George Bartol (1779-1848), a town commissioner for several years, bought this lot of land from William B. Stokes in 1830. William Poplar (1804-1880) bought the property from Bartol in 1835 and it has been said that he sold it four years later for twice the price he paid for it. The MIHP conjectured that the present house was built during the years of Poplar ownership (1835-1839), although, they added, it may have been built earlier.

In 1839, William Poplar and his wife, Henrietta, sold this property to Aquila Bailey (1806-1888) and his wife, Martha (1804-1892). Aquila was known to be a carpenter and justice of the peace and the year after purchasing this property he was elected as a town commissioner. His mother was Rachel Barnes Bailey and Aquila had several siblings. Aquila Bailey is known to have had an “Ordinary Keeper’s License” for Havre de Grace (an ordinary being a tavern with refreshments and sometimes a room for the night). It seems possible that he ran such an establishment in this building.

When Aquila died in 1888 he left a Will bequeathing his property jointly to Elizabeth Snow (1848-1917), her son Henry Bailey Snow (1870-1896), and her daughter, Susan Giles Snow (1883-1968). Dr. Henry Bailey Snow was a young dentist and member of St. John’s Church for whom there was a marble stone memorial set into the south wall of St. John’s parish house after his death in 1896 at the age of 26. That manse, however, was demolished in the 1950s to make space for St. John’s Towers to be constructed on Congress Avenue. Susan Giles Snow got married in 1901 to Orville Louis Gaubin in St. John’s Church. In 1930 when the heirs decided to sell the property the only Snow family members left were Susan Snow Gaubin and Martha Snow Sentman, who was married to Harry W. Sentman.

The Snow heirs sold this property in 1930 to Charles S. Drennen, Sr. (1880-1944) and Mary Edith Holly Drennen (1882-1976) who opened the Havre de Grace Barbershop here. Mary Edith was a daughter of James Holly (1855-1935) and granddaughter of John “Daddy” Holly (1818-1892), the famous local decoy carvers. After Charles Drennan died, Mary Edith sold the property in 1946 to Joseph and Mary August, who ran the “August Jewelry Store” in the building.

At some point, the internal stairway that would have connected the first floor store with the living quarters above was removed to provide more space and an external enclosed stairway was added to the south side of the building.

From 1970 to 1977 this building was owned by Carlton H. Rigler, Sr. (1921-1999). Carlton and his wife, Nettie, ran a large furniture store, C.H. Rigler Furniture Store, directly across the street from this building where they sold furniture, appliances, televisions, and floor coverings beginning in the 1950s. Following a huge fire in 1976 that destroyed that furniture store, the Riglers sold this building to Elster and Carrie V. Jones (1927-2013). Carrie opened the “Jones Little Collector Shop” here where she sold items she collected at antique shows and yard sales.

In 1985, Carrie Jones sold the building to her daughter and son-in-law, Patricia and Raymond Crownover and they named the first floor store “Poplar House Antiques.” They ran it for about 16 years after which they sold it to James Patrick Pascuzzi.

In 2003, this ground floor store became “Doodads,” a fair trade store, unique in Havre de Grace and owned by Becky Collins. In 2015, Becky closed Doodads due to a pending move abroad and in 2017 she sold the building to 308 Poplar House LLC. The current owner has been operating a retail fair trade business called “Windsong” on the ground floor where she sells handmade jewelry, clothing, accessories, and home goods.

County Records
Built 1835. 1404 sq ft retail store with apartment above.