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Today is the 15th of September 1980 and we're at the home of. Horace Brown Junior. Um, Horace is here as well as his brother Hugh. And we're gonna talk about the Brown family and Falls Church as it used to be. Some of the changes have taken

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place. Um, Where, where did your grandfather, JW Brown, where did he first live? Did you say taught school. for quite a while and also in uh Guilford, Virginia where in Pennsylvania you know where in Pennsylvania it was uh They're closing we're in Chambersburg. In the southern

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part of Pennsylvania. And then he taught school in Guilford, Guilford, which is in Loudoun County. Well, I believe when he was boarding with my. Grandmother, before she married him, they were in, it was in Vienna, Virginia. And that's how he became acquainted with her. And after

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they were married, they moved to Falls Church. He bought the store building there where the where the present location is. He lived, he operated the business there for a while and she was up in Loudoun County. She stayed at the time of the birth of the

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first child, which is my aunt Mary. She was in the lab Um, And they bought the store from Harry Turner, and Harry Turner lived on Little Fall Street, I believe. And on, uh, Other pieces of property there in the central part of town also, I believe.

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He did own property in Falls Church at that time. And didn't he live over on Little Fall Street? You don't know about. Uh. That would've been 1883. And when they first operated the store, was it a uh. General store, grocery store and hardware and. Yeah, the

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old bill head says JW Brown. Hardware paints and I call it queen's warre I guess it's what they called it in those days and it was like housewares queen queen wear. Is that metal or ceramic or it was probably at that time in enamel ware tin

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or whatever cast iron enamel. Um Well, What do you remember, uh, as far back as. Your memories will go, your personal memories. What do you remember about Falls Church about the store? or. You said something about, There being a side door. To the house and store

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or was that, was that out of the store or out of the house? The store and the house faced on Broad Street. And with the. Back of the store facing toward East Falls Church. Right. And But on the Washington Street side about in the middle when

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I was very small, there was a a double door. Wooden door with two glasses in it. And they opened out onto Washington Street and there was a gas pump outside. And later when the building was remodeled and I think my father had a stuff code and.

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And uh at the time that door was sealed off. What about this uh time you got the hose loose and well, I'm, I'm not sure how much of that I really remember and how much I know that my mother told me, but that's when I was

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very, very small, I took the hose off the old gas pump and it apparently had gas up in the top and I got pretty well wet down and I ran around the back of the house and came into the kitchen where. Mother had a big black

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cook stove common to those days. And there was a fire going in it and I, she made sure I was removed from there pretty quick before that gasoline she realized that you had gasoline on. Uh, nobody set fire to you for no, no troubles other than

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washing, I guess. Uh, was the barn, the storage barn behind, was that part of the original? Shut up. Original original born, I think. Set up so it had a it was an old hay loft in it and when they had a horse to do the delivery

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they kept the horse in there. But I guess uh first I remember there was, there were some sheds built. You know south of that. That barn that was used just to store merchandise in. The horse was no longer there and first I remember was a Model

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A truck as a delivery. You mean you had no Model T. There was a Model T that sat around there. I remember the Model T. You do. I remember the Model. What do you remember about it? Well, I remember Bun Lee drove it for my father.

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And my father could drive. But he never did get a license, and I remember when my father bought the Model A. And it was quite new and there were very few cars in. Compared to these days, of course, in the area and He would get up

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real early on Sunday morning and drive the Model A around town just to. Make sure he could do it, but why he didn't get a license, I'll never know. Did you, the store deliver that, at that time? Yes. The, um, Customer I think in the time

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was that people in the area that were customers of the store would telephone their orders in for groceries. And we would fill the orders and put them in boxes and load them in the back of the truck and. Deliver them house to house and put the

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groceries in the kitchens. Did you do some of that later on as long as I was, as soon as I was big enough to be of help, I every Saturday, that was one of my jobs. Now let's see, how old are you? I'm. See, one more

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week, I'll be 58. 58 and you were born in uh 1922. 22 September 26. And when were you born? 1926 in March, now 54. Um, Do you remember anything of, uh, Uncle Nathan Lynch in his store. I remember Mr. Lynch, yes. Did you See him very

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much or have any, uh, Dealings with him Well, after my. My father remodeled the store. He and at the time that he did it, what year was that? I don't remember, but I was very small and hardly remember it. But at that time when that door

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that I mentioned was closed, he also got rid of gasoline. And Mr. Lynch had a gas pump in front of his, he had a feed and hardware store. It was over where I guess about where the uh is the Boar's Head is now giant music. And

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uh. It was a type of gas pump that had a big glass globe with marks on it and a pump handle at the bottom and you'd pump gasoline. Up into the glass globe until it got to the level that you wanted and then. You release the

