Taken from the website, "Stop #52 on The Lafayette Trail
Description MIHP HA-795, August 1976 (
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"The Barnes-Boyd House is an early 19th century, two-story, three-bay by two-bay, stucco over stone dwelling with a two-story, three-bay stucco over frame wing on the east end. Random rubble structures are often seen in Harford County, but there are few examples left in Havre de Grace. Like the Colonial Insurance and Malin Apartments (366-368 Congress Avenue), the Barnes-Boyd House is situated on a corner lot less than a block away from the Susquehanna River and is divided into two separate buildings, one commercial and one residential. . . The interior has been altered considerably." The owner at the time of the inventory was J. Thomas Wollon, Sr.
Gabriel C. Christie (1756-1808) sold this large corner parcel of land in 1806 to Samuel Jay who 10 years later sold the lot “fronting on St. John’s Street” and “running to the Water 200 feet” to Richard Barnes (1762-1830). Gabriel Christie was a Revolutionary War veteran and Collector of the Port of Baltimore until his death who served for several years in the U.S. Congress as well as in the Senate of the State of Maryland. Samuel Jay served as a town commissioner in the early 1800s and lived through the burning of the town by the British in 1813.
The current building was most likely built by Richard Barnes in 1820 on only a portion of that land and it has been said that the contractor he used was John Donahoo (1786–1858), who built the Concord Point Lightstation in 1827 and the United States Hotel in the 1830s. In 1821, Richard Barnes sold the property to Bennett Barnes (1753-1826) and his wife, Mary. Records in Register of Officer Personnel, US Navy and Marine Corps and Ships’ Data, 1801-1807 show that in 1806 Gabriel Christie and Bennett Barnes were associates and contracted together to build a 59.6-foot gunboat in Havre de Grace for Commodore John Rodgers. It is not known if this Bennett Barnes was the same Bennett Barnes who was managing the nail manufactory on South Washington Street for John O’Neill during the War of 1812.
Bennett Barnes died in 1826 and William Sappington was the Administrator of his estate. The estate went to Mary Barnes for the remainder of her natural life and thereafter to her seven children. It is assumed that they continued living here and in 1874, after Mary’s death, her heirs and their spouses sold the property to Patrick Boyd (1818-1893). When Patrick died, he left an 1891 Will devising the property to his son, John F. Boyd; however, John Boyd died and his 1896 Will left the property to his wife, Maggie, and their two sons, John F. Boyd and James P.F. Boyd.
It is not known for certain how the building was used during the ensuing years but the 1885 and 1894 Sanborn Insurance Maps show a restaurant in this location. The 1910 Sanborn Map marks this location as “Fruit” confirming John Correri, Jr.’s memories that his family had a fruit and vegetable stand here before opening their produce store at 130-134 North Washington Street. John also recalls that they first had a riverfront stand and used Chesapeake Bay steamboats to ship fresh produce and potatoes for them to sell. It's also notable that in an older photo of this building (during Dollar Days) it had an enclosed porch along the front of it that must have been removed.
In 1945, the widowed Maggie C. Boyd and her unmarried son, John, sold this parcel of land and building to the other son, James P.F. Boyd and his wife, Mary H. Boyd. They appear to have divided the original property the following year and sold part of it to Omer L. Carson and G. Arnold Pfaffenbach (1904-1982) as their real estate attorney offices, later named The Maryland Company.
In 1964, Harry C. Engel and Philip Golbin (1919-1997) became the new owners of this corner property. The year before that they had purchased the Seneca Cannery property (which they owned until 1997). They were successful local attorneys and real estate investors and four years later they sold this to Elizabeth C. Lundeen. Elizabeth and her husband, Ken Lundeen, were long-time residents of Howard County and active supporters of the arts and art organizations in their county so this purchase obviously was also a real estate investment.
Having owned this corner for six years, Elizabeth Lundeen sold it in 1974 to James T. Wollon, Sr. and Carolyn, his wife. The Wollons lived in a 1796 historic home built of local gneiss fieldstone on a farm in Harford County so no doubt the history of this property appealed to them.
Following the 1984 death of her husband, Carolyn Wollon established a trust for ownership of their property. Their son, James Thomas Wollon, Jr. become a well-known Maryland architect.
In 1988, this property was bought by Augusta Federal Savings Bank, which operated their Building and Loan Association here, managed by Weldon C. Barnhart who grew up on Ontario Street. The Columbian Bank FSB took over the Augusta Bank in 1991 and in 1997, Kathleen Guzzo, Vice-President of The Columbian Bank sold this corner property to Stanley A. Bennett and Teresa Yost Bennett, a local sculptor. In one section of the building they opened “The Picture Show,” where they sold art and did custom picture framing and they lived in the eastern section. The framing shop continues in business and is operated by Stanley Bennett.
County Records
Built 1820. 2628 sq ft retail store, 3247 sq ft lot."
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