In August 1890 the drug and jewelry firm of Messrs. Gardner & McKinstry opened its doors to the public.  Dr. George L. McKinstry of Chicago accepted the position as the prescription clerk.  (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, August 10, 1890, pg. 1)  He resigned his position and moved to Sherman to work with A.B. Richards & Co. (The Sunday Gazetteer, January 4, 1891, pg.4)

According to Charlie Kingston's obituary, "His first position in Denison was as a pharmacist for the Gardner & McKinstry drug store at 322 West Main Street, the present Kingston stand. The firm was later purchased by a Mr. John D. Fredd, from whom Mr. Kingston took over the establishment."  
Mr. John D. Fredd, a man of means, had moved to Ft. Worth from Georgia by the spring of 1890.  In May 1890 he closed a contract to build and operate a compress as representative for Campbell Cotton Compress Co. (Ft. Worth Daily Gazette, Monday, May 5, 1890, pg. 2)  In February 1892 Mr. Fredd purchased the drug store business of J.H. Gardner.  He had worked for a number of years in his hometown of Macon, Georgia as chief prescription clerk in the leading drug store there.  
While at Ft. Worth he met a young man he had known in Macon and renewed their acquaintance.  Soon it was obvious to Mr. Fredd that the young man was unemployed and seeking a fortune in Texas.  Mr. Fredd paid a two weeks board bill for him as well as other small deeds to help him out.  Hearing of the opportunity to buy one of the leading drug houses in Denison, Texas, he paid cash for the drug business after investigating it and put his young friend in charge of the business, hoping the young man would take advantage of the opportunity to make a name for himself and pave his way to a fortune.  
John also asked Mr. Kingston, who had been a prescription clerk at Gardner's to remain a while and assist his friend who was now in charge of the business.  Upon Mr. Kingston's agreement, Mr. Freed left Denison to attend to his business in another city.  In less than 12 hours of his departure from Denison, the young man began "tanking up on red liquor and making an exhibition of himself."  Things went from bad to worse as the young man devoted more and more time to saloons than the drug store and took "a small sum of money".
Knowing Mr. Fredd's confidence in the young man was being violated, Mr. Kingston finally resorted to wiring Mr. Fredd, stating the facts.  Mr. Fredd returned immediately to Denison upon hearing the news to investigate the situation and discharged the young man whom he thought he knew so well and installed Mr. Kingston whom he knew nothing about and whom he had received only good reports from Mr. Gardner and others as to his character and ability.  The drug business
 prospered under the charge of Mr. Kingston.  Mr. Fredd made Denison his headquarters for his business of managing the business affairs of wealthy men in England, Ireland, and Pennsylvania. (Denison Herald, Feb. 17. The Windsor Review (Windsor, Missouri), February 17, 1892, pg. 8)

The Denison Pharmacy
February 22, 1892

Mr. C.D. Kingston, pharmacist
Compliments of Mr. John D. Fredd
 
(Exhibited at Parks Drugs, Denison, Texas, October 2019)

Georgia marriage records show that Mr. Fredd married Carrie E. Butts in Macon, Georgia on March 30, 1892.  The local newspaper stated at the end of June 1892 that the newlyweds were en route for Macon, Georgia, intending to spend
"a season" with the bride's relatives.  Before returning to Denison, they visited the Atlantic sea board and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Chicago en route home.  (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, June 26, 1892, pg. 4)  Less than 3 months later, she left Denison to return to Macon.  Mr. Fredd set out for Pittsburgh and other points east.

Apparently Mr. Fredd returned to Texas as he is listed in the 1894 Ft. Worth City Directory.  Later that year and in 1895 newspapers placed him in Iowa and Nebraska, where he was involved with a company that marketed hedges as natural substitutes for fences.  By 1897 he was in the Colorado gold fields.  In April 1897 he and Eva I. Johnson were married in Denver, Colorado on April 21, 1897. (State of Colorado Marriage Record Report)  By early 1899 John and Eva were in Owensboro, Kentucky. (Owensboro 1899 City Directory)  Soon Eva returned to Denver. (1901 Denver City Directory)  She obtained a divorce from John on January 23, 1903 after less than 6 years of marriage. (Colorado Divorce Index, 1851- 1985)

Kingston's Drug was a fixture in downtown Denison, Texas for decades. The owner was Charles Davis Kingston (1866–1931).

Jenkins Studio
421 W. Main
Denison, Texas
The light colored sign hanging from the ceiling at the back of the store: "Rexall Birthday Sale"
and "Over...Genuine Bargains - SALE NOW ON!"

Charlie's energy and creativity helped make his store a "must" stop on every trip to Main Street. Founded in 1892, Kingston Drug "was known for its fancy soda fountain [and its] zoo (including a baby lion).... One of the patent medicines it carried was GC, or Gut Cleaner." 

