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tomac Street, until mid-1990, the address of Moler's

Market, the last holdout of neighborhood convenience-grocery stores. Jt1nior bought the business in 1957; Forest G. "Red" Moler managed for his son as the latter continued managing the family farm until he took over management of the store. Moler's was more than a neighborhood convenience store, it drew people on Sundays from throughout town and even from Virginia. It had the ambiance of a latter-day grocery store, if not the size. It has been sorely missed since its closing. Maier's followed a similar store bought in 1954 by a partnership of Churchman and Ridgeway of Washington. Briefly around World War II, Luther McMurry operated a place for young people to dance, where soft drinks and snacks were sold. A tinsmith shop was operated in this building for years by Ortense Smoots. Before this, Fellows and Thompson had a grocery store here in the 1930's.

for Swift & Company, and learned his trade. He brought home a bride from Springfield, Ohio, Jeanie Brown. After Charles returned to Brunswick he butchered for Hemp's meat store in Jefferson, and also worked for Frye's store when it was located a cross from the present fire hall. Bowers eventually opened a butcher shop at 315 West Potomac Street. There he killed and dressed chickens, and sold other meats as well. Jeanette Ephraim remembers frequently visiting her grandfather's shop around 1927, during her West Brunswick School lunch period. She also recalls that Genie Long at one time worked in the store. Charlie Brown of Brunswick recalls other businesses there, especially a dry goods store in the 1920's. For decades there was no longer a store in the street-level room; however, people lived in the two apartments above the butcher shop. Both owner and tenants allowed the building to deteriorate. Hence the town's severe measures, forcing the owner to raze the building, ending a scarcely-remembered segment of Brunswick's past.

WEST POTOMAC STREET

Jumping over the "downtown stores" of Beatty and Werntz on East Potomac Street and George's Hardware, Potomac Furniture, and Dailey's Funeral Parlor (later Betty Lou's Dance Studio) on West Potomac, we encounter a series of changes in the last commercial building before Florida Avenue. At 326, proprietors have been "Aunt Annie" Turner, Charlie Huffman/Hoffman; Jacob Fry, who carried bolt material by the yard as well as groceries; J. Herb Porter, a barber; Dewey and Marguerite Hickman's West End Grocery; a flea market/antique shop was there; and for a while the local town paper was published from this address. At present it houses the office of Chuck Thornton, C.P.A. The lots of 313 and 315 West Potomac Street must invite a second look from many passersby. For years the building there was in a state of continuous deterioration; the town had to take stringent measures to force the former owner to remove the ruins. A poured cement foundation partially outlines a hole in the hillside, but the threat of fire was erased. One of the earliest tenants in this building is reported by Mrs. Sherman Lowry. A Doctor Schamel delivered her in 1906, according to word of mouth through the late Hilda Barker, who told Mrs. Lowry about her memory of the event. Jeanette House Ephraim remembers when her grandfather Charles Bowers operated a butcher shop there. (Charles Bowers was a brother of John Bowers, president of Peoples National Bank, now F&M Bank.) Charles went to Ohio, where he became a butcher

WENNER'S HILL

Thickly settled Wenner' s Hill area had its share of neighborhood groceries. Miss Bessie Lowery (later Hardy) had a store at the northeast corner of "C" Street and Maple A venue. She handled general food essentials. Steps to the store remain on the Maple Avenue side of the dwelling and lead directly to the room that housed the business. The Virts' store was owned by the father of the late Johnny and Catherine Virts. It was located at 317 North Maple Avenue, and the family lived at 323. This later became Nuse's store, with Jake and Ada Nuse as proprietors. Hoffmaster' s was a sizeable store at 409 Maple Avenue. AfterTom'sdeath,hissonJ. W.continued the business several years before closing the store. In perhaps the third decade of this century there was a store run by the Monroes at the corner of "H" Street. It was sold to Ed Huffman, who moved his business to "G" Street and Maple (southeast corner). Charlotte Nalley Hammond remembers this from the latP 1920's. On the northwest comer of "G" Street and Maple was a small grocery owned by William B. Wenner for many years. "Pink" Nalley ran the store for Wenner; later, Bee Brady, then Lillian Rosen managed it. The corner store was converted into a dwelling. When Pink Nalley left Wenner, he opened a store in the basement of his home at 707 North

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