John D. Lyons was born in 1884 in Nebraska. He married Marie Sill (1885-1950) on July 14, 1908 in Paw Paw, Michigan. In 1909, he opened the John D. Lyons Drug Company located at 1301 Portage Street in Kalamazoo. According to the Kalamazoo city directories the store sold drugs, stationary, cigars and tobacco, ice cream and sodas and was also a news depot.

In 1916, John was injured in a hunting accident in Wakefield that resulted in having to have one of his legs amputated. In 1942, John opened a second location at 1029 West North St. The first location at 1301 Portage St. closed in 1948 so that only the W. North St location remained. The 1301 Portage St. location later became the George McDonald Drug Company. The W. North St. location continued to operate after John Lyon’s death in 1958, as his son John D. Lyons Jr. (b. 1915) took over the operation. However, the store disappears from city directories by 1968.