Marble, Harriett Beecher Stowe
(born: 1885 - died: 1966)Harriett Beecher Stowe Marble was the first African American female pharmacist in Lexington, KY. Born in Yazoo City, MS, she was the daughter of Solomon [or Saul] and Leah Ann Molette Marble.
Harriett came to Lexington in 1921. Her pharmacy was located at 118 North Broadway along with doctors' offices; Marble lived in an apartment on the third floor. Marble owned the building, which she had had renovated. The previous owners were Henry Ross and Jacob Speer, who owned the building when it housed the People's Pharmacy, which opened in 1910. Today there is a KY Historical Marker at the building site.
Several of Marble's family members also resided in Lexington: her sister Priscilla Marble Ford (1886-1924) died in Lexington, and her sister Lillie Marble Ray (b. 1883) owned a home at 170 Old Georgetown Street. Lillie deeded the home to Harriett in 1953.
Harriett Marble was a graduate of Meharry Medical College. She made the top score on the pharmacy license test administered by the Mississippi State Board of Examiners in 1908. She was a pharmacist in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute [now Tuskegee University] in Alabama prior to coming to Kentucky.
Marble and several family members are buried in the Cove Haven Cemetery in Lexington.
This entry was submitted by Yvonne Giles. For more see M. Davis, "First female black pharmacist no longer forgotten," Lexington Herald-Leader, 2/08/2009; and the Harriett Beecher Stowe Marble entry in Who's Who of the Colored Race 1915.