Ownership of this property, facing St. John Street on its east side, and “running to the river,” was much contested in the Circuit Court between 1904 and 1928. Disputes were between parties such as Maggie Boyd (widow of John F. Boyd) versus other Boyd family members, and Wesley W. Reynolds versus Laura Vanneman (widow of Robert K. Vanneman) were resolved by Court Trustees selling the property to A. Hamlin Carver (1857-1943) in 1928. He was a much respected banker and investor, who served as Mayor from 1909-1911. Some of these parties were also involved in ownership of 301 St. John Street. Both of these parcels of land were larger then than they are now.

Carver sold this property to Raffaele (Ralph) Pascuzzi in 1928, whose wife was Maria “Mary” Glorioso Pascuzzi (1883-1959). They opened a shoe repair business here called the “Tic Toc Shoe Repair” which provides an entertaining story from the days of Prohibition. Apparently the Tic Toc had become known by some as a delivery place for bootleg whiskey. One day as a delivery man was approaching the Tic Toc, he was jumped by three men, two of whom he killed. When he was later tried in court, the judge acquitted him ruling that “a man has a right to protect his load no matter what it is.”

In 1938, Ralph Pascuzzi advertised that he did first class tailoring, cleaning, and pressing here along with alterations of any kind to suit the customer. By 1941, Ralph Pascuzzi had died and ownership was once more challenged; this time between Ralph’s widow, Mary, and Albert Pascuzzi. A Circuit Court trustee awarded it to Emil A. Rochet (1912-1992) and the widowed Mary Pascuzzi who, presumably, continued to run the Tic Toc. There were a couple more brief owners until 1949 (Thomas H. Keys, Victor Demarco, and Joseph DeCola) when the Tic Toc was bought by Primo Angeletti and Murrell G. Angeletti, his wife, who in 1946 had a three-year-old son, Donald.

Primo had grown up in Havre de Grace and, as with other young people growing up in the town then, a much publicized story of one of his adventures followed him. In 1941 when Primo, Oliver “Eggie” Smith, and William “Slim” Taylor sank their boat in the Chesapeake Bay they had to swim to shore. Their 30-foot cabin cruiser sprang a leak and quickly went down at Morton’s Point in Kent County. After reaching shore they were surrounded by woods, thickets and briars through which they had to trek for two miles soaking wet before being picked up by a passing motorist. They never forgot that adventure.

After Primo died, the widowed Murrell sold the property in 1978 to The Columbian Building Association of Harford County. In the early 1990s it was the Columbian Bank, operating as the Cecil Federal Savings Bank. About 10 years later, this became The Cecil Bank, managed by Donald Angert (who also owned Frank Shoes on North Washington Street). The Cecil Bank closed this branch in 2012 and two years later the building was sold to 303 St. John Street LLC, the current owner.

In February 2015, Arts by the Bay Gallery, under the direction of Pat Fair, renovated the first floor as an art gallery (while retaining the bank’s vault) and moved the gallery to these premises from Warren Street in April 2015. The gallery, part of the Havre de Grace Arts Collective, is an arts cooperative where the member artists staff the gallery. Dedicated to supporting and promoting the arts, they also provide workshops and classes in a variety of mediums.

County Records
Built 1900. 1680 sq ft, retail store, 1923 sq ft lot.