Vintage Advertisements (Greencastle, PA)

At 8 East Baltimore Street, adjacent to the town square in Greencastle, there is a brick building once occupied by Carl’s Drug Store. The painted sign, high above the other surrounding structures, remains easy to read as if the drug store may still actually exist. Currently, however, the building is occupied by E.L.M. Department store that covers a number of buildings on the northeast corner of the square. My guess, completely unsubstantiated at this point, is that Carl’s was a place to go after school or on Friday or Saturday evenings for ice cream and soda. Given its location in the center of town, I am willing to be that it was a local social gathering place for young people.

Another interesting artifact is the building at 24 South Carlisle Street. Currently it is Kerm’s Card Shop, specializing in sports memorabilia and cards. But it is clear from wording on the window that the building was a former grocery store. There are signs, which appear to be affixed to the windows, advertising Coca-Cola, meats, and self-service groceries. The signs catch my eyes because they are (and the store itself) is similar to the neighborhood grocery that was just down the street from where I grew up in Louisville. My Mom would sometimes send me down to Fanny’s to get thinly sliced bologna or a carton of Pepsi. In the days before he discovered he was a juvenile diabetic, my Dad would have a 16-ounce bottle nearly every day when he came home from work. I was afraid of Fanny, she often yelled at us kids for seemingly no good reason. I remember one time, when I was about five or six, I was sent to the store for a carton of soft drinks and, after my purchase, she yelled at me because I was slouching as I carried the eight-pack of 16-ounce bottles. When I said they were heavy, she told me that I needed build muscles. I sure she made somewhat of a cogent argument but I was too scared to hear and no longer remember. Another time, because of my fear of Fanny, I convinced by friend Mike to go in and buy bologna for my mom. Mike and his brother Allen were the only kids Fanny ever liked in the neighborhood. Apparently she asked Mike how he would like the bologna sliced and he told her he did not know because it was for my mom. Fanny came out found me waiting around the corner for Mike and started berating me for not purchasing my mom’s order. She knew my mom liked her bologna sliced thin. 

I would never think to eat bologna today; however, I do remember how good it seemed to taste back then.