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valve and fill the tanks for that many gallons. We have a picture of that and we, we as kids would got a big bang out of. Pumping the thing up for Mr. Lynch. And And I, I, I do remember he had a. An office with a

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potbellied stove in it and a rolltop desk and. You'd go in and if you needed something. Um, He would tell you where it was. You could go get it and bring it in and you'd pay him and he'd make change out of his pocket. And uh

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very seldom was it necessary for Mr. Lynch to get up in the years that in the years that I remember. Remember it being dark Didn't have much light in the place. Uh Someone has told me about his grain bins that he had in the back and

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the kids used to love to get into those grain bins and I think he used to put a rat trap in there every once. Huh. Well he had a side door back that little alley between the post office and his place. Where are the? The grain

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was, was brought out for delivery. That was on the west side. It was on the west side. Yeah. And I think, uh, Bernard Lunceford, who was a classmate of mine in school for years, worked for him for a little while during that time. Willard Piggott was

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a drove for him drove that. He had a Model A truck he had I don't remember. An old model A truck had solid front tires and pneumatic back tires. Willard Piggott used to be the driver when I remember that and that's uh we have a picture

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of Willard and Mr. Lynch in the store and Willard was only about 10 years old at that time was pretty young when he was driving. Bernard wasn't very old either. They lived right next door. Who lived right next door? The launch. Lived right next door to

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the store in the building adjoining the store there on the west or on the on the east. Well, the in the east towards 7 corner, you mean the old brick house? No, it was a frame or it was part of the same building. Parker lived there

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for a while too. Yeah, was that originally part of the store and then when did he close off part of the store and not carry as much goods and make. Make an apartment sort of a thing out of that. But, but I know that that the

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Parkers lived there. That was Johnny and Mark, uh, you mean Marge Parker still lives in Falls Church. Yeah, he was young. He used to live over on, uh, Park Avenue between us, I think. And he has a sister Marjorie. I'll have her address someplace around and

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is married to Kendrick. That's right. And they, the, it was part of the old Lynch store building. It was an apartment and the, the door faced on Broad Street right across from Mr. McNabb's in the Safeway there. And then the Lun did the Lunceford's live in

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there before or after the Parkers? They weren't too I, I really only remember the Parker's. Well, did, uh, Mr. Lynch have a delivery. Wagon too or or a car flatbed truck. Open like a flatbed truck. The truck we used was a panel truck. For groceries and

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all, but he just, I guess, mostly he delivered feed and kind of heavy stuff, so he had an open flat pit type truck. We have a picture showing somebody, uh, a young fellow named Anderson. Anderson's that lived up across from the Presbyterian Church Powell Powell Anderson

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and Archie's Archie's. have a sister. Grant. Well, what are some of them did they ever work I don't remember. come Plus it was Jimmy. Well, you, of course, recall the coroner, the um. Crossroads there is we having your store and then the Manin. You recall the

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Mankin store, don't you? So it was Doctor Ware's on the on the corner between my father's store and Lynch's, yeah, yeah, it was, I think originally it was Mankins, but Doctor Ware had recall Doctor Ware in my memory. Well, do you recall Mr. Thomas's shoe shop

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on the other corner? Well, he was, but he was farther down. Well, but I mean, uh. You don't recall previous to no, you said you were born 2222, but I remember going to George Thomas's shoe shop and he was down across from Mrs. Henderson's, yeah, but

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he originally was right on the corner. No, that was before my day. Before my day, uh, you know, we have a good picture also of, uh, of the, of the shoe shop after it was moved. To South Washington Street from from the corner. I didn't know

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that, but the building was moved. Yeah. He was a fine old gentleman. I remember that he was pretty small. He was a slave had been. And he, uh, he did real nice work on shoes. But he didn't, he didn't have any, any machinery in those days

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and. Uh, one of the things that would happen when you, you couldn't sew as, as sewing machines to sew the soles came on. Uh, his shoes were more apt to squeak. Than some of the ones that were fixed in more modern shops, and I remember Doctor

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Altfather, our minister. Had used his facilities until the. He said I can't do it anymore. I squeak too bad walking down the aisle. Kept his leather. of water there which he also used as his cuspido. That ought to cure the leather well. Well, I guess he

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did that to soften it up so he could. His son is still alive and up at the uh I think he lives up the Merrill House now and he's in his 90s yeah um Talbot Talbot Ulysses Thomas. He was named for, Both for Doctor Talbot and

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for Ulysses Grant. Yeah, I, I have talked with him. Oh, I mean that Merrill houses, it was 3 years ago. Um, How about the people on the west of the Brown store? What was next to you, Abbott's store? Well, Abbott's house first. It was a house

