And thus it was that on January 28, 1876 a general invitation was extended to Connecticut pharmacists requesting their attendance at an organizational meeting to be held in New Haven. At this meeting, the Connecticut Pharmaceutical Association was established, with annual dues set at $2 with an initiation fee of $3. 25 druggists attended representing 8 towns across the state, all men. It wasn’t until the annual meeting of 1881 that “wives and lady friends” were invited. In 1879, Fanny Comstock, the apothecary of New Haven Hospital, became CPA’s first woman member—though she never seems to have attended any of the annual meetings while she was a member.
