This property was first sold in 1836 by George Bartol (1779-1848) and Sarah Bartol to Mathew Newkirk (1794–1868) of Philadelphia. Newkirk was a railroad construction pioneer who devoted the 1830s to raising money for and then building a rail line from Philadelphia south to Wilmington and Baltimore. In 1838 he made himself President of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. In planning for this line, he bought several properties in Havre de Grace adjacent to the tracks that ran along St. Clair Street (now Pennington Avenue) that could potentially become hotels for railroad passengers.

Later this building was known as the “Baynes” building—the name can still be seen over the entrance to the upper floors. Adolph T. Baynes (1904-1987) and his wife, Isabelle, owned this building from 1941 to 1964. In 1939 they built themselves a waterfront home on South Adams Street that is still owned by their daughter, Jeanne Baynes Lounsberry. Adolph Baynes also was the first Board Chairperson of Citizens Nursing Home of Harford County (on Market Street) in 1963.

There had been a Food Rite store here where a young Ben DiMauro sliced lunchmeat at the deli. Then an A&P food store operated here until it relocated to 200 Congress Avenue. Around 1952, this became Seibert’s Foodland, with Charles and Cecilia Seibert, “Where Service Makes the Difference,” right across the street from the original Seibert’s store. Bonnie Kampes remembers that when Hurricane Hazel hit in 1954 causing Seibert’s to lose electricity, they passed out free ice cream to everyone in the street! About six years later Herman Seibert (who had diabetes) died after he dropped a heavy ham on his foot and gangrene set in. Carol Hansen loved working for Charlie Seibert in the early 1970s, along with Frieda Fish and Regina Henchelmier. The Seiberts said the upper floor of this building had been a bookie’s parlor until 1950 when The Graw racetrack closed and for years afterward it still had the chalkboards with writing all over them.

The store suffered from a fire that destroyed the interior (and damaged the corner building next door) during the 1990s but opened again in 2004 as the Cork & Barrel, a wine store. That store moved to Route 40 around 2009. Then the ground floor became Estate Brokers of Maryland, with firearms, jewelry, and coins run by Debra Guy-Telsing in 2011. Following that it became an antiques and consignment shop (Uncle Jay’s Attic), which closed in 2014. Stirling Bridge Jewelry & Gifts, run by Barbara Conley, moved in around 2016 and closed a year later.

After a major renovation and redesign of the interior by Jolene Forrester, this became the colorfully decorated JoRetro store in early 2018, specializing in Pyrex ware and other mid-century items. It now has a side entrance on Pennington Avenue where a glass blower used to have a workshop. JoRetro has retained the original freezer room with thick walls in the rear of the store that dates back to Seibert’s Foodland, although it is used now simply as a special sale room.

In 2015 Frank Talmo LLC sold these properties to Eriter LLC of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

County Records
15,634 sq ft commercial retail store, 8100 sq ft lot, 4 floors, 3 stores, 10 apartments. Current Harford County records combine this with #141 as 137-141 North Washington Street.