View source for File:Beans in the Belfry Stain Glass Windows, Melanie DiPasquale from the Frederick News-Post, January 23, 2021.jpg

=={{int:filedesc}}==
{{Information
|description={{hsb|1=From church to cafe, Brunswick's Beans in the Belfry preserves history 
By Hannah Himes  for the Frederick News-Post, January 23, 2021

Photo of Melanie DiPasquale by Graham Cullen

Under some of the stained glass windows in Brunswick’s Beans in the Belfry, there are names. Built 110 years ago, the historic red brick building was originally the German Reformed Church, and the names belong to people to which the windows were dedicated.
Since 2004, Beans in the Belfry has been a cozy meeting place and cafe, embracing a rich history inside the walls of the structure at 122 W. Potomac St. in downtown Brunswick. But until recently, the owners were unaware of the origin or meaning of the names etched under the windows. Melanie DiPasquale, who owns the business with her parents Hanna and Jim Politis, said her father became curious about them and led a charge to learn the history.
“He is a history buff,” DiPasquale said. “He was a high school history teacher … Before COVID, he and my mom would come out and host brunch every Sunday, and I’m sure — and I’m speaking for him now — I’m sure that being in the building and being a history buff and seeing these names got him wondering. And he’s actually the one that spearheaded the whole project.”
Jim Politis reached out to the Brunswick History Commission, and Dr. Wayne Allgaier, a member of the commission, went to work. He ended up providing a 40-page booklet detailing the histories of the names under the windows and the roles of the people in the community and the church. In total, Allgaier said there are 12 names.
“It was really cool,” DiPasquale said. “Brunswick captured me when I moved here … just the idea of people remaining in this town that have the same last names for generations upon generations. So like my kids were going to school with people with these same last names, you know, and to me that was so foreign. I’m first generation here in the United States.”
It was interesting to DiPasquale that her children go to school with some of the same families, a testament to how small-town America really works.
“To me, it’s just totally fascinating,” she said.
And that history isn’t just in Allgaier’s booklet. There are QR codes next to the names now so people can scan the codes and read the histories.
Because she wasn’t the one who did the research, DiPasquale said she’s even more in awe that someone did it and that it can add to people’s experience at Beans in the Belfry.
“You can go a lot of places and get a cup of coffee,” she said. “It enriches the experience for both people from around here that come once or twice a week or every day and also people that will never come back again.”
The codes add something extra to the experience and are almost symbolic of how briefly we’re here, she added.
“I never consider myself like the owner of this building,” DiPasquale said. “I consider us to be the temporary caretakers of this building because it’s been passed through our hands to somebody else, whether that be family, descendants, whatever. I feel an obligation and responsibility to protect this building while I’m here, knowing that somebody else is going to, hopefully, do the same.”
But it’s also out of respect for the people who built, worshipped and celebrated life’s moments in the church.
“Anything I can do to preserve stuff, I do,” DiPasquale said.
For Allgaier, researching the names under the windows included efforts like using census records and other materials to gather information about the people and their families.
He said the most interesting name on the list for him is Mary McDonald.
“If you go to the [cafe] today, you will not see her name on any window,” he said. “The reason she’s included is because, from earlier research … Her son was a Civil War veteran, and researching him earlier, I learned about his mother … and in her will, she had written that she was bequeathing $25 to the Reformed Church to have a stained glass window put up in her memory.”
There are eight windows in the sanctuary, Allgaier said, and while seven have names, one does not, and he believes it’s her window.
Allgaier said the older you get, the more you realize the importance of history.
“The more I learn about these people, the more I learn about my past and the past history of Brunswick,” he said. “These individuals had lives and contributed to Brunswick just like we have lives today and, hopefully, are contributing to Brunswick.”}}
|date=2021-01-23
|source={{own}}
|author=[[User:Jknight|Jknight]]
|permission=
|other versions=
}}

=={{int:license-header}}==
{{self|cc-by-sa-4.0}}

[[Category:Business]]