This lot was sold by Stephen J. Seneca (1837-1918) to three Offley sisters, Annie, Martha, and Margaret in equal shares in 1894. It is thought that between then and 1903 the sisters had this single family home built. In 1903, Margaret sold her interest to her two sisters, Annie and Martha. However, Margaret failed to execute such a deed and died intestate in 1918. When Annie died in 1919, she bequeathed her interest to Martha and another sister, Lydia Offley. The Administrator for Margaret’s estate in 1919, with the Orphans Court, devised this property appropriately to the two sisters, Martha and Lydia Offley.

Two years later, the sisters sold this home to Nelson F. and Carrie Johnson who lived here for about six years before selling it to Harvey Bristow and Emma Bristow (1862-1955) in 1927. They had an adult daughter, also named Emma, who married Charles Chandler. After Harvey died in 1938, Charles Chandler moved in here with his wife and her mother until the mother died in 1955.

Dr. Theodore H. Kaiser and his wife, Joan, bought the building from the Chandlers in 1956, after his discharge from the U.S. Army. They not only converted the building to be suitable for his medical practice, but they also made the large addition to the south side of the home. Dr. Kaiser opened the Havre de Grace Pediatric Center and was the first pediatrician to establish a practice in Havre de Grace. He later was the founder of the Division of Child Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

After Dr. Kaiser’s 2013 death, his son (also a physician) said during an interview with the Baltimore Sun that his father in 1955 “readily accepted African-American children into his practice, which was rare or nonexistent among physicians in Havre de Grace at that time.”

Other physicians have joined The Havre de Grace Pediatric Center over time and they continue their pediatric practice in this building owned by them.

County Records
Built 1900. 4024 sq ft office building, 12,000 sq ft lot.