CPA’s story begins in 1875 on a New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad train en route from Boston to New Haven. Pharmacists John K. Williams of Hartford and Alfred Daggett of New Haven were returning home from the 23rd annual convention of the American Pharmaceutical Association. Capt Williams is pictured here; I have been unable to find a photo of Mr. Daggett, as yet.
Discussing the proceedings of that convention, both agreed with ever increasing enthusiasm the advantages that would accrue to the pharmacists of Connecticut from forming a state organization of their own.
Connecticut pharmacists had been attending the annual APhA conventions since the APhA’s founding in 1852—in fact, Henry Fish of Waterbury helped to draft the original constitution of the APhA and its first Code of Ethics.
But not until Willams and Daggett had that epiphany in their parlor car had the idea of a Connecticut association been considered—at the time, the only other state to have established a state pharmacy association was New Jersey.