This land on the southwest corner of Lafayette Street and South Union Avenue was left to Samuel Martin Bayless by his father, William F. Bayless, in 1843 and sold by Samuel in 1900 to local banker and investor, A. Hamlin Carver (1857-1943). The widowed Carver, who lived elsewhere in town, sold the lot in 1932 to Roman Schmechel (1893-1955), a WWI veteran whose name is on the Honor Roll in Tydings Park, and his wife Bessie J. Schmechel.

The Schmechels built this one-story house in 1932 and lived here during the 1940 Census and afterwards through the death of Roman in 1955. Bessie and Roman also owned the land where the Riverview Bar was located on St. John Street and had sold a piece of that land to the Mayor and City in 1944. Bessie sold the remainder of that land to the Mayor and City in 1973, which is when The Riverview Bar was demolished to make room for the City Pumping Station extension—the water filtration plant. Bessie was active in several local organizations and 1943 was on the Executive Committee of the The Joseph L. Davis Post, American Legion Auxiliary. After the 1981 death of Bessie, her estate sold this property to Frank Maslin (1908-1994) and Elsie Maslin (1910-2004) who owned other properties.

Frank Maslin was brother-in-law to the famous decoy carver, Madison Mitchell, and he and Elsie lived for a while with the Mitchells on South Washington Street. The Maslins sold this home just one year after buying it so it is most likely that they never lived here. Their buyer was the “B.O.M.B. Partnership” of Drs. Alberto S. Barretto and Vincent M. Osteria, who were orthopedic surgeons. They converted the building into medical offices and maintained their offices here until 2003, when they sold the property to 800 South Union LLC.

Chad Tate now operates the SWBC Mortgage Company from this building and has been helping clients arrange mortgage financing since 1990.

County Records
Built 1932. 2027 sq ft office building, 6000 sq ft lot.