Built around 1880 by the Bowden family, John T. and Anna Maria Bowden, the building housed Bowden Sporting Goods and Hardware. They passed the store down to their son, Harvey H. Bowden (1866-1955) and his wife, Ann Eliza Maslin. Locals have shared a story of how Harvey Bowden and Richard Leithiser (1877-1963) almost drowned. They were driving Bowden’s new car on the frozen Susquehanna River and ended up falling into a hole where ice had been harvested.

This building and the land immediately north of it was sold by Stephen J. Seneca in 1894 to Lewis H. and Blanche Ascherfeld of New York (formerly from Germany). In 1902, Lewis and Blanche sold the same land to their Prussian-born son, Theodore Ascherfeld (1820-1905) and wife, Elise A. Hahn Ascherfeld (1834-1928). In 1903, Theodore and Elise sold the north part of the property (now 412 North Union Avenue) to Stephen and Mary Healy, keeping this building and land. Theodore died in 1905 and Elise moved to Baltimore shortly after that, where she later died. She sold this property in 1919 to Elghie M. Pitcock (1885-1972) and his brother John H. Pitcock (1878-1960).

The Pitcock brothers opened the Susquehanna Garage, a Willys-Overland dealership, one of the first car dealerships in Harford County. They sold Indiana Trucks, Willys Knight and Overland cars and served as the Willard Susquehanna Garage until 1925. Elghie and Lela Pitcock and John and Anna Pitcock were some of the first purchasers of homes on western Giles Street when “Bloomsbury Park” was first being developed.

Elghie and John, having closed the Garage, opened The Pitcock Brothers Hardware Store here in 1926, where Mrs. Ethel Stackhouse worked for a long time and knew exactly where everything was (she died in 2013 at the age of 99). The store opened a Toyland each Christmas where children could visit Santa who gave them gifts. Elghie and Lela Pitcock had a daughter, Lela Bell Pitcock, whose letter to Santa when she was only four years old was published in the Havre de Grace Republican in 1928. In 1934, the store advertised that it was now a “bigger and better store.” At some point in the early 1930s Elghie and John persuaded their brother, Charles E. Pitcock, to move to Havre de Grace and help them in the store. They were 3 of 11 children of Charles H. and Arabella Pitcock. In 1933 Charles and his wife, Margaret, bought a house on South Washington Street and Charles worked there until his retirement in 1963.

Since Anna Pitcock had predeceased John, when John died in 1960, he willed his estate to his brother, Elghie, who continued to operate the store. Sally Lieske Daigle also worked there around the 1970s-1980s and remembers learning to make keys, cut window shades, and dip out rabbit pellets while working there. But her scariest moment was going back to get chicken feed out of a barrel and a mouse jumped out of the barrel at her!

Drew Mentzer says Pitcock’s holds a special place in his heart (he was the son of Ralph Mentzer who had married Lela Bell Pitcock (who wrote the Santa letter) in 1943. Elghie M. Pitcock and his great-uncles, John and Charlie Pitcock, along with Drew's father Ralph Mentzer, worked in the store when Drew was little, and the Mentzers lived above the store. Ralph and Lela Mentzer later took over the store and Drew worked there through high school and college. Gary Leadore also worked with Ralph in 1966 assembling furniture and cabinets (for $1 an hour) and they used to deliver them in Ralph’s old bread truck. Gary says it was a great job. Pitcock’s sold furniture, hardware, and everything else including baby chicks at Easter time! Kids loved walking through the store and hearing the “peep peep.”

After the Mentzers sold this property in 1989 to Fritz Sterbak, the shop became Investment Antiques and Collectibles, with little change in its appearance. Fritz sold it the following year to David Walden and Willa C. Gaitanis. Then it became The Golden Vein in 1990 with 40 antique dealers, followed by the Havre de Grace Antique Center in 1998. As with some of the surrounding properties this was sold in 2005 to Old Chesapeake Properties LLC.

This became Bahoukas Antique Mall and Beer Museum in 2006 when George and Barbara Wagner moved their store from across the street into this spacious store. Their BrewMania MuZeum is at the rear of the second floor. The front of the second floor was converted into an apartment in the 1980s with 12 foot ceilings, inlaid oak floors and leaded glass cabinetry separating the living room from the dining and parlor space. The living room boasts a large stained glass window, a bar area and two entrances to the front porch overlooking Union Avenue. That second floor apartment now serves as home to Barbara and George Wagner, “The Casual Historian” of Havre de Grace, who can be found in Bahoukas almost any day of the week.

County Records
Built 1880. 10,934 sq ft retail store; 7,200 sq ft lot.