In 1900, John A Hook, the son of German immigrants opened his first “Deutsche Apotheke” (German Apothecary) in a 1,000 square foot building at 1101 S. East St. in Fountain Square.

In 1908 Hook opened a second downtown store at the corner of New Jersey & East Washington Streets. He also took on a partner – Edward F Roesch.

John A. Hook dies at age 60 in 1943 and Roesch became president.

Hook’s Drugs, with approximately 50 stores throughout Indiana, celebrates its Golden Jubilee in 1950  with a grand opening of its store at 38th and Meridian Streets.

With the death of Edward F Roesch, August of 1956 , F. “Bud” Hook, John’s son, who has been active in the business since he was a teen, takes over as president. The former Purdue University athlete and pharmacy grad, helps guide Hook’s Drugs through the postwar era.

In 1966, The company gives Hook’s Historical Drug Store and Pharmacy Museum as a gift to the people of Indiana to commemorate the state’s sesquicentennial. Located at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, the restoration of a late 19th century drugstore contains authentic 19th century cabinets from a drugstore in Cambridge City, Indiana. This drugstore, purchased by Hook’s for this purpose, opened in 1849 and was, prior to purchase by Hook’s, owned by the Grigsby family.

Jim Rogers and Fred Edwards, Hook Drug employees, were originally charged with collecting artifacts to display in the store. Mr. Edwards currently lives in Georgia, and has continued working with antiques as a collector, dealer, and appraiser. He keeps in touch with the museum and visits annually.  Mr. Rogers is still actively involved in an advisory role in preserving the museum and its collections.         

In 1970, The Hook’s Historical Drug Store and Pharmacy Museum adds an ice cream soda fountain.

The Kroger Company acquires Hook’s Drugs in 1985 and in 1994, it is acquired by Revco. The Hook’s name is retired and Revco agrees to donate Hook’s Historical Drug Store and Pharmacy Museum to the Hook Drug Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. 

In 1998, A new organization, Hook’s American Drugstore Museum, is formed as a 501c3 not-for-profit, and with a generous donation from the Hook family, two buildings were purchased in downtown Indianapolis. The goal was to build a 30k+ square foot drugstore museum - with a projected opening date of 2002.

From 1998-2000 a large number of pharmacy artifacts were collected toward the goal of opening the museum and in 2000,The Hook’s Historical Drug Store and Pharmacy Museum is closed for year-round operation, only opening for during the Indiana State Fair.

In 2003 The Hook’s American Drugstore Museum officially became the Hook's Discovery & Learning Center (HDLC). After original figures for opening the museum proved far too conservative, the organizations board of directors decided to pursue a mission of life science education, which it had been exploring since early 2001. The downtown buildings were sold, and the staff was transferred to the artifact storage facility.

Robert Hunt, a Lilly employee and member of the Greenfield Downtown Committee approached HDLC in 2004 with the idea of bringing the drugstore museum to Greenfield. Hunt, and a group of dedicated individuals incorporated and began preparations for establishing the Greenfield Museum Initiative (GMI).

By February of 2005 The Hook's Discovery & Learning Center’s board officially determined that they were no longer “in the museum business,” and offered GMI the opportunity to take over operation of the Hook’s Historical Drug Store and Pharmacy Museum.  GMI received 501c3 status from the IRS in March of 2005 and volunteers, HDLC staff, and HDLC Board Members sorted and packed the stored collections. Items were then transferred by HDLC to GMI and moved to storage in Greenfield.  In June,GMI took over operation of the Hook’s Historical Drug Store and Pharmacy Museum, hired a director and shortened the location’s name to Hook’s Drugstore Museum & Soda Fountain. The museum begins to offer educational programs to school and adult audiences, and offers the venue to individuals and groups for private events.  GMI reopened the museum for year-round business in July.

In 2008, the Hook’s Drugstore Museum &  Soda Fountain became the focus of the focus of the operation again and plans for moving it to Greenfield were shelved.  A Development Director was hired to promote and market the museum in hopes of increasing traffic through the museum and community awareness of this fascinating local resource.  The artifacts that are displayed in the Hook’s Drugstore Museum & Soda Fountain comprises approximately 20% of the full collection.