Austin’s Black Apothecary
The Story of Dr. Thomas L. DeLashwah
Written by Mason Thompson
In early 20th-century Austin, Dr. Thomas L. DeLashwah was more than just one of Austin’s first Black pharmacists, he was a cornerstone of the Black community. Before opening his businesses, DeLashwah spent at least 15 years working under Dr. Joseph J. Jennings, a respected Black pharmacist and one of the few African American business owners operating in East Austin during the Jim Crow era. He opened the LaPalm Drugstore and Soda Fountain in 1920 on East 6th Street, a place where people could get medicine, but also ice cream, handmade candy, and a sense of belonging. Later, he opened another location at 421 East 12th Street, where he made all his sweets in-house. At a time when Black people were excluded from many public spaces, DeLashwah created his own spaces where Black Austinites could feel seen, served, and respected. His businesses were clean, lively, and deeply rooted in community care, showing that ownership and dignity could go hand in hand.
But Dr. DeLashwah’s influence reached far beyond his storefronts. After World War I, on Christmas Day, Ebenezer Baptist Church hosted a dinner for Black veterans and their families, serving over 500 meals. That same day, the Travis Unit of Discharged Colored Soldiers was formed, and DeLashwah was elected secretary. His drugstore became their official headquarters. He also played a role in the legal system, co-signing a $500 bond to free George Brady, the Black butler to Texas Governor Miriam Ferguson, after Brady was arrested on liquor charges. In earlier years, DeLashwah gave key courtroom testimony in a racially charged case involving a police shooting, standing his ground with calm confidence. Whether through civic service or quiet acts of resistance, he showed up for his people time and time again.
By the time The Austin American profiled him in 1973, calling him a “Pioneer of Community,” DeLashwah had long been a pillar in East Austin. The photo from that article shows him seated on his front porch next to his bird dog, at the same house he had owned since 1918. His life spoke volumes. His legacy wasn’t just in the medicine he dispensed or the ice cream he served. It was in the safe spaces he built, the veterans he supported, the legal systems he challenged, and the pride he inspired. Dr. Thomas L. DeLashwah’s story is a reminder that Black history lives in our neighborhoods, in the people who held us down when the world tried to hold us back.
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Hello! Just wanted to give a heads up that the first photo is actually of a neighboring Black-owned business on E 6th St, the Meroney Saloon and Restaurant at 404 E 6th, owned by Charles G Meroney and his wife Lura Thelma (Collins) and after he passed she remarried to William Isaacs. Was also the Bowery Saloon at one point. The photo was featured in the same Carver museum exhibit about Black-owned businesses on the 400 block of E 6th in 1987, which is probably how the Statesman got the photos mixed up. Recently came across the same photo in much higher resolution in the Ada DeBlanc Simond papers at the AHC, AR-Z-006 (004). Lura is the woman on the…
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