Object of the Month: June 2012

Object No.: 1999.36.1
Donor: Milton Weinstein
Description: Two-part green metal sign (28" x 116") with orange letters reading District Grocery Store, 1920s

Background:  This sign hung over Harry's Market in Mt. Rainier, Maryland for more than 70 years. Leah and Harry Weinstein bought the market in 1924 and became members of District Grocery Stores (DGS), a cooperative. DGS was formed in 1921 by a dozen Jewish grocers, providing cooperative buying power and a means to fight discrimination from non-Jewish wholesalers.

Through out its 72 years, Harry's Market supplied the neighborhood with groceries, beer and wine, diapers, school supplies, candy and other small necessitates. When Harry and Leah got older and could no longer run the store, daughters Vivian and Ruth (seen here), took over until closing in 1996.

The legacy of DGS lives on in the upcoming DGS Delicatessen, scheduled to open this summer at 1317 Connecticut Avenue, NW, just south of Dupont Circle.

Do you have material documenting a local Jewish-owned business that you'd like to donate to the Jewish Historical Society’s collection?  Please contact us at info@jhsgw.org or (202) 789-0900.