Picture This

Long before SugarBakers took up residence on Frederick Road, the Fred A. Seicke French Confectionery and adjacent Ice Cream Manufactory offered Catonsville residents a place to salve that sweet tooth. A sign atop the building on the right claims it was established in 1857. This c.1900 glass plate photograph shows the businesses and their workers at 624 and 622 Frederick Road. Later in the 20^th century, this site would be home to Union Trust Company and Alpha Lunch.

The Seickes were an enterprising family engaged in services of a practical nature, as well. Frederick A. Seicke, Jr., lived at 715 Frederick Road, where he offered sign making, public telephones and the installation of call bells, electrical/gas lighting and burglary systems among other things. The Directory for Baltimore, Carroll and Harford Counties, published in 1878, lists a Miss A. M. Seicke as a baker and confectioner in Catonsville, whose population at the time was 2,000.

- Dianne Burch

Thanks go to Bryce Rumbles, librarian at the Catonsville Branch, and Lisa Vicari, Catonsville Room volunteer and board member, Friends of the Catonsville Library, for their assistance.