Ida Hagan, circa 1909, and Narcis Stoner, 1923
The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (College of Health Professions) at Butler University has several noteworthy black graduates from its early history. The college itself dates to 1904 when it was founded as Winona Technical Institute, before becoming the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy in 1914. The school would merge with Butler University in 1945, creating the current College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
Ida Hagan, Winona Technical Institute, circa 1909
Ida Hagan was born in 1888 in Huntingburg, Indiana and raised in a log cabin at the Pinkston Settlement, a free Black community west of Ferdinand in Southern Indiana. She would go on to be the first African American woman in Indiana to become a registered pharmacist in 1909 and only the 16th black female pharmacist in the nation.
Ida is pictured here next to a photograph of her father, Ben Hagen, Jr. (left) standing with Larkin Pinkston (right). The Pinkstons were early settlers of DuBois County, and in 1874 Ben Hagen is noted to have owned land next to the Pinkston farm. Hagen was a minister at the Missionary Baptist Church. Ben Hagen and Larkin Pinkston were said to have been the last farmers at the settlement.
Winona Technical Institute campus
Image courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society. This building now houses Arsenal Technical High School.
Ida studied under Dr. Alois Wollenmann and completed a pharmacy home-study course through Winona Technical Institute. She likely would have completed her degree in either 1908 or 1909. In 1909, Winona Technical Institute ran into financial difficulties and would shut down until its merger with the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy in 1914. The records are murky during this period, as Hagan is not listed in the records of the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy. This is a great example of someone being left out of the official record, by mistake, or not, or simply by the fact that information on the Winona Technical Institute is limited due to original records either not existing or not being preserved. Eventually, Winona Technical Institute was reorganized into Butler University, and was the predecessor of today's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.
A clipping from the Indinanapolis Recorder, 1913 reads:
"Young Colored Woman Pharmacist. Mrs. Ida P. Hagan Roberts, a graduate pharmacist of Winona Technical Institute, Indianapolis, has accepted a position at the Eureka Drug Store, on eof the leading stores of the city. Mrs. Roberts passed the State Board examination in 1909, and was highly commeded for her ability. She is the wife of Alfred Roberts, the efficient pressman at the Indianapolis Recorder."
In addition to working as a pharmacist, Ida served as a postal clerk for eight years (starting with her appointment at the age of 16) and as acting postmaster for the Town of Ferdinand following the death of her mentor Dr. Alois Wollenmann. In her spare time, Ida learned to speak German fluently to better communicate with the residents of the town. Later in her life, she served as a pharmacist in Indianapolis and Gary before marrying Sidney Whitaker in 1928 and moving to Detroit, Michigan by 1930. She later became involved in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) Ladies Auxiliary group, lobbying for equal rights for Black workers. Ida Hagan Whitaker died in 1978 and is buried alongside her husband at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.
A more detailed history of Ida Hagan's life can be found in the Indianapolis Recorder.
Narcis Verda Stoner, College of Pharmacy, 1923
Unlike Ida Hagan, Narcis Verda Stoner does appear in the class portraits and records hanging inside the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences building on campus. Not much is known on her, beyond the fact that she graduated from the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy in 1923. According to the limited records at the Indiana State Archives, she failed her state pharmacy test in July 1923.
Records on Ancestry.com are also limited, and we haven’t yet been able to track-down her grave. Federal Census records from the 1950s indicate that she moved to Alton, Illinois (just outside St. Louis) with her husband, Thomas Stoner, who was a minister.
In this 1923 class photo of the Butler College of Pharmacy, Stoner is pictured in the top far right corner of the group, standing somewhat apart from her white male classmates.
