Records do not indicate exactly when this substantial building at the northeast corner of Bourbon and Market Streets was constructed. Records do indicate, however, that the property was part of a parcel of land owned by The Havre Iron Company (sometimes called the Havre Iron Works) that was begun by Joseph Whitaker II (1789-1870) and his brother, George Price Whitaker (1803-1890). They owned two large blast furnaces at the foot of Bourbon Street in the mid-1800s. In 1866 Abram P. McCombs (1824-1916) bought the Havre Iron Company, which appears to have slowly gone out of business.

In early 1890, Abram McCombs sold two lots of his land to Jacob Osmond, Jr. (1850-1938) and his wife, Libbie C. Osmond. Each lot fronted 60 feet on Market Street and ran back “at least 200 feet” to the Susquehanna River. At that time, Jacob Osmond operated J. Osborn & Company’s floating fish sheds on the Furnace Wharf at the foot of Bourbon Street that are shown on the 1899 Sanborn Insurance Map. In May 1900, Jacob and Libbie Osmond sold their property to Rebecca A. McCall for her natural life, thereafter deeded to Harry N. McCall.

Coincidentally, on June 1, 1900, The Aegis & Intelligencer announced that “Mrs. McCall is having a handsome residence erected on Market Street, Mr. James L. Burke being the contractor.” James L. Burke (1841-1918) was a builder and contractor who most likely built a home here for Rebecca McCall in 1900.

In the early 1900s an ownership dispute (in re Harry J. McCall et al. vs. Mary E. Elliott, et al.) resulted in the Circuit Court authorizing Trustees Millard E. Tydings and Robert W. Archer to sell the property in July 1915 to James J. Quirk (1868-1946) and his wife, Agnes. Just three years later, the Quirks sold the property to Simon and Annie Vitebsky. By this point, however, the property transferred was only 30 feet fronting on Market Street and running back to the river (older deeds include property descriptions but not mailing addresses). Following the death of Simon Vitebsky, his widow sold this property in June 1921 to John Harrison “Harry” Way (1885-1966) and Myrtle May Way.

For the next couple of decades, ownership bounced around between the Ways, the City Building & Loan Association, and Harford County for various financial reasons (such as nonpayment of taxes). It was 1940 before the City Building & Loan Association sold this property to Dr. Frederick W. Steiner (1878-1943) and his wife, Grace. The Steiners already owned a home at 115 Market Street, adjacent to this property. Dr. Steiner was the Vice-President of City Building & Loan at the time but he died three years later. In 1946, the widowed Grace Steiner sold the property to Carl E. Roberts (1905-1976) and his wife, Margaret Jean Roberts (and financed the purchase). Because the Roberts owned this property until 1957, it is possible that they remodeled or rebuilt the structure on this land. There are two levels to the building, the first being a very large store space and the second floor having several apartments.

This ground floor was the Rose Furniture store in the late 1950s where people could trade in their old furniture for something newer. It is shown on the 1955 Sanborn Map. In 1957 Carl and Margaret Roberts sold the building and business to Otto Freed (1900-1961) and his wife, Ida Freed (1904-1967). In the 1940s, Otto and Ida had owned the Havre de Grace Print & Publishing Company with Charles and Lois Boyd (that operated in 1957 in the old Lafayette Hotel property and now the home of the Joseph L. Davis Post No. 47 American Legion of Havre de Grace). Four years after purchasing this building Otto Freed died in 1961, leaving the property to his wife, Ida, who died in 1967. By Ida’s Last Will, she left the property to their two sons, Gerald Freed and Felix Freed, who owned the property until 1979.

In 1979, Fritz Sterbak bought this property from the Freed brothers and moved his brass bed manufacturing facility, “Splendor in Brass,” to this building. Although a large percentage of his business was wholesale, he also sold brass and antiques retail as demand grew. Approximately 200 solid brass beds were produced here weekly, where Tom Campbell worked in 1979 and 1980. Fritz Sterbak also owned the old bank building at 331 St. John Street from 1978 to 1986, and had another space on Franklin Street, both of which he operated as retail outlets for the brass beds as well as antiques. Fritz has said that it was his clientele that got him into antiques because they would often trade antiques for the brass beds. He stopped making the brass beds in the 1990s.

Fritz’s real love was antique glass—stained glass from the windows of old churches and houses and pieces of Tiffany when he could find them. Reproduction oak furniture was also a favorite. The business was still flourishing in the mid-1990s when he changed the title of his business to Investment Antiques. Fritz also had a flea market section at one point in the basement that he called the “pink elephant,” although that may have been run by his wife, Diane.

In 2014 this whole property of 119-123 Market Street, including the several rental apartments on the upper story of the building, were bought at a public sale by Allen J. Fair, who has been investing in Havre de Grace real estate for many years. Fritz’s antiques business continues to occupy the ground floor, with apartments above it.

County Records
Built 1955. 7 Units. 25,900 sq ft commercial retail store with 30,000 sq ft lot.