The Mint Hotel was located in this building in 1889, with proprietor John M. Hall. The 1899 to 1921 Sanborn Insurance Maps show the Mint Hotel at this location, with boarding stables behind it, and Jones Bazaar along with Rackett’s Photo Gallery nearby (or also in the building). John Hall also offered free tokens to a pool room nearby. However, by 1894 Hall had financial problems and the Circuit Court ordered it sold. It continued to operate until Ira Wells bought it in 1895, refurnished it, and reopened the hotel and its restaurant. However, by the end of the following year, Ira Wells sold it to Frank M. Farr, a former assistant bailiff in the police department.

In the process of refurbishing it again, in 1896 Frank Farr became indebted to N.M. Matthews & Company of Baltimore for all “property, stock, and fixtures in the Mint Hotel including carpet, oil, cloth, and a refrigerator.” The Matthews Company were wholesale liquor dealers that went out of business in 1912, but it is thought that the Mint Hotel operated until 1917, when it closed after Frank Farr was attacked and hospitalized.

The building was sold to the Salvation Army in 1927 and appears as such on the 1930 Sanborn Insurance Map. The building was white with a screened-in porch on the second floor and a photo shows the red Salvation Army shield hanging from the building. The Salvation Army remained in this location until 1973, with its officers living upstairs and church services on the ground floor. Later, a fire damaged the building and during the renovation the upper porch was removed and a red-brick facade was added, completely changing the building’s appearance. This fire damage most likely happened when the building next door at 115-117 North Washington Street burned completely in 1980 in a fatal fire.

In the early 2000s, this was the home of Shamrock Realty and in 2009 the ground floor was the The Art Rooms, owned by Liz Arango-Howshall (before she moved it across the street). After that Barbara Conley moved Stirling Bridge Jewelry & Gifts here in 2012, then it was a photography studio, and after that it became Instant History Tattoo in 2016 with Tony Veres and Kayli Curry-Veres, artists. Instant History Tattoo then moved across the street to 214 North Washington Street. Teal Antler was here for a short time in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.

This store is now “Blast From the Past,” with retro sodas and sweets (including Turkish Taffy and rock candy), ), that was opened by Steven Stubbs-Webb in November 2021. Steven displays products by their decades. Kevin Murphy, agent for Shamrock Realty, LLC, has owned the building since 2002.

County Records
Built 1920. 2763 sq ft, commercial retail store, 4,000 sq ft lot.