File:Hemp's Meat & Groceries (circa 1920).jpg

Summary

This is a picture of Hemp's Meat & Groceries (circa 1920) that was located in the eastern storefront of the Hovermale building on West Potomac Street. The store was later occupied by Roelke & Dixon's Market and finally, the combination of Harrington's Shoe Repair and Nicodemus News before it was destroyed by fire in February, 1979.

Abe Hemp, the man with the mustache on the left, butchered his own meat at the family farm near Steiner's Hill. The Hemp family still sells fresh meat in Jefferson today.

The history of the grocery business that served the railroader families of Brunswick shows significant connectivity. Lloyd E. Roelke acquired his first store with Leonard Weedy when they bought Abe Hemp's business in this location in the early 1920s. Mr. Roelke had started his career in the grocery business with the Beatty meat shop near the YMCA. Mr. Weedy later sold his share to Mr. Roelke, who partnered with Pete Dixon after he was furloughed on the railroad. The Englishman Weedy, who with his brother Ralph, went on to work for Bill Wenner at the City Meat Market for a while, later opened his own grocery stores in 2 Potomac St locations. Leonard Weedy also served as a butcher for the Acme store when it was on West Potomac Street.

When the Roelke-Dixon partnership dissolved in 1943, Mr. Roelke bought out Orrison's grocery in the building next to the Reformed Church (now Beans in the Belfry). Mr. Roelke operated there until his retirement in 1956. Lloyd Roelke's son Bill operated in the same location until 1958 when he moved to the Cincotta Building next door to JJ Newberry's where the Acme Store began. Bill Roelke continued the family business there until his own retirement and sale of the business to the Campbell family in 1977.

(Photo courtesy of the Brunswick Heritage Museum and Brunswick Community Library; Frederick County Public Libraries)