Odenton History: General Stores, Part 2

From 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, the Odenton Heritage Society Museum will have an open house, featuring a display on general stores in the Odenton area. 

The society has provided articles outlining the history of each store, and Patch will re-print them with permission. On Thursday, Patch offered a history of Pumphrey's store.

Today, Patch offers this history of Taylor's Store, provided by the Odenton Heritage Society.

​Frank Taylor was a motorman on the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad.  He drove the big passenger and freight cars for many years.  The W. B. & A. ceased operations in 1935.

After the construction of Route 175 in the late 1930s, the Taylors opened a grocery store next door to their home, which stood on the new highway near Oakwood (now Oakton) Road. Frank died in 1946, and Florence continued to operate the store until the 1960s.  Doris Cowen, Florence Taylor’s niece, described the interior of the store as it appeared in the 1940s and 1950s. ​On the left side of the store, near the entrance, there were daily newspapers and bottled soft drinks, including a rack with Suburban Club soda.  

Joe Hoernig, my father (Florence’s brother), brought sodas up from the basement. He also brought up a wire carrier with Sinclair oil in glass bottles for motorists who stopped to fill their tanks at gasoline pumps in front of the store.

​On the left side, the Taylors also sold crackers, ginger snaps and cookies in open boxes with prices marked on the lids.  There was also a bread rack.  ​Across the back of the store there was an ice cream freezer and a counter with stools. Florence served ice cream in cones or boxes. There was also a meat case; Frank cut meats, including sausage and hot dogs. He had a meat slicer, butcher block and saws.​

On the right side of the store, there was a long glass case with candy. It had two dozen candy dishes with bulk candy such as Mary Janes and fireballs, as well as chewing gum. Behind the shelves were over-the-counter drugs including Milk of Magnesia, aspirin and Stanback. At the bottom of candy case, socks and nylons were displayed. Florence hung socks on a “clothesline” (rope) with clothes pins. At the end of the counter were school supplies.​ Florence stood behind each of the three counters as needed. There were no hired helpers at the store, just Frank, Florence and Joe. Florence always had cigar boxes for change and kept one on each side of the room. The Taylors also sold cigars, cigarettes and chewing tobacco at the store.

See also: 

• A History of Pumphrey's Store

The Odenton Heritage Society Museum is located at 1367 Odenton Rd., Odenton.