Bill Glasgow · 2011 Honoree

It is impossible to imagine Capitol Hill without the Eastern Market – and hard to imagine Eastern Market without Bill Glasgow. His calm and competence set the tone for Union Meat which, from its central location, sets the tone for the whole market. Bill has worked at his family’s meat stand since he was thirteen years old and, over the past few years, has emerged as a leader among the market’s merchants. While he credits his uncle, Charles Glasgow, with saving the market from demolition in the 1970s, Bill had a strong hand in more recent developments – the decision to open on Sundays, the rejection of fancy grocery stores with wine and beer as part of the market mix, the decision to allow non-food sales in the farmers’ line outside the market. Four years ago, Bill was one of the heartsick people on the sidewalk in the middle of the night watching the historic market building burn. He was there early in the morning when then Mayor Adrian Fenty vowed to rebuild; and he attended many of the public meetings that followed, pushing for the temporary structure to be not on the Metro plaza or at Hine but on Seventh Street, as close as possible to the market’s client base. As a long-time member of EMCAC, the Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee, Bill had been wrestling with issues related to the market’s operation and relationship to the city government for years. He says he always knew the community valued the market but it was not until the outpouring of support after the fire that that he understood how much. Now there is rarely a time when there isn’t an item in the Union Meat display case marked down to a special price as a “Thank you to the Community.” 

Bill was born in Washington, D.C. but as a small child moved to Maryland, where he lives today (in Davidsonville). His father was one of ten brothers, five of whom worked at the market, three selling fish, two at Union Meat, so the market was always part of his life. He attended college at the University of Maryland studying math, biology and zoology but in his junior year he left school, got married and went to work full time at Union Meat. Since then he’s been a steady presence there, paying close attention to buying trends, pushing for new products like hormone-free meats, the hugely successful flatiron steak, and bison meat. He also has found time to do business on the side selling mortgages, leasing trucks, buying real estate, tending a family farm in Virginia, and to take vacation trips either game hunting out West or relaxing on cruises. 

Bill says working together has kept his family close and he is proud of it. Between the employees at the meat and seafood counters and Market Lunch, Bill says that “everyone is my cousin.” His wife, Patty, does the payroll for their eight employees and, when holidays are busy, she works behind the counter. Their son Billy works with them at the market as well as running an appraisal business. Son Stephen lives in Maine where he does landscaping and construction. And their youngest son, Adam, runs two restaurants called the Crab Gallery in Maryland. Bill and Patty have two granddaughters, Molly and Amelia, and a grandson, Grayson, who at seven already enjoys hanging out at Eastern Market. Bill enjoys seeing the next generation at work as Grayson visits with customers and hands out chips at the hot dog stand.