The land on which this house was built was part of a parcel of land on the southeast corner of Otsego and North Adams Street for which ownership within the Boyd family was in dispute in 1910 (in re Maggie C. Boyd et al. vs. James P.F. Boyd et al.). It was resolved by a court trustee selling a portion of that property to George H. Howlett (1868-1939) and Mary Howlett who in turn immediately sold one-half of what they bought, this lot, to John L. Touchton (1842-1917) in 1910. It is most likely that John L. and Mary G. Touchton then built this home. John Touchton died intestate leaving as his heirs his widow, Mary, and a daughter, Anna G. Price (1878-1965). Mary died in 1937, leaving this home to her daughter, Anna, and son-in-law George A. Price (1875-1961).

Upon the death of Anna Price, her administrator sold this property in 1965 in private sale to Herman Nicholas Schweers, Sr. (1936-2000) and Mary Isabel Patterson Schweers (1936-2013), who also bought the furniture in the house.

Herman Sr. was named after his grandfather, Herman Nicholas “Nick” Schweers (1888-1958) who moved from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Rock Run in 1924. Nick built up the hotel and fishing business called "Schweers Landing" on the Susquehanna River. After Nick died, his son, William Herman Schweers (1912-1998) and his wife, Elsie Mae Walker Schweers (1910-1985), ran the fishing business until 1963 when the State of Maryland incorporated their property into the Susquehanna Park. They had to move and came to Havre de Grace where they had one son, Herman Nicholas Schweers, Sr. (1936-2000), who bought this house. More information about the home of William and Elsie Schweers is available at 522-524 North Adams Street.

Herman Sr. was a Harford County Deputy Sheriff at the time he and his wife, Mary, moved here in 1965 from Deaver Street. They had several children, including Herman Nicholas “Buddy” Schweers, Jr. and William Francis “Billy” Schweers of Memmingen, Germany, who was only a year old when his parents moved into this home.

William Francis “Billy” Schweers (b. 1964), also known as “River Rat” by some of his friends, lives in Germany but is deeply rooted in Havre de Grace. He frequently shares some of his memories of growing up in this house and of some family members named Walker, Schweers, Patterson, Sampson, Chandler, Sutor and others, some of whom were Civil War veterans, fishermen, lighthouse keepers, store owners, police chiefs, baseball players, and decoy carvers.

Billy Schweers enjoyed sitting in the workshop of his great-uncle, William “Ed” Sampson (1902-1994), who was a wood carver and decoy maker where he savored the many stories he heard the carvers tell. One was when Ed Sampson approached the famed Madison Mitchell in 1945 about part-time work in his shop (Sampson was working full-time as a carpenter at the Aberdeen Proving Ground). When Madison Mitchell asked Ed how much he was making at APG and Ed said $0.84 an hour, Mitchell told Sampson he couldn't pay him that, but he could pay him $1.00 an hour! A good friend of Billy Schweers growing up here was Steve Boyd whose back yard on North Adams Street adjoined the back yard of this house (and can be seen in one of the photographs). Interestingly, the land under both houses originally belonged to the Boyd family in 1910.

Having owned this house for more than 30 years, Herman and Mary Schweers sold the property to their son, Herman N. “Buddy” Schweers, Jr. and his wife, Luanne A. Schweers in 1999. Buddy Schweers had also grown up in Havre de Grace and spent his working life with the Baltimore County Fire Department from which he retired in 2010. Luanne was inducted into the Harford-Cecil County Firemen’s Association “Hall of Fame” in 2012. Buddy and Luanne are now divorced and this home presumably is an investment property since they both live elsewhere. Buddy Schweers has since married Mary Worthington Schweers, who is known as a genealogist with the Harford County Historical Society.

County Records
Built 1935. 1568 sq ft. 2 stories with basement, 1 bath, 5676 sq ft lot.