Benjamin F. Downing, Jr. was a registered pharmacist at 22 Broadway in Newport circa 1880. He moved many times to other locations on Broadway and by 1886 opened under the name Downing Bros., Registered Pharmacists with George F. Downing as partner. They were located at 42-44 Broadway.

They dealt in the usual medicines of the time as well as perfumery, toilet articles, and their own Extract of Witch Hazel.

In the early 1920's both men passed away, and George Fay and Carrie O. Downing, George Downing's widow, took over the business. By 1932 the company was sold to Millard F. Sherman who continued to use the Downing name, Downing Bros. Pharmacy. The company continued to grow as dispensing chemists, and the Downing Bros. name was still around as recently as the 1960's.