File:Mollie Rolnick (Mrs H.N. Werntz).jpg

Summary

This store wasn't in early Brunswick; it was in Annapolis. So why are we posting it?

The reason is that this is the house and store in which Mollie Rolnick (Mrs H.N. Werntz) grew up with her brother Malachi (Mutt) Rolnick, who lived in Brunswick in the Jordan house on Maryland Avenue. As many of you remember, Mutt Rolnick ran the grocery business in the Werntz store and Mr. Werntz lived with the Rolnicks in Brunswick during the week before returning to his home in Baltimore over the weekends.

What follows is a description of the photo and a history of the house from the Maryland State Archivist, Glenn Campbell:

"The picture was taken by an unknown photographer before 1910 and shows the buildings now known as 99 Main Street and the adjoining 196 Green Street. 99 Main was built as a commercial property in 1791, and 196 Green soon after as an attached rear kitchen that was later expanded and converted into a separate residence. These structures are now the home of the Historic Annapolis Museum at the St. Clair Wright Center.

According to Robert Harry McIntire's book Annapolis Maryland Families, Moses Rolnick was born about 1860 and his wife Sarah in about 1853. The couple had 7 children: Mollie (who married H.N. Werntz), Lena (who married Albert L. Weitzman), Harry (a druggist), George, Malachi, Frances, and Dora.

An archaeological report on the property at the intersection of Main and Green streets notes that Sarah Rolnick bought 99 Main Street in 1903. In 1908, Moses bought 99 Main from his wife and also bought 196 Green Street, thus reuniting the two buildings under one ownership for the first time since 1871. Louis and Pauline Bloom bought both buildings from the Rolnick heirs in 1918."

According to Professor Wilfred Stein of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who is researching the Rolnick family history and sent us this photo, "it is probably Mrs Sarah Rolnick who is standing in the doorway and maybe Moses himself next to her, just visible. If you enlarge the photo, note the name 'S Rol....k' hidden by the telegraph pole".

(Photo courtesy of Wilfred Stein and the Maryland State Archives)