To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. The pharmacy in Hankinson, North Dakota, a town of about 900 people at the stateâs extreme southeastern tip, has been in operation since 1897. The town was a decade old by then and had quickly swelled with settlers enticed by ads for good farmland along the railroad. A pharmacy was one of those signs of a townâs arrival; a knowledgeable druggist was essential. This remained true through the years, even though it turned out that the regionâs population had already peaked and was slowly dwindling, as it still is. The earliest owners of Hankinson Drug had kept a stock of jewelry as well as pharmaceuticals, and both traditions remain alive with the current proprietors. In recent years, their pharmacy has been the only one in the county outside Wahpeton, a bigger town 30 minutes away on the Minnesota border.