Question: “What was originally in the building that currently houses Carol’s Western Wear?”
Answer: A lot of money.
According to this article in the June 19, 1966 Baltimore Sun, it was Equitable Trust Bank.
Lost Laurel
Revisiting the Vanishing Retailers of Laurel, Maryland
Surprised no one commented on this this unless its just common knowledge. Little bit of history about the Equitable Trust Bank I heard from my parents then learned in history later. I heard it from the parents first since my mom worked at this bank. George Wallace’s assassination attempt happened right in front of this bank. Here is an excerpt from Wiki.
“On May 15, 1972, he was shot five times by Arthur Bremer while campaigning at the Laurel Shopping Center in Laurel, Maryland, at a time when he was receiving high ratings in national opinion polls.[49] Bremer was seen at a Wallace rally in Wheaton, Maryland, earlier that day and two days earlier at a rally in Dearborn, outside Detroit, Michigan. Wallace was hit in the abdomen and chest, and as one of the bullets lodged in Wallace’s spinal column, he was left paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. A five-hour operation was needed that evening and Wallace had to receive several pints of blood in order to survive. Three others were wounded in the shooting and also survived.”
Bret, check out my post on the 40th anniversary of the shooting:
https://lostlaurel.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/laurel-shopping-center-george-wallace-40-years-later/
This was a different branch location at Laurel Plaza; the Wallace shooting was at Laurel Shopping Center.
Yes Richard, I did see that shortly after me posting. That was a good read. Sorry about that, feel free to remove my post if you want.