This property on the southeast corner of Union Avenue and Revolution Street began as a 21-room Queen Anne style mansion designed by renowned Baltimore architect George A. Frederick in 1891 for George A. Baker (1856-1909) and his wife Mattie W. Baker. The Maryland Historical Trust has said, “George A. Frederick was one of the most important late 19th century architects working in Baltimore.” The building had all the features of a late-Victorian structure, complete with wrap-around porches and an octagonal tower with a pepper-pot roof, and ample gardens. Sadly, the Baker House no longer exists, but the fireproof 1875 Baltimore City Hall still stands proudly as one of Frederick’s architectural and municipal achievements.

George A. Baker was a member of the Baker canning dynasty of Harford County. He was the son of U.S. Congressman William Benjamin Baker (1840-1911) and grandson of George Washington Baker (1815-1880). G.W. Baker had introduced the canning industry to Harford County by establishing his own canning business in 1866 and ultimately owned three factories and 3,000 acres of fruit and corn that were expanded by his sons. G.W. Baker had also created his own mansion in 1850 on Churchville Road, outside of Aberdeen, and established the Baker Cemetery near the property.

This grand home of George A. and Mattie W. Baker was called, not surprisingly, the Baker Home. They were prominent citizens of Havre de Grace and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. But in 1909, George became ill and died in 1909 at the age of 53, without having had any children. After his death it was discovered that although George had written a Will before he died, he had not executed it “in accordance with the law” and it was not accepted into Probate. The court considered that he had died intestate and his estate would have to be shared by all of his heirs. Fortunately for Mattie Baker, his brothers and sisters and their spouses executed a deed in 1910 conveying his estate to Mattie.

It was about the same time that a group of citizens, led by Murray Vandiver (1845-1916), were exploring how they might be able to establish a hospital in the city. He convened the first meeting of incorporators of the Havre de Grace Hospital on March 29, 1911, at the Havre de Grace Banking and Trust Company. They were James L. Breece, John M. Michael, Isaac Hecht, Leo M. Moore, Michael H. Fahey, Murray Vandiver, Dr. R. H. Smith, Dr. L. Lee Hopkins, and Dr. F.W. Steiner. They felt “such an institution was not only desirable, but could be made the means of great usefulness to suffering humanity throughout a considerable territory tributary to this City.” Before the end of the year, they accepted Mattie Baker’s offer to sell them the mansion. The deed was signed in 1911 conveying Lots 314, 324, 334, 344, and 354 in Square 255 to The Havre de Grace Hospital of Harford County.

The Havre de Grace Hospital was opened on January 1, 1912, with the admission of one person, the victim of a farm accident who was operated on by Dr. James Lee Hopkins (1873-1932). Hospital officers for 1912 were: General Murray Vandiver, President; Dr. R.H. Smith, Vice-President; C.C. Pusey, Secretary; Isaac Hecht, Treasurer; and M.H. Fahey, Counselor. It had two white wards and two black, the latter being on the first floor. That same year, the Burns Brothers donated a “handsome ambulance” to the Hospital, which had been made in their carriage factory on Green Street. In 1916 a large three-story annex with sun porches was added to the original mansion and the Hospital is noted on the 1921 Sanborn Insurance Map. The last smallpox outbreak in Havre de Grace began in the hospital in spring 1922.

Local attorney, Bob Carson, was born to his parents Omer and Catharine Carson in the original Baker House on December 16, 1935. In 1942 ground was broken for the new and renamed Harford Memorial Hospital. John Ford shared that when the 1942 building was constructed they couldn’t use any structural steel because of the WWII shortage, but when the building was torn down in 1980, the oak beams were as good as they were when first put up. The Baker mansion and annex were demolished in 1951 after the hospital building was expanded in the 1940s. And the Harford Memorial Hospital in 1941 conveyed the same Baker lots in Square 255 to the Commissioners of Harford County Maryland. This was followed by construction of a six-level building (the Tower) during 1969-1971, and in the early 1980s by the brick building we see today. But there have been several additions and other changes to the facilities over the years.

Prior to 1962, hospital practice was to restrict “colored people” to the first floor only. If the hospital ran out of beds there, the black patients were placed on stretchers in the first floor halls even if space was available on other floors. Dr. George T. Stansbury (1922-1996), a local resident, was the first African American doctor to be given staff privileges at the hospital. However, as shared by his brother, Russell Stansbury, in a Harford County Living Treasure interview, if a white patient of Dr. George Stansbury had to be admitted to the hospital, that patient had to go to an upper floor and be reassigned to a white doctor. Dr. George couldn’t treat a patient on any floor other than the first.

During Hurricane Agnes in 1972 everyone in the hospital was evacuated to the Walter Reed Army Hospital because officials feared that the Conowingo Dam might not hold. The year 1974 saw the Nursing School building demolished to make room for parking and a school at Alliance and Stokes Streets was leased for the Nursing School. Overall, between 1950 and 1980 numerous homes and buildings in the vicinity, making up 24 different “parcels of land,” were acquired by the hospital and sold by Harford County Maryland in 1987 to Harford Memorial Hospital, Inc.

In 2013, the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) and Upper Chesapeake Health merged and became "University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health." The hospital became the University of Maryland Harford Memorial Hospital, and is a subsidiary of UMMS.

In 2018, the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health (UM UCH) announced that it will be closing Harford Memorial Hospital as soon as it can open a new freestanding medical facility that will house a psychiatric facility, a new behavioral health operation, and a geriatric behavioral facility in Aberdeen. UM UCH has not announced what it intends to do with the buildings and acreage of the Harford Memorial Hospital or how the current services of the hospital will be provided to Havre de Grace residents.

Havre de Grace resident Ermalee Hall McCauley’s life-long relationship with Harford Memorial Hospital reflects the importance of a local hospital to a small but growing town. She shared, “I gave birth to five babies at Harford Memorial. My husband drew his last breath there. I’ve had many tests there and some surgeries. Several of my nieces, nephews and grandchildren were born there. It was the place of death of my grandmother, my mother, a sister, and a brother.”

Many others have voiced the significance of Harford Memorial Hospital to their lives and families. Dave Morlok said his son was born there; his father died there; both he and his wife have been patients there; and, “As a Paramedic, I’ve transported literally thousands of patients there.”

County Records
Built 1936. 221,510 sq ft general hospital, 1.37-acre lot.