www.FredericksburgParent.NET 13
In 1938, Giovanni Rosario "Solly" Ventura bought 923 Hanover
at auction. Ventura was born in Caccamo, Italy, and immigrated
to the U.S. with his family in 1906, when he was 14 years old.
He and his wife and another couple ran the Fredericksburg Fruit
Market. In 1922, he opened Jacob's Old Stand, a shoeshine par-
lor, and in 1938, he opened Fredericksburg Distributing Co., a
wholesale fruit, beer and wine company.
The Venturas used 923 Hanover as a rental property and invest-
ed $1,500 in the house in 1949. It stayed in the Ventura family
until 1971, when Daphne and Norman Brooks—immigrants from
Jamaica—bought it together with their daughter, Moonyean, and
her husband, Raymond Jones.
Jones was a physician in the Army and in 1967 opened a pedi-
atrics practice in Fredericksburg. According to a 1985 Free
Lance–Star article, Jones was among a group of physicians in
private practice to open and staff a Children's Center at Mary
Washington Hospital. It was open from 6 to 9 p.m. to serve the
needs of parents who were unable to bring their children in dur-
ing regular office hours.
Today, 923 Hanover Street is owned by the Stantons, who car-
ried out extensive repairs to the property between 2018 and
2021. According to Stanton, the renovations resulted in several
interesting discoveries, such as a second roof made of tin under
the current one and "bricks, beams, stones and blacksmithing
debris that span centuries of time."
ler, Italian immigrants who helped shape downtown business, and a
Jamaican family of local leaders and physicians.
Photo by Adele Uphaus
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