A new era for Dogtown, as store changes hands
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Back in the days when corner grocery stores abounded, Beltrami Neighborhood residents had many choices, including Delmonico’s, Maple Leaf, Spano’s, Rusciano’s, and Schullo’s.Through the years, most of the small stores disappeared. Last month one of the oldest family-owned groceries, Delmonico’s Italian Foods, 1112 Summer St. NE, changed hands, when co-owners and cousins Terry Delmonico and Bob Delmonico decided to sell the store and let Terry retire.Founded in 1919 by Vincenzo and Anna Delmonico, the store was well-known for its homemade Italian sausage, fried peppers, calzones, and pizzelles. Even though the store is not closing, some residents nonetheless say they see it as the end of an era, in a beloved Northeast neighborhood once known as Little Italy.Maple Hill historyEarly Maple Hill residents included many Italian immigrants who settled there in the 1920s and 1930s. Later renamed the Beltrami Neighborhood after Italian explorer Giacomo Constantino Beltrami, its borders are Broadway to the north, Central Avenue to the west, Spring Street to the south and Johnson Street to the east.The Maple Hill name came from an 1857 private cemetery owned by the Dudley P. Chase Grand Army of the Republic Post. Continue Reading
