This land and home at the northeast corner of South Washington and Lewis Streets fronted 60 feet on the east side of South Washington Street and ran back 200 feet along Lewis Street to the public alley. It was owned by John T. Moore (1834-1900) and his wife, Louise, in 1880. It then passed through George H. H. Moore, Annie M. Moore, and Hollis and Lydia Courtney, to William E. “Billie” Moore in 1904. Captain Billie Moore lived on the Moore Family Homestead at 710 Market Street and was the father-in-law of Bob McGaw, the well-known decoy carver. This house was most likely built by then.

Captain Billie and his wife, Mary E. Moore, sold the property the same year of 1904 to James H. Fahey (1862-1931), who was a local attorney and real estate investor. He also was a director of the Havre de Grace Banking & Trust Company and became the vice president of Fahey Lumber & Produce Company in 1921. Three years later, Fahey sold the home to Irene Holly. Irene was the wife of James T. “Jim” Holly (1855-1935), son of the famous duck carver John W. Holly, Sr. (1818-1892) known as “Daddy Holly.” This was the last home of Irene Holly because she died in 1923, leaving the home to her husband Jim for his life and then to their two daughters, Mary Edith Drennan and Rachel Holly Bryde.

After the 1935 death of Jim Holly, the daughters and their husbands continued to own the home until 1945, although it is not known if any of them lived here. In 1940 Charles and Mary Drennan sold the easternmost 120 ft of this land fronting on Lewis Street to Rachel Bryde (she sold it and on that piece of land today is 351 Lewis Street, the only house on this whole block that is still standing. Rachel and her husband, George G. Bryde, were living in Florida by then, and Mary Drennan was widowed when Charles S. Drennan, Sr. died in 1944.

The Brydes and Mary Drennan together sold this home and the remainder of the land in 1945 to Mervin “Gordon” Leffler (1920-2017), whose wife was Leola Pierce Leffler. Gordon was the son of Mervin J. and Cornelia Kelly Leffler who ran Leffler’s Grocery and Deli just a few doors away at 517 South Washington Street, which was also demolished for the Hospital. And Mervin was the grandson of Edgar C. and Nettie Kelly who began the Whistle Bottling Company (later renamed the Kelly Beverage Company) on Lewis Street.

In 1948, Mervin Leffler sold this home to John P. Beckman and his wife Cora S. Beckman for the lifetime of their survivor and then to Donald L. Mergler (1908-2007) and Margaret A. Mergler. The Beckmans were Margaret Mergler’s parents. Donald and Margaret got married in 1926 and, because Donald was a jockey, Margaret says they “lived out of suitcases” until the mid-1930s because they had to travel the horseracing circuit. When they returned to Havre de Grace in 1938 they moved in with the Beckmans at 502 Juniata Street but they decided after having their daughter Barbara in 1930 they “needed three bedrooms instead of two.” Donald explained in a joint Harford County Living History Treasure interview in 2001 that was why they moved to this house. John Beckman died in 1951 and Cora followed him in 1955, leaving this house to the Merglers. In the same Living History interview the Merglers said they became “good friends with the Mike family across the street.”

In 1978, the Merglers sold the property to Geoffrey K. Blakely and his wife, Sheila G. Blakely who, like many neighbors, had to sell the property to Harford Memorial Hospital.