Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/29

==== THE GROSS' STORE ====

or enjoying a picnic. The Jordan home and lawn was a center of social activity in Brunswick. In 1923 the Peoples National Bank acquired the easternmost 25 feet of what had been Jordan's lawn to add to the 27 feet they already owned. In 1925, Sam Cincotta acquired 25 feet contiguous to the bank property; King's Pizza has been at home there for several years. Robert Foster obtained 30 feet of the lawn in 1921, where he built the house at 109 West Potomac Street, now owned by Alice C. Kehne. Luther B. Darr owned the remaining 83 feet by 100 feet in 1921, which he sold to the Methodist Episcopal church in 1923. Today Fast Eddies is located on that lot, although a Shell filling station conducted business there for years and years. Owned today by June Baxter, the John L.Jordan house now contains four apartments, which are located on a base which incorporated the pre-1800 foundation.

The elder William L. Gross bought land at the bottom.of South Maryland Avenue from Sarah Birmingham, a Berliner, and built a store in 1893. The Berlin-Lovettsville Bridge Co. bridge gave new impetus to business in Brunswick and to the railroad.As the railroad prospered, the Gross store prospered. It was a sort of mini-mall in today's terms. There were groceries on the left side of the large front room and dry goods on the right side. Beside this was a separate room with its own outside door left of the entrance to Gross' store - and it had its own awning. It housed a drug store operated by a druggist, Dr. W. H. Gannon, who offered prescriptions "at all hours." Behind the front rooms was a wareroom for Mr. Cross' own use. In addition to the general merchandise the business included farm machinery. Shoes, linoleum, and matting (a straw floor covering popular in those days) were sold on the second floor. Over the drug store Dr. W. B. Watson had opened his dental office and another dentist, Dr. T. A. Ramey, M.D., D.D.S., had his office there. Each had a two-room suite. In the store there remains a still workable elevator powered by a rope pulley.

MR. WERNTZ - "KING OF THE HILL"

Mr. Himan N. Werntz replaced John L. Jordan as "king of the hill" on the west side of North Maryland A venue. The Jordan House (1855) remains on half of Lot 47 behind Fast Eddies. Mr. Werntz aquired lots 48, 49, and 50 in 1919. The twu attractive and well-kept houses on Lot 48 remain. The rest of the land to "B" Street was consumed eventually by the bridge approaches of 1955 and grass median. Lutman' splat shows a "Still House" in 1791 on this land near the present "B" Street. Before the 1955 bridge, this area extended across Maryland A venue and provided a huge area for carnivals. The band shell from City Park was moved here for community gatherings. After the bridge, Maryland A venue became a through street to Petersville Road. Alta Nuce had a town Christmas tree placed there in memory of her father, former councilman Bill Nuce.

BAXTER, JUNE (THE JORDAN HOUSE) (13 North Maryland Avenue)

Jacob Brombock, an early trader, first built a house here in 1763. He is credited with having nursed George Washington back to health at Fort Duquesne. The house has been razed and rebuilt several times, but part of the present foundation dates back to the original building, according to Rev. H. Austin Cooper, local historian. The November 27, 1787, transfer from Leonard Smith to Joseph West granted this one-quarter acre lot, number 47, "with the building, profits, and advantages of said lot." It would be a likely conclusion that the present house was built between 1854 and 1857, according to the research of the late Arthur Lutman, deed researcher who prepared plats of the town of Berlin. A deed of October 22. 1869, transfers to John L. Jordan, Sr., a "two-story weatherboard house" and ground for $2,000. Both John L. Jordan, Sr., and John L. Jordan, Jr., (first mayor of Brunswick and clerk of Frederick County Court) owned the property respectively from 1869 to 1891 and 1891 to 1918. For years a long sloping lawn drifted across a row of lots to Potomac Street, with people sitting around under the trees, listening to a band concert

CONNER, Mr. and Mrs. Henry (BEALL-JORDAN-SWANK-MCMURRYCONNER HOUSE)

The oldest house in Brunswick stands at 127 West Potomac Street. Theodore Beall married Susanna Eve Greenfield on April 26, 1791. In the same year, Beall acquired jointly with Samuel Turner Lot 23, where today stands the Beall-to-Connor house. No transfer of this property is found until 1855, when Beall's heirs transferred to John L. Jordan, Sr., the house that Mr. Beall died "seized and possessed of" in

30