Medicines from the C.D. Kingston Drug Store
Powder Seconal Sodium, Perfume Oil - Rose Artificial, Glycerin,
Hypodermatic Tablets (Sparteine Sulphate), Dramamine, Eureka Castor Oil, Durabolin-50, Gentian Violet, Morphine 1/6 gr.
(Exhibited at Parks Drugs, Denison, Texas, October 2019)

The thermometer in front of Kingston's was the official source of temperature readings published in local newspapers. Everyone in town knew the slogan: "Kingston's Has It." As cameras became popular with the general public, it was natural that Charlie himself, schooled in chemistry, would develop roll film, produce photographic prints, and sell Kodak supplies. In time the store added cosmetics and perfumes for the ladies, as well as a wealth of other products and services.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, September 21, 1902

KINGSTON HAD AN ANNIVERSARY
A Remarkable Business Career - Ten Years of Prosperity - Every Year Shows an Increase

Denison and Kingston's anniversary take place on the same date this year, the 23rd of September.  Mr. Kingston has  been at the old stand for a period of 10 years.  His business has jumped from hundreds to thousands of dollars.  We use the expression "jumped" as that better expressed the phenomenal success of Mr. Kingston.
Looking over the entire business field for the past 10 years we cannot recall a single business man who has succeeded like Kingston.  It is a remarkable record that any house may justly feel proud of.

"KINGSTON HAS IT"
has become a byword that is heard in thousands of households in Texas and throughout the Indian Territory.  For years and years, drug firm after drug firm went down to defeat before Kingston took hold.   In the face of this adverse record Kingstone was not dismayed in the least.  He took over the situation and profited by the mistakes of his predecessors.  He prospered from the first day that he opened his doors.  He made it a point to keep always on hand every conceivable article known to the drug business.  St. Louis nor Chicago cannot boast of a better appointed drug establishment.  It is a remarkable fact, and the books will prove it, that Mr. Kingston's sales have doubled every year in the past 10 years, and he hasn't reached the top notch yet.  Kingston is an expansionist.  His business is growing every day.  He is always reaching for more trade, and he gets it.
His business methods have always been clear above board.  He is strictly reliable, strictly honest.  Of his thousands of patrons not one has lodged a word of complaint.
A prominent factor of success is the reliable quality of his stock.  When people want the best they go to Kingston's.  He never disappoints them.  A person could spend an hour very profitably at Kingston's looking at his mammoth stock.  It represents many thousands of dollars.  His famous motto expresses allllll,

"KINGSTON HAS IT."
Mr. Kingston is one of our most enterprising citizens, the latch-string hangs out to every enterprise that will push Denison to the front.  In his 10 years' business career he has never for a moment lost fair in our ultimate grand destiny.  He has demonstrated his faith in many ways which has added to our material prosperity.
The Gazetteer with thousands of others, takes pleasure in extending to Mr. Kingstone congratulation on his business success, and wishes him many more years of prosperity.  Mr. Kingston is yet a young man and has all the world before him.  Judging his past, there is no prediction that can be too flattering of the future.

Date above man's head is May 4, ????

C. D. Kingston: Pharmacist, 322 W. Main St.

Charlie and Gertrude had two children. William Clement "Will" Kingston (1896–1947) graduated from Denison High School in the Class of 1916. The Yellow Jacket (yearbook) that year called him "the very pink of courtesy."

Two years later, when he enrolled for the World War I draft, Will was a single bookkeeper living at the Golden Gate YMCA in San Francisco, California. For the Census of 1920, he was still in San Francisco, listed as a divorced white male, working as a clerk in an overall factory. In 1925, he was back in Denison, single and living with his parents; the City Directory listed him as secretary-treasurer of Kingston Drug. Perhaps his father Charlie was scaling back his work load, for he died early in 1931.

By the Census of 1930, Will had returned to San Francisco, where he was a "credit man" living at the YMCA Hotel. During the Great Depression, he found a job with the United States government. In 1935, he was living in Galveston, Texas, an employee of the U.S. Corps of Engineers. In 1940, he was in San Antonio, identified as an economist at the Civilian Conservation Corps camp. Three years later, he was back in Galveston at the Corps of Engineers. He had no children and died in Galveston in 1947.

The 1930 Census listed Charles Kingston still owning his drug store. He passed away on February 15, 1931.

3rd man from right: Lucious R. Hord who was born in Whitesboro and later became a pharmacist, Lo-Mac Pharmacy, Denison.
At the time of the photograph, he was a soda jerk at Kingston Pharmacy. - - - Donna Hord Hunt

The Kingstons' other child, born when Gertrude was over 40, was Mary Helen Kingston Nix (1913–2012). She completed high school as a boarding student at Ward-Belmont School in Nashville, Tennessee. This school provided secondary and higher education to young women from 1913 to 1951. Mary Helen was only seventeen when her father passed away. She obtained a college degree from Lindenwood College in St. Charles, Missouri.

In 1936 Mary Helen married a Denison native, John Gordon Nix, Jr. (1912–1995), a 1929 graduate of Denison High School. They lived in Harlingen, Texas, where Gordon had a notable career as educator and community leader. He fought in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Mary was a book reviewer and supporter of the Harlingen Public Library, which named its new Fiction Wing after her. She and John had two daughters.

Charlie Kingston's widow, Gertrude, lived for many years after his death.  She died in Harlingen on October 21, 1953 and was buried beside her husband in Denison's Fairview Cemetery.