Fort Avenue Pharmacy
This building, built in the early 1900’s, was originally the Fort Avenue Pharmacy. It survived for years under various supervisors and owners, until it closed its doors in 1990 and was bought by lifelong South-Baltimorean Earl Gallion, who lived above the pharmacy.
It would soon open back up a year later as an old fashioned malt shop. Mr. Gallion got the idea to open a soda fountain shop when he realized that the former owner had stopped operating but had kept the old Tennessee Marble soda fountain, a lasting relic from the early days of the pharmacy. Mr. Gallion successfully repaired the soda machines and opened the soda fountain and ice cream shop, calling it “Earl’s Old Malt Shop.”
Unfortunately, this Baltimore hidden gem was forced to close down in 2008 when Mr. Gallion, then 73 years old, decided to retire and occupy a larger portion of the building. The building has since been converted into a luxury townhome.
Hendlers Ice Cream
Hendlers Creamery was located on East Baltimore Street in the Jonestown neighborhood, and was demolished in 2025. Born in Baltimore County on a dairy farm to Jewish-immigrant parents, Manuel Hendler bought the creamery in 1912 and turned it into his very own ice cream manufacturing plant.
Manufactured ice cream was invented in Baltimore by a man named Jacob Fussel who operated a dairy delivery service between York Pennsylvania and Baltimore and eventually turned the leftover milk that he was not able to sell on each trip into manufactured ice cream. Hendler took Fussel’s ice cream manufacturing process and improved it, inventing better packaging and a flash freezing process so his ice cream would stay fresh longer and could be shipped farther.
Most importantly, Hendler became a pioneer in the ice cream industry with the invention of an all-metal ice cream churning machine. Previous ice cream manufacturers would use a wooden churner to break up the ice chunks and mix the ingredients together. Wooden spatulas were not very effective at achieving a smooth texture on a large scale however. Hendler was the first person to use a metal attachment to mix his ice cream, revolutionizing the ice cream industry as his products became famous for their silky smooth texture and was an instant hit across Baltimore.