located at the corner of King (later Orser) Street and Main Street in Hartland. Founded by Samuel Miller in 1895, the business was named after two well-known local physicians, Dr. Isaac Curtis and Dr. Alfred Estey.

In 1897, Samuel Miller (1864–1959) acquired the inventory of the Hartland Drug Store, which operated in the Taylor brick block by W. E. Thistle. He expanded the store’s offerings to include a complete range of drugs, medicines, and druggists’ sundries, and promoted both lower prices and meticulous prescription compounding.

Samuel S. Miller partnered with Frank A. Aiton, who had been his employee since 1898. Frank Aiton was a graduate of Hartland Superior School and received his professional education in pharmacy from the Ontario College of Pharmacy in 1906. He returned to Hartland and resumed his work at Estey & Curtis Co. Ltd. and married Janet McMullin on September 1, 1909.

The business outgrew the small street-front shop. On 2 August 1911, Mr. Miller bought the three-storey brick building from John T. G. Carr. Conveniently, when Samuel Miller approached Mr. Carr, he was ready to retire.

Estey & Curtis Drug Company moved into this spacious, attractive building and reopened at the new location on 2 October 1911

In addition to medicines and health concoctions, for many years it served as the headquarters for school textbooks, scribblers, pens, copybooks (3 cents each), stationery, small grocery items, stock feeds, brooms, brushes, ice cream cones, bottles, tobacco, and countless other necessities. It was also the place to buy baseballs (50 cents), catcher’s mitts ($1.25), gloves, bats, and more. During Christmas, the store offered almost anything you could wish for, including cars! In 1913, Estey & Curtis advertised ‘fine’ cranked Ford cars with a top, windscreen, and speedometer for $785, all freight paid.

Samuel Miller and his wife personally purchased on the north side of the John T. G. Carr building from Ina B. Thornton and W. Frank Thornton on 26 March 1919. The purchase included the Thornton stable and a small store 35 feet wide on Main Street, extending 70 feet back to the railway line. Frank Thornton retained the hotel building. The business of Estey and Curtis Drug Co. Ltd purchased this land in January 1920, partly to expand its wholesale operations.

The deed described the location as a lot on Main Street at the southwest corner, previously owned by Thomas J. Boyer. The property extended about 100 feet east along Boyer’s south line to land owned by the NB Railway Company, then 72 feet south along the western line of Mr. Carr’s land to 5th Ave. From there, it ran 120 feet west along 5th Ave to the main road and 64 feet north along the main road to the point of beginning, totalling 28 square rods.

In 1923, the Bank of Montreal purchased a portion of the same land, and the livery stable building was moved behind the Estey and Curtis Store on the east side, where it was used as a warehouse.

The administrative office overlooked the entire retail area on the main floor. Both Frank Aiton and Sam Miller could be heard and seen dictating letters to their secretaries, who sat on high stools without backs. The back walls of the office were lined with hanging letter files.

Estey and Curtis Co. Ltd. operated a dual business, with a bottling department for medicines and flavouring essences on the second floor and a retail drug store on the main floor.

The business expanded and opened a branch in Fredericton in 1921 on the corner of King and York Streets, once the property of Long’s Hotel. S. S. Miller moved his family to Fredericton and oversaw this new branch of the operation.

Frank Aiton, Vice-President of the original business, oversaw Estey & Curtis Co. Ltd.'s Hartland operations and consistently found creative ways to attract customers. Beyond transforming his store into a festive toyland at Christmas, he organised clever promotions such as a doll giveaway contest. In November 1932, he arranged for fifteen dolls to be displayed in the store window. Community members could nominate their daughters for free, and the nominees' names were posted in the Estey & Curtis Company Drug Store for customers to vote on. Each purchase at the drug store granted a vote, engaging the community and boosting sales.

According to the Observer on 27 March 1941, the interior of Estey and Curtis Company Limited, Hartland's drug store, has been redecorated and presents a pleasing appearance.

Stores in town and rural points in the northwestern part of the province were served by travelers who made Hartland their headquarters. The Hartland store was unusually well stocked and thoroughly modern. Progressive business methods, combined with consistent, well-planned advertising, kept the business flourishing through the trying depression.

Frank and Janet Aiton purchased a home on High Street that sat on the highlands overlooking the town. They had three boys, Howard, Harold and Donald. All three boys served in WWII.

In 1946, on June 1, Frank A. Aiton and his wife, Janet M., Harold F. Aiton, Frank’s son, and his wife, Irma, were founders of the new Aiton Drug Company after purchasing the shares of the Hartland Estey and Curtis branch in Hartland from Samuel W. Miller. The pharmacy's name was changed to Aiton Drug Co. Ltd., Wholesale & Retail Druggist.

The Aiton business grew in the wholesale of drugs throughout the province, as well as the stock. Frank Aiton was also civic-minded, serving on the Town Council from 1923 until 1935 and as Mayor of Hartland from 1936 to 1938.

When Frank Aiton, President of the business, died in March of 1960, his wife, Janet, became the president of the company; Harold Aiton was the Vice President; Irma L. (Clark) Aiton was the secretary; and Donald Aiton, another son, became the treasurer. They had a staff of 21.

Graydon E. Nevers started working at Aiton Drug Company in the fall of 1946 after his high school graduation, as a certified clerk after taking a six-week course. In 1948, Graydon passed his certified clerk examination and furthered his education in 1952. He left Hartland to attend Dalhousie University to study pharmacy. He married Ella Lewis in 1953, and she taught school in Dartmouth. After graduating from the Maritime College of Pharmacy in Halifax in 1955, he resumed work at Aiton Drug Company. Graydon bought out the drug store on November 11, 1967, and the Aiton wholesale part of the business relocated to the Hartland Industrial Park, where it continued under the Aiton name.

Harold and Donald sold Aiton Drug Wholesale Company to Douglas Pooley, who built a new and roomy structure 50 x 100 feet within the Hillcrest Industrial Park, and he sold the downtown brick building built by John T. G. Carr to become the head office of the Day & Ross transport business.

The Aiton Drug Wholesale Company remained in the Hartland Industrial Park when Doug Pooley sold the company to Trena and Richard Orser in October 2019. The business expanded not only with a 5000-square-foot new building in January 2023, but also with new Territory managers for the Atlantic provinces and other provinces in Canada, serving Canada coast to coast.

A little Hartland Business History (Contributed by Doris Kennedy)