William H. Norton Prescription, 1875

This handwritten prescription from December 13, 1875 offers a fascinating glimpse into everyday life and medical care in early Mendocino. It was written by Dr. William A. McCornack, a young physician who had moved to the coast just the year before. Dr. McCornack quickly became a prominent local doctor and later founded the first hospital on the Mendocino Coast. He practiced in Mendocino for more than two decades and earned a reputation as a skilled physician whose patients came from all along the coast.

The prescription was issued for William H. Norton, a respected resident who had lived in Mendocino since the 1850s. For about 15 years, Norton worked in the Mendocino, Caspar, and Albion mills, and “acquired the reputation of being one of the best sawyers that ever came to this coast,” according to the Mendocino Beacon. In 1871, he built the Big River House Hotel near the west end of Main Street, which he was running when this prescription was written. The medicine contained morphine sulphate, a common pain reliever at the time, and Norton was instructed to take one teaspoon four times per day.

Filling the prescription was Rufus H. Witherell, Mendocino’s druggist in 1875. Witherell operated his “New Drug Store” on Main Street in the West Coast Star Building, which also housed the town’s first newspaper. At the time, drugstores carried far more than medicines. They often sold jewelry, watches, cigars, and household goods. Witherell advertised himself as a watchmaker, jeweler, and pharmacist, a combination that reflected the multitasking spirit of small-town businesses in the 19th century.

The West Coast Star building still stands today as part of the Jarvis & Nichols Building on the northeast corner of Main and Kasten, now home to Gallery Bookshop. This single prescription connects the stories of a pioneer doctor, a well-known businessman, an enterprising pharmacist, and one of Mendocino’s earliest commercial buildings, offering a vivid snapshot of community life in 1875.

Haunted Mendocino Walking Tour – Wear your sweater since you’re bound to get goosebumps listening to the ghostly tales of some of Mendocino’s more infamous residents. We’ll stop at the homes, hideouts, and hangouts of all the well-known specters, and learn a little of the town’s history along the way. Peer into the waves in search of a stallion and the rider who took it into the sea. Did you know not all hauntings are about scary visions or terrifying noises, but that some ghosts haunt with scents? What is that thing that goes bump in the night, followed by sounds of a taut rope swinging from the rafters? Why can guests hear the pitter patter of pets in a building where pets aren’t allowed? What is the area’s oldest known ghost story? And how many spooks haunt the streets of Mendocino? All questions will be answered on this hour and a half long tour through Haunted Mendocino. Join us… if you’re not too scared. $25.