Businesses Past...

Hershey’s Five and Dime

by Richard D. L. Fulton

Hershey’s Five and Dime (also known as Hershey’s 5 & 10) was located at 9 Water Street in Thurmont, but the actual building that housed the store is no longer there, being replaced with a newer structure.

By the 1950s, Raymond (Ray) H. Boarts owned and managed Thurmont’s Hershey’s 5 & 10, along with his wife, Corrine. At the time of his death on March 19, 1966, The (Frederick) News reported that Boarts and his wife had operated the store for the past 15 years (since circa 1951).

By the early 1950s, Boarts had begun to expand his operations beyond Thurmont. Boarts had not only owned the Hershey’s Five and Dime in Thurmont but had also owned and operated a Hershey’s 5 & 10 in York, according to The (Frederick) News in an article published in the February 23, 1952, issue. The article had also stated that he had purchased the Novelty 5 & 10 cent store on the square (from owner, John O’Donoghue).

Unfortunately, the article did not state which town square, but it did state that he “will take possession on March 20 and will open his newly acquired store on March 28.” However, the same information that appeared in the February 23, 1952, issue of The (Frederick) News had reported the item in their Emmitsburg news column.

An advertisement placed by Hershey’s in the August 26, 1938, edition of The Carroll Record, offered school supplies, such as shoelaces, notebooks and paper, mucilage (rubber cement), ink, etc., from 4 to 10 cents, and a chance to win a $6,000 contest for buying school supplies.

A legal advertisement published in the January 29, 1949, edition of The (Frederick) News reported that a new lease had been issued to Hershey’s, reporting “The Thurmont Bank has released (re-leased) a store property in Thurmont to Hershey’s 5 & 10 Store, Inc., at $1,100 annual rent.”

A Christmas advertisement placed in the December 20, 1957, edition of the Emmitsburg Chronicle, had only mentioned the Thurmont store. The advertisement listed holiday decorations and gifts, featuring Christmas tree light-sets ranging from 98-cents to $3.69, with outdoor-light sets for $2.59, latex-rubber “ponytail” dolls for $4.95, as well as other female child gifts, such as play-dish or aluminum cooking sets for 98-cents each, and toy trucks for the boys, ranging from $3.95 to $5.95.

In 1955, a thief broke into the Thurmont Hershey’s, as well as a number of other area businesses, as was announced in the September 14, 1955, in The (Frederick) News. According to the article, State Trooper H. J. Brown had reported that John Wesley Peary, 39, had been arrested on August 31 in the Thurmont home of Mary Waesche, where he had gained entry under the influence of liquor. Trooper Brown reported that Peary confessed to breaking into Hershey’s 5 & 10, Camp Cozy, Mount Jerry’s Place, and Charles Hobbs East End Grocery, but that nothing of great value had been taken.

Ray H. Boarts passed away on March 19, 1966, at the Frederick Memorial Hospital, according to The (Frederick) News of the same date. He was interred in the Blue Ridge Cemetery in Thurmont. The Hershey’s 5 & 10 closed around 1970-ish, according to Mayor John A. Kinnaird.

“I remember the squeaky floors, the musty smell, the long tables with stuff on them, the big selection of candy, and the big front windows with colored peeps at Easter. The tall lady that worked there also sticks in my mind, but I can’t remember her name. I think it was Catherine (Lewis),” Mayor Kinnaird recalled.

Apparently, the most frequent memory of those who recall having been to the old 5 & 10 was the dyed (living) chicks that were sold during Easter.

“Everybody remembers the Easter chicks! So colorful,” Thurmont resident Penny Moser said. My dad would not let us have them. We raised our own chickens back then. He didn’t want those in with his.”

Hershey’s 5 & 10 depicted in this 1951 photograph. Source: Courtesy of Thurmontimages.com