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first. There was, there was my father's store and part of the same building was our house to the west, and then there was a good size front yard with a white picket fence in front. Of your on on the brown property and then. There was a

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house that the JC Abbott's. Lived in that was John and Elsie. And it was long and narrow and it was right up against our house and and. It was about 3 ft between the house and the and the corner of our shed where there was a

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little area to get into their backyard from our from our backyard. And then there was a very narrow yard side yard of the JC Abbott's. And then there was a House and store complex that belonged to Mr. Abbott's father that was John G. No, he was

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Jonathan Jonathan Gayton Abbott. And uh he had a grocery store and meat market, fresh meats. And he lived at the rear and on the east side of the store. Is that the one that later became the DGS? Yes, that was Mrs. Mrs. Dobkin took it over

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from, from when Mr. Abbott sold. And up there were, I think, at least 2 apartments above the store. And I think, uh, Mrs. Snyder, now wait a minute, this is above the above the Abbott store, JG Abbott's store. That's the one closest to you. No, the,

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no, it was a house. There was, there was a house that was a two-story house. It was only a home. No, no business connected with it. And then next door was the store. And that's the one that had the apartments and the store had at least

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2 apartments above the store and a residence behind the store and a little bit to the east. A residents they were all part of the same building. Was it attached attached just, just as my father's house was attached to my father's store, and you say that

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it extended a little bit east toward Washington Street toward Washington Street. It it was kind of an as you stood in, in Broad Street and looked back. Uh, the residents would be. Halfway or 2/3 of the way back the lot and protrude to the right there

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was a porch that protruded. And the apartment entrance was off that porch. That went in from the east. Up some stairs and then you'd come back toward Broad Street. And the residence entrance was off the porch a little farther to the rear, and as I recall

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the door faced Broad Street. Do you remember that house at all? Remember a door facing North Street and another one that faced. West, it's a Mrs. Mrs. Snyder. Lived upstairs and I think Miss Sybil Abbott lived in one of those apartments for many years. She was,

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you mean LG's mother? You're right. Um-hum, that's right. And his daughter or his sister, I think, lived there too. With her mother. didn't OG and his wife live up there too at one time? Not in my memory, but they may have, Well, what about Becky Dobkins?

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What, what sort of a person was she? Well, I, I got along real fine with her. She was, she was, um. He he came there with her heart when, uh, Bill died. And I think their marriage dissolved shortly after they came there and she ran the

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place for. 20 years, I guess, or so before she still have possibly. By herself. I think her health was not always good, always good. She and Ethel Destin. Raffle Baskets was her. Kind of a right hand girl Friday employee employee relative of uh Jessie Jessie Deskins.

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Yes, I don't know just where, but she, she was yeah. Uh, Well, uh, was she an interesting person? Was she a feisty gal, or yeah, she was, she was quite outspoken and positive. And I, if she liked you, she couldn't do enough for you, and if,

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if she didn't, there wasn't any doubt with what she did. You knew it, huh, but, uh, I remember it was while she was there. In our home, you remember when our house caught fire? I was in 7th grade and, and, uh. It was between Christmas and

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New Year's and there was about 1 ft of snow. And our home was quite badly damaged and the volunteers and people around. Moved everything that we owned out into the front yard and into the snow. And one of the first people over was Mrs. Dobkin and

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saying I have a storeroom in the back of my. Store and so forth, can I help you store your things. He was a he was a good friend and neighbor. What year was the fire? Uh, let's see, I was 7th grade, so it was 6 and

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7 is 13, it must have been about 35, 36, at the very end of 35 or. Because it was between Christmas and New Year's, I remember. Did the fire damage the store also? No, just the house, just the house, but you repaired it and, and, and

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moved back in, moved back in. Did you actually live somewhere else for We, we stayed over at my Aunt Mary Ryer's over on Roosevelt Street and it was East Falls Church then I guess Arlington. And then, uh, But there were 2 big rooms over the. Store

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that weren't damaged and Edwin White who lived And one of them for years. Stayed in his and and we moved into the other one and we rehabilitated the kitchen pretty quickly so between the big bedroom where 4 of us stayed. In the kitchen. We, we made

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do until the living room and the dining room and the two upstairs bedrooms were repaired. I think Mr. Crumbo was a carpenter. You remember his first name? Lived out on Annandale Road just past Westcott's nursery on the right hand side. Several convoys at the Park Park

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was the one that worked for Murphy and Ames, yeah, but this was the father, the older. Don't remember. And and he had a number of sons that lived on the property back behind him. Dad referred to the area as Crumboville. And uh Matthew Tobin did the

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plaster repair. And uh Will Dillon did the painting and they got it all caught up. What do you remember about him? Thought you were. Here you go. He lived just down here on East Jefferson Street. Yes, right here on this street, and. He had a daughter,

