A came across a 1929 photo of J. W. Crook Grocery Store at 1626 Edmondson Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. The photo shows a man stacking cans inside and an advertisement for canned Beech-Nut Prepared Spaghetti outside the store. The French first invented food canning technology in 1795. The tin can came along in 1815 which then merged with improved canning techniques. Canned foods radically transformed domestic work relieving women from hot and labor intensive canning practices done typically in July and August. By the 1920s, A&P and scores of smaller regionally based competitors like Crooks established chains of retail stores with their own food systems and networks. Crooks became the first chain grocery store in Baltimore city in the 1920s.
