22 N Broad Street
Address
22 N Broad Street Brooksville, FL 34601
Year Built
1915
First Owner
Unknown
22 N Broad Street, Murphy's Drug Store
Murphy's Drug Store can be seen to the right of Tamiami Cafe - Photo taken in the 1930's
22 N Broad Street
Murphy’s Drug Store, The Brooksville Journal (1931)
Murphy’s Drug Store The Brooksville Journal (1931)
Broad Street looking east Murphy's Drig stor can be seen on the right with a "Rexall Drugs" sign out front
Dr. David Hedick and his wife Callie Hedick taken approx 1935, Train Depot Museum
The History
Built in 1915, this is a two-story commercial building with brick facing on the first floor and an original stucco exterior on the second floor. The small pent roof on the top of the second floor originally had clay tiles. The metal roof over the first floor was most likely added in the 1970s or 1980s.
The second floor of this building was home to the dental office of Dr. David L. Hedick’s in the early 1900s. According to his obituary, he was “very well known and loved within the city, having practiced here for 52 years.” Dr. Hedick’s dentist chair, along with some of his dental tools, can be seen at the May-Stringer museum and we have included a portrait of him and his wife, Callie.
On December 2, 1930, the building was the site of a shooting.
“J.W. Springstead, 60, president of the Springstead Dairy Company, was shot and killed today by Sheriff W.D. Cobb who sought to arrest him on complaints by his wife. He was shot once and killed instantly in a hallway of the Murphy building where Springstead’s estranged wife was employed in the office of Dr. D.L. Hedick, dentist. G.S. Rice and G.A. Ray who have insurance offices in the building were witnesses. Springstead was on his way to the dentist’s office about 4 o’clock when the sheriff appeared. There was a scuffle and the sheriff fired one time.” - “Sheriff Kills Dairy Head at Brooksville,” The Tampa Tribune, December 3, 1930, pg. 1.
City Attorney Herbert Smithson struggled to believe the official version of this story and opened an investigation. Some believe that is why Smithson was gunned down one evening when coming out of the Tangerine Hotel on Howell Avenue. Smithson’s murder was never solved.
In the mid 20th century, Murphy’s Drug Store was a popular downtown hang out at 22 N Broad for many years. John Mason told the Tampa Bay Times, “Murphy's drugstore was a popular hangout in Brooksville in the early 1950s... We used to hang out some at Murphy's... They had a soda fountain. Coogler's didn't have a soda fountain. Hope's had a soda fountain and Bacon's had a soda fountain… They had vanilla Cokes, cherry Cokes, root beers, they had ice cream sundaes, they had milkshakes, they had a little bit of everything."
CITATIONS/CREDIT:
Hernando County Property Appraiser;
“Sheriff Kills Dairy Head at Brooksville,” The Tampa Tribune, December 3, 1930, pg. 1;
“These People They are Brooksville,” The Tampa Bay Times, December 31, 2009.
The Architecture
Mission, flat roof with parapet and pent roof, 6/6 metal single hung/ fixed storefront windows, brick and stucco exterior.