History of the American Pharmacists Association

Founded as the American Pharmaceutical Association on October 6, 1852, APhA is the largest association of pharmacists in the United States and the only organization advancing the entire pharmacy profession — including pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, new practitioners, and pharmacy technicians.

Among its founders' goals was to improve, regulate, and professionalize the pharmacy profession, establishing quality standards for drugs, combating quackery, and improving pharmacist education. Virtually every pharmacy specialty organization can trace its roots back to APhA. APhA policy is developed by its House of Delegates, first organized in 1912. Today, APhA continues to lead pharmacy practice and advocate for the profession.

In the 1920s and 1930s, APhA was able to secure coveted land on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for construction of its national headquarters. Designed by famed architect John Russell Pope (whose work includes the National Archives, Jefferson Memorial and the Tate Gallery Rotunda in London), the American Institute of Pharmacy was built at 22nd Street and Constitution Avenue and dedicated in 1934. An annex was constructed later, being dedicated in 1960. Today, the annex has been demolished and has made way for a new addition to the original Pope building, completed in 2009.

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