Ottawa ? For more than 50 years, the soda fountain at Kramer Drug was a place to have a malt, a cup of coffee and good conversation.

“A lot of things happened that were very enjoyable there,” Helena Kramer, 96, said. She bought the store with her husband, W.F. “Bud” Kramer, in 1950.

The soda fountain has taken its place in Ottawa history with the grand opening of a historical exhibit at the Old Depot Museum.

“We’re real excited to have it,” Deb Barker, Franklin County Historical Society director, said.

Barker isn’t the only one happy to see the soda fountain preserved for future generations.

“I’m so pleased with that. I smile every time I think about it,” said Barb Hickman, 59, Ottawa, who worked at the soda fountain when she was in high school in 1965 and then began keeping books for the store in 1971.

“We used to have a really good time at the fountain.”

When W.F. “Bud” and Helena Kramer bought the drugstore at 134 S. Main St. from Earl Rohrbach on Jan. 1, 1950, Helena Kramer never had worked at a soda fountain.

From previous drugstore experience, Bud Kramer already knew how to make everything. But it was up to his wife to learn how the fountain worked and train the staff at what was then the most profitable part of the business.

“I was pleased to find a notebook, about 2 (inches) by 4 (inches), that had recipes about what to have at a soda fountain,” she said.

The soda fountain had been in the store since the early 1930s and needed a lot of work. B.H. Bennett, owner of Bennett Creamery, agreed to pay for the replacement of the soda fountain and allowed the Kramers to make weekly payments.

“Not only was he the man behind it and he paid for it, he helped with promotions,” Helena Kramer said.

One successful promotion of Bennett’s involved eggs.

Every child who brought in a fresh egg got a free ice cream cone. For Bennett, it was a way to get eggs for the creamery.

“It was a store full of kids. It was a lot of scooping to keep up with all of them,” Helena Kramer said.

The Kramers were able to pay off the fountain in no time, Helena Kramer said.

Bud Kramer retired in 1974 and died in 1998.

George Kramer, 71, a son of Bud and Helena Kramer, began sweeping floors at the store and working at the fountain when he was 12. He obtained partial ownership from his parents in 1956.

George’s brother, John, became a pharmacist and worked at the store before selling his share back to the store and moving to Nevada in 1969. George’s wife, Jacque, became a pharmacist and completed her internship at the store in 1974.

In a move that was ahead of its time, George Kramer banned smoking and then stopped selling cigarettes at the drug store in the 1980s.

“We were surprised they took them out,” Hickman said.

Jacque Kramer said they knew cigarettes weren’t safe, so it didn’t make sense to keep selling them.

Some people grumbled and quit coming in, but that didn’t last long, Hickman said.

“Within two weeks, (those people) were back in. That shows how much the fountain meant to them,” she said.