Schmankerl Stube founder Charlie Sekula dies
Back in the late 1980s, many residents had given up on downtown Hagerstown, including the first block of South Potomac Street. "There were a lot of shady places there on South Potomac Street," recalled Hagerstown broadcaster Lou Scally, and he named a few of them. But Gotthard "Charlie" Sekula took a chance anyway, and opened a Bavarian restaurant on the northeast corner of South Potomac and Antietam streets, across from the Washington County Free Library.