An undated photograph of a former building on the southwest corner of Main Street & Market Street, Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
This corner building was purchased by Abraham Shuman and Sarah M. Shuman in the early 1940s from the estate of J. G. Stroup and together the Shuman’s operated a drug store called “Community Cut Rate On the Square” until Mr. Shuman died suddenly in late 1954. Note the sign in the side window.
According to information available in the Elizabethville Sesquicentennial Book, p. 72, Mrs. Shuman was still operating the business in 1967. The building was torn down in April 1979 and nothing replaced it.
The surname is also found in the records as Schuman.
According to an ad that appeared in the Elizabethville Echo, December 18, 1941:
A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned
You SAVE When You Buy At The
COMMUNITY CUT RATE ON THE SQUARE
COME IN AND BE PERSUADED — OUR PRICES ARE THE LOWEST
WE CARRY A FULL LINE OF NAIONALLY ADVERTISED MERCHANDISE – NO SUBSTITUTES
Cosmetics – Perfumes – Patent Medicines – Sundries – Candies – Tobacco, Etc.
We Also Have A Large Selection Of Christmas Gifts
Visit Our Soda Fountain
Residents who remember the soda fountain spoke highly of the ice cream which was supposedly made by Sarah Shuman.
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Abraham Shuman‘s obituary appeared in the Elizabethville Echo, December 23, 1954:
LOCAL STORE OWNER DIED WEDNESDAY
Abraham M Schuman, age 59 years, proprietor of the Community Cut Rate Store, town, died in the Harrisburg Hospital Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Schuman was preparing to leave a parking lot in Harrisburg, where he parked his car when he collapsed.
Attendants at the lot took him to the Harrisburg Hospital where he passed away a short time later.
A former resident of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Schuman had engaged in the store business here the past fifteen years.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Sara Schuman, and a number of relatives in Baltimore and Boston.
Services will he held in Boston on Friday where interment will be made.
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The photo is from the Elizabethville Bicentennial Book. For the availability of copies of this book, contact the Elizabethville Area Historical Society.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.