Ownership of the land on which this house was built was in dispute in the late 1800s until the Circuit Court appointed a trustee to resolve it. This was done in 1890 when it was sold to Charles B. Moore (1859-1928). He most likely built this house on the northeast corner of Alliance and South Washington Streets for himself and his wife, Lillie M. Moore (1865-1932). Charles was the great-grandson of the famed Havre de Grace Defender John O’Neill, the first Lighthouse Keeper. He also was the son of William S. Moore (1817-1877) and Mary O’Neill Moore (1828-1912) of the Moore Family Homestead at 710 Market Street.

When Charles Moore died in 1928 he left the home to his wife Lillie who sold it in 1928 to Dora and Thomas R. Winkler, who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Dora died in 1936 and when Thomas died, the property was bought in 1946 by W. LeRoy and Naomi McMaster. Naomi McMaster and Lida A. Graham (1895-1970) were two of five daughters of Dora and Thomas Winkler and Lida was the Executrix of Thomas’s estate. That same year, however, the McMasters sold the property to sister Lida and Richard Graham. Richard was a WWII veteran who died in 1947 but Lida continued to own the home until she died in 1970 at 81 years of age. Her Executrix was Naomi McMaster, her sister, who sold this home.

Mark and Ann Manucy were the owners from 1970 to 1980; Mark was a radio/audiovisual engineer and they moved to Florida when they retired. From 1980 to 1982 this was home to Paul and Margaret McCauley who relocated to Georgia in 1982 and sold the property to Kenneth and Catherine “Kay” Keetley.

Kay Keetley and her husband both grew up in Havre de Grace and she can remember when engineers on trains in “The Cut” would wave to her in her parents’ apartment at the corner of Washington Street and Pennington Avenue. After that the family moved to 505 South Washington Street, which was one of the houses that were bought by the Harford Memorial Hospital in 1982 to be made into a parking lot. She and her husband moved from that house to this one. After The Graw racetrack was sold to the Maryland National Guard, Kay worked there until she retired. Her parents were local Havre de Grace residents; her grandparents were George and Jane Johnson who lived at 404 North Union Avenue. George used to tell her stories of when he used to cut ice from the river in the early 1900s. Her mother was Alice Johnson Pearson, who died in 1976, and her aunt was Kathryn Johnson who worked at the State Theatre on St. John Street.

Kenneth Keetley’s family ran the Keetley Motor Company in Port Deposit, where his mother, Erma Keetley (1921-2011), was a trial magistrate and once served as Mayor. Kenneth and Kay have lived here in this home for almost 40 years.

County Records
Built 1930. 1968 sq ft, 2 stories with basement, 2 baths, 6000 sq ft lot.