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Do you remember the name of Mary Condon, designer and owner of a clothing store at 111 N. Potomac St.?
Our newest exhibition at Miller House features a Mary Condon original – a gorgeous 1930s evening dress with a delicate floral print, whimsical sleeves and a full tiered skirt. This dress is a small thread in Washington County’s history of thriving business women and dress shops of the early 20th century.
The Mary Condon Style Store operated from the 1920s until 1946. The store’s owner, Mary Condon (née Moran), was born in Hagerstown in 1888; she lived with her family on North Mulberry Street, working as a stenographer at WD Byron & Sons Tannery. In 1924, she married David H. Condon, a local physician. She then opened the Mary Condon Style store, dressing Washington women for nearly 25 years.
During the 1930s, Condon hosted style shows and advertised her styling services in The Daily Mail and The Morning Herald. She often traveled to New York, returning with new seasonal fashions. She graced local bridal parties with colorful dresses, such as those in shades of melon, lavender and aqua green worn by Anna F. Diehl’s bridesmaids in 1934.
Condon leased her store to Martins of Hagerstown in 1946, a firm that opened a clothing store there until 1956. A fashion center, Martins sold designer clothing for juniors, misses and women. But Mary Condon’s reputation as a well-known designer and shop owner continued, even after the closing of her shop and her death in 1969.
What makes Mary Condon’s legacy special—beyond her store filled with fine clothing—is her connection to a network of businessmen who flourished in Washington history. Before opening her own store, Condon purchased an interest in the store of Alice Weagly Wagner, an equally prominent and well-known businesswoman in Hagerstown at the time.
Alice Weagly was born in Cavetown in 1880. After clerking, she worked in the corset department of PA Brugh & Sons of Hagerstown. Recognizing Weagly’s talent, her employer sent her to New York to study corset fitting techniques.
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She returned to Hagerstown, offering women the first custom corsets sold in a Hagerstown department store. Weagly later opened her corset and lingerie store on North Potomac Street.
In 1922, Alice married John C. Wagner, selling her store interest to Mary Condon, who opened her own store not long after. Alice Wagner later worked as a buyer and saleswoman at Eyerly’s Department Store before opening another store of her own on South Potomac Street, offering corsets, matching clothing and accessories. She died in 1960.
Mary Condon and Alice Wagner illustrate the impact of women on Washington County’s fashion and business history. These women measured, styled, and adorned the natives in the fashions of the day, creating fond memories and leaving behind dresses like the one on display at the Miller House.
Stop by and see Mary Condon’s 1930s voile dress—and other delightful artifacts created by women in Washington County—in “Behind the Seams: Styles and Stitches of Washington County,” our newest exhibit curated by the curator of interim Shannon Baker.
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