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Bern, and two sons, Ma and Neil, and a daughter, Anne. And uh Macon was just a little younger than I, the, uh. Burne was older And I guess every kid in town liked Doctor Ware. Knew him and liked him and Doc knew all the kids. He

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was a gun collector But he had a Place down on the Rappahannock River near Tappahannock. And I remember going, he. Every summer he'd have a bunch of kids that were about the same age as his own down there for a few days to a week and

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I remember going down there at least once. Was the old house. Still there, uh, when you used to go down? Where Neil lives, uh, right close to where Neil lives, there was an old, old house. Well, he had a, a, a cottage, a beach or a

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river cottage that had a big front porch across it that was screened in. And I don't remember how many rooms that were inside. And I don't remember now the old house. He, he took a sightseeing to some of those places. But my memory doesn't bring that

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back. There were no wharves. Old river wharves at when you were there either, I guess. Not at, not at the place where we stayed. Uh, well, Doctor Ware was quite a practical joker. Are you, were you ever aware of any of his practical jokes? I remember

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hearing about one. What? What was that one? And that had to do with Rufus Crenshaw. Do you remember that? No, well, there, there was one that had to do with the salesman. The thing I was thinking about, Doctor Ware had a reputation for. Being a pretty

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fast driver. Yeah. And This wasn't really a practical joke, but his, his reputation followed through. Mr. Crenshaw was retired and spent a lot of his time at. Doc's drugstore down at East Falls Church. And one day Doctor Ware came out and got in the car and

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Mr. Crenshaw said, uh, Megan, where are you going? And Doctor Ware said he had an errand to run in Alexander that he was going to go down, and can I go with you? climb right in, Mr. Crenshaw. So, uh, Doctor Ware started off and crossed the

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railroad tracks and got about where the. Present firehouse is. Right there at 4 mile run and. Mr. Crenshaw. Said remind thought about saying. When he was going to get home, so he said, uh, Megan said uh. When do you expect to be back? And Doctor Ware

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said, well, about 20-25 minutes. And Mr. Crenshaw says, Megan, you can let me out right here. Doctor Ware stopped the car in front of Harry. Harry's garage down there and Harry Knoll's garage and Mr. Crenshaw walked back to the drug store. There was something about being

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deaf and a salesman, wasn't that what you knew about OG has told us that story. It was, it was on OG too. The story was, was it on OG? Yeah, I knew it got around town pretty good and it sounded just like Doc. Well, was there

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ever any pranks at um at the crossroads? We're aware of. Oh. Somebody, I think it was uh Bob Anchors mentioned. The fact that uh across the street over where some Taylor's meat market used to be. Um, there had been a drugstore of some kind. He that

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Bob worked there. And he thought it was Eddie Prince that was sort of ran the store. Do you recall anything like that? that he came to Paul's Church. 1826, I remember that date. Born and as far as I know he worked for Doctor Ware from the

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day he arrived. The old drugstore, the only drugstore I remember. There would have been the one that was uh where Mr. Church's real estate office was and that was uh. You probably He had a picture. Spofford and Church, right? No, that must have been Spofford Church

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must have been earlier. Was there ever a drug store in South Taylor store? Yeah, about that spot there there was. Was it in that store in that building, right there, either in some tailor's or in the one next to it. There had been a A gardener's

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apothecary, I think it was much earlier. There's a picture of garden suppositary. Steadman's book, but um. Anyway, you must, you must have, well, you've known Eddie Prince ever since he, he's, he's, he's been working Lou Ray, and that's the job he's ever had. He worked for

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Doctor Warres from the time I can remember. What do you, do you remember other things about Eddie? I haven't been able to get him to talk very much. I didn't didn't Eddie and his wife live when when Doctor Ware built the what we called at that

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time, the new drugstore. And, and I think there were 7 apartments up above there. Didn't Eddie have one of those and the last, uh. Place I knew of Eddie Levin was on. Great Paul Street and where Book Night's house was, Book Night House, and you live

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right next to that lives a little frame house right next to that immediately behind, behind, and that was the only place I know that they moved up on that would have been next to the Keith probably right just east of. Yeah, and right, right east of

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what's now Maple Avenue and that's going over the hills where the rink is now, yeah. Is that where you first remember Eddie living? Yes, that's, but then I, but I believe he also lived over the store. I, I think he lived in one of the apartments

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over, over that drug store when Doctor, and I think, uh, Frank Esridge and Mary, Mary Anne. Had one up there. Doctor Siegel had an office up there. For years. And later on, La La Rue Van Meter had an office up there. But that was much later.

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The bakeves. That was in a new building. Yeah I think that.