July 7

The long history of the Francis Scott Key Hotel came to an end on the afternoon of July 7, 1975, when Potomac Edison cut the electrical power to the 52-year-old structure.

For nearly as long as Frederick Town existed there was a hotel or a tavern on the site, but the exodus to the suburbs, began here when the Seventh Street Shopping Center opened in 1957, sounded the death knell for the downtown hostelry.

For years the facility had run into hard times. In 1965 Loyola Federal Savings and Loan purchased the property and refurbished it. The bank took the old main dining room and converted it into a branch bank.

On October 11, 1972, Norman Todd, the former president of a steel manufacturing firm in Point of Rocks, bought the hotel. He completed extensive renovations, but hard economic times kicked a big hole in travel, and out-of-town visitors preferred to stay at motels on the outskirts of the city.

Todd tried valiantly to make a go of the enterprise. But on July 7 Todd was unable to make a payment on an outstanding $20,000 electricity bill, and Potomac Edison turned the power off.

When Potomac Edison informed Todd at 3 p.m. that the power would be disrupted at 4 p. m., he immediately notified the guests. The employees, however, did not learn of the problem until just before the end came. There were 56 people working there at the time and each lost his or her job.

In August it was announced that the hotel would be sold at public auction by Farmers & Mechanics Nation Bank, which held the mortgage. And, so, on September 3, 1975, Homewood Retirement Centers of Williamsport, purchased the property for $360,000.

July 14

Around Frederick County the name Rosenstock has been revered for most of the 20th Century. The success of those bearing that name has been evident in both the legal profession and in local industry.

At Hood College there is a building that is called Rosenstock Hall. It was named for the generous contribution to that institution by Samuel Rosenstock and his wife Henrietta.

Mr. Rosenstock was born in Baltimore July 14, 1885. After attending Baltimore's public schools, he was a student at Marston University School, the Stratton School, and Lehigh University. His first job was working for his uncles in the canning business at 4-cents an hour. Later he worked as a runner for a Wall Street firm in New York.

When he was 19 he became the manager of the Frederick City Packing Company and the 662-acre Richland Farm. Two years later he bought a 1/3 interest in that business, eventually becoming its sole owner.

At the age of 43 he bought a canning plant in Thurmont and renamed it the Western Maryland Packing Company. His interests were varied and not solely confined to his business activities. He was on the Advisory Council of The Visitation Academy, the board of Frederick County National Bank, Frederick Memorial Hospital, the Salvation Army and the Girl Scouts.

When a friend, Dr. William Schnauffer, died in 1950, leaving two young children, Mr. Sam became a surrogate father to the young son. Though he was Jewish himself, he accompanied William Schnauffer IV to All Saints Episcopal Church for many years.

His wife, Henrietta, was a remarkable woman in her own right. Before her marriage she was a secretary/analyst, one of the first women to work on Wall Street. During World War I, Mrs. Rosenstock was one of eight women chief petty officers in the U. S. Navy.

Throughout their lives together, Sam and Henrietta Rosenstock took an active interest in Hood College, Frederick Memorial Hospital, Goodwill Industries, and several other local charities and institutions. In 1976, the college awarded "Mr. Sam" an honorary doctor of humanities degree. In 1978, after the death of his wife, "Mr. Sam" donated his one half share in two Frederick County farms to Hood. Mr. Sam died in 1981. He and his wife are buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

July 21

When Dr. Austin Pearre returned to Frederick in 1925 to open his medical practice, his family had already been involved in helping the sick in Frederick for 41 years.

His fatherhad started to work for Garrott and Steele's drug store on the Square Corner. He was 18 at the time and would remain in the pharmacy business until his death in 1944. When Dr. Garrott died suddenly, Dr. Pearre entered into partnership with his widow, Henrianna, and began operating the store as Garrott & Pearre.

Albert Pearre eventually became the sole owner, and the name was changed to Albert L. Pearre, Apothecary, and later changed again to Pearre's Modern Pharmacy.

In 1908 he moved his store into a building at 18 South Market St. There the store remained until his death in 1944.

His son Austin Pearre became a medical doctor. After graduating from Boys High School in 1915, Austin Pearre obtained his bachelor's and medical degrees from the University of Virginia. His specialty was internal medicine and cardiology. He also served the Odd Fellows Home and the Maryland School for The Deaf.

In 1953 he helped Dr. Helen Taussig organize the Frederick County Heart Association and served as its president in 1963. He also was elected vice-president of the Maryland Heart Association.

Dr. Pearre accumulated numerous awards for his work, but never thumped his own chest. He was mild-mannered and confident in his own abilities.

He retired from active practice in 1977 and died y on July 21, 1979, at the age of 78.

July 28

On Thursday, July 27, 1978, The Frederick Post carried a story which shocked its readers. On the front page was an article which announced that Frederick County Products, one of the oldest continuing business in the county, was closing its doors effective the next day (July 28).

Warner Brittain, who had been associated with the firm for 39 years, said that the Board of Directors had voted to cease operations, effective immediately. Brittain said that the cost of regulatory controls demanded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency would made continuing operations prohibitive

"We are now faced with very large and immediate expenses for the replacement of equipment and the modernization of an aging plant to meet strict standards to be imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency."

He said that EPA was requiring, the company to pre-treat its sewerage discharge before it entered the city sanitary system. The size of the company, which employed 36 people, was such that the prices could not have been raised to the point that the expenses could have been recovered within a reasonable time.

"Since we have little control over the price we pay for cattle or the prices we can charge for dressed beef, these increases cannot be passed on to the consumer," Brittain said.

The plant, located on East South St., was variously known as "The Ice Plant" and Brittain's.