In 1917 ownership of this property was in dispute between George R. Carver (1839-1918) and Margaret Spencer (1848-1919), wife of the late John N. Spencer. The court resolved it by having a trustee sell it to Arthur C. Foster. Arthur and his wife, Alexina Foster, sold it in 1924 to Conrad F. Johnson and his wife, Nettie (1896-1980). During the 1930s, when many people were suffering financially, the Johnsons obtained a mortgage from the New Home Building & Loan Association of Harford County. In 1937, however, a mortgage assignee sold this home at a private sale to Cornelia Kelly Leffler (1889-1973) and Mervin Jackson Leffler (1884-1949).

The Lefflers opened a small store in the building that is remembered by many. Leffler’s Grocery and Deli, candy, ice cream and beer, had penny gambling machines, and advertised in the 1940s that they were open every night until 11 pm. Larry Sampson and Jim Miller remember it for having the best candy selection ever. Cornelia was the daughter of Edgar C. Kelly (1855-1937) and Martha Jeanette Scarff “Nettie” Kelly who began The Whistle Bottling Company (later the Kelly Beverage Company) in 1907 on the nearby Lewis Street and they were all related to the family of the Kelly Restaurant at Warren Street and North Union Avenue.

Hilda Parsons recalls that working for Cornelia Leffler was her first job and where she learned how to slice cheese and dip ice cream—she worked 18 hours each week and her pay was $6.60 total per week. But Laura Skinner’s memory is that her Dad stopped getting ice cream there when Cornelia Leffler stopped packing the ice cream down! Larry Sampson still feels sorry for the number of times “poor Mrs. Leffler had to pull herself out of that rocking chair to sell us kids penny candy.”

When Cornelia died in 1973 she bequeathed her estate to her two children, M. “Jeanette” Johnston (married to Richard W. Johnston) and Mervin Gordon Leffler (married to Leola Leffler). Jeanette, however, sold her interest the following year to Mervin Leffler. In 1981 Mervin sold the property to Harford Memorial Hospital and he died in 2017 at the age of 96. He had become the oldest living member of Havre de Grace Presbyterian Church having joined at the age of 16.