MORAVIA - When Fred Hawley first entered into the pharmaceutical business in the late 1800s, prescriptions were made with a mortar and pestle, and often took two days to fill.

Storekeepers were much like family, and catching up on the latest news was nothing more than stopping into your neighborhood general store for a chat.

For three generations, Hawley's Rexall Drugs located in the heart of Moravia served the community with not only health products and everyday necessities, but with the nostalgic sentimentality of small town traditions.

On Saturday, the residents of Moravia watched as a small piece of their small town history was sold to the highest bidder. More than 100 years of drugstore collectibles and antiques were auctioned off by T.W. Conroy auction house of Baldwinsville.

"I would have liked to keep it," said Ralph Hawley Jr., who has worked the store with his brother, Richard, since their father's death in 1958. "I would have liked to see it pass through a couple more generations, but things don't always turn out as planned."

In 1902, Fred Hawley purchased a half share in H.H. Alley, the drugstore where he was employed as a pharmacist. Six years later, in 1906, Hawley's son, Ralph Sr., purchased the remaining shares and so the pharmaceutical family tradition began.

At Saturday's auction, scores of antique collectors and Moravia residents filled the once-thriving business to bid on drugstore antiques dating back to the mid-1800s.

More than 180 glass medicine bottles, circa 1860 to 1890, went for $2,500 dollars to Lance Hoyt of Brewerton. Hoyt is an antique's purchaser and will take his finds back home to sell for a profit on the Internet.

Among the items up for auction was a wood-framed, rocking chair, period dated to the late 1800s, which went for $85 dollars, and a Cayuga County Courier, dated June 8, 1864, which sold for $10.

Not all who attended the auction were happy to see the items sold. Many attendees were lifelong Moravia residents.

Stephen Sawyer and his brother, John, can remember shopping in the drugstore as young children.

"We just wanted to see what things were being sold and for how much," Sawyer said. "We would just like to be able to buy a little something to bring home as a reminder."

When he was just 15-years-old, Pete Kelsey had worked at the drugstore, cleaning the floors and running the cash register.

"I can remember about 43-years ago, using a green powder to clean the floors," Kelsey said. "It is just a shame to see such a big piece of your history being sold off. Moravia is losing its history little by little. It's just a shame."