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1907 S. W. George and Co., moved to the

southwest corner of Potomac Street and Delaware A venue after buying out Swank.

business. When fire destroyed the Hovermale building, Donald reopened the business at 107 East Potomac Street, next to the site of the former H. N. Werntz building at First Avenue and East Potomac Street. In all of the locations, the "Shoe Shop" was a place where a group of men, mostly railroad retirees, would gather daily to "shoot the breeze," exchange gossip, and keep up with all the news. Locations of Harrington Shoe Shops: 1. Between the tracks. 2. Possibly on South Virginia Avenue near the tracks. 3. West Potomac Street, next to Antiques N' Ole Stuff. 4. West Potomac Street - Swank Building (now razed), next to F&M Bank. 5. West Potomac Street - Hovermale building (now razed). 6. East Potomac Street - next to Werntz building.

cl 910 Swank opened a store on West Potomac Street in the Swank Building.

Early 1940's Peoples Home and Au to Store in the Swank Building had a section devoted to hardware; subsequently relocated to new quarters on East Potomac Street. 1954 Swank building razed to make room for new bridge. 1973 Brunswick Hardware. Leroy Strawsburg and Melvin Taylor bought the S. W. George building. 1978 Brunswick Hardware remodeled basement and added sporting goods store.

An 1895 Business Directory lists Jonas E. Haudt and Peter L. Peters, as Brunswick shoemakers, and the 1909-10-11 Maryland State Gazetteer contains an entry for Jacob Kramer as a Brunswick shoemaker, along with George W. Harrington, Jr. Scharfs History of Western Maryland (1882) lists Joseph Shilling as a shoe repairman in Berlin. A 1928 Blade Times announced on page one that "Messrs. Roccisano and Arena, proprietors of a shoe repair shop on West Potomac Street, have recently opened another shop in Middletown."

1988 Ace Hardware opened new store in Brunswick Shopping Center. W - MMM

THE HARRINGTON SHOE REPAIR SHOPS Shoe repairing was a family vocation in the Harrington family. George Washington Harrington is said to have had cobblers in his ancestry, and he possibly began the family business in Brunswick in the area between the tracks. Later the business moved north of the tracks. At some time, the business was located in a building on the alley between East Potomac and "A" Streets now known as Mooseheart Drive. George Washington Harrington's son George Wesley, operated a shoe repair shop in the first block of West Potomac Street next to what is now Antiques N' Ole Stuff. George Wesley's sons, Bill and Donald, began their apprenticeship in their father's shop, and Bill later took over the business. Donald married and moved to Berkeley Springs where he opened his own shop. Bill Harrington moved the shop to the Swank & Son building, which was then located next to the present F&M Bank on West Potomac Street; he later moved to the Hovermale building a block farther west, across from the Fire Hall. On Bill Harrington's death ir. 1964, his brother Donald returned to Brunswick and took over the

W-WHH

HAULING As long time residents of Brunswick will remember, inhabitants of the town did not always enjoy the convenience of weekly garbage collection or the convenience of having material hauled where needed. Among the first were the men running livery stables in Berlin between the railroad tracks. Mr. Will Conner is representative of this group. He not only hauled, but also rented teams and wagon, horse and buggy and horse and saddle. He was active in the early 1900's. The corning of the motor car terminated his services. Gladys (Sis) Dean, his 89-year old daughter is the last living member of her immediate family. "Duck" Hathaway provided hauling services with his horse and wagon in the early 1920's. In the 1920's and 30's, Richard L. Anderson

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