New Orleans Pharmacy Museum

The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum guide centers on Louis Joseph Dufilho, who worked the black-and-rose marble soda fountain here while also pulling teeth, applying leeches, and performing amputations before lunch. In 1816 he became the first licensed pharmacist in the United States, despite a Louisiana law from 1804 that had gone unenforced for over a decade while untrained druggists mixed whatever they pleased. You'll hear about his training in Paris, his exam, and the shop he opened on Chartres Street in 1823 and ran for more than thirty years. Look closely at the fountain in front of you and the leech jars and gris gris potions nearby, all sold from the same counter.