This is a 24,000 square foot (0.55 acre) parcel of land on the southeast corner of South Washington and Commerce Streets facing Tydings Park and the City Yacht Basin. It was sold by Jacob Hoke (1799-1876) and Nancy Hoke in 1840 to Captain William W. Virdin (1803-1871). The Captain was well known as a property owner in Harford County and from 1836 to 1851 was Captain of the 453-ton “Susquehanna” steamboat with its 1,200 person capacity. Upon the Captain’s death, his son, Dr. William W. Virdin (1829-1897) inherited his properties and sold some of them at public auction in 1875. Dr. Virdin and his wife, Kate, sold this property in 1877 to John "Thompson" Frieze (1826-1898) and his wife Elizabeth; it then went to John T. Arthur in 1892; to John Howard and Lucretia Taylor in 1906; and to Mattie W. Baker in 1911. It is known that a large home existed on this property but it is not known when it was built. It is shown on the 1921 and 1930 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (however, absence of a building on an earlier Sanborn map does not necessarily mean it didn’t exist).

Mattie W. Baker was the new widow of George A. Baker (1856-1909) who in 1911 had sold the large Baker Mansion on South Union Avenue to the City of Havre de Grace to become the Havre de Grace Hospital of Harford County. This grand house fronting on Commerce Street, with its slate roof, porches, and garage, became her new home in which she had telephone service in 1916. During the construction of The Bayou Hotel, Elizabeth D. Piersol, the wife of one of its investors, Edwin F. Piersol, purchased this building from Mattie W. Baker in 1917 and renovated it as their own magnificent residence.

After owning it for four years, the Piersols sold this large home and property to E. Roy James (1886-1955) and his wife, Mary, the parents of William S. “Bill” James (1914-1993). Roy James had a barn and adjoining barnyard behind the home where they stored several ponies, which Bill James and his friends rode frequently. Bill later became very well known for his many accomplishments including serving in the Maryland House of Delegates and State Senate. In 1928, Roy and Mary James also bought Swan Creek farm, to which they later moved.

In 1936, Roy and Mary James sold this large property to Joseph T. Hatem (1900-1968) and Nasma “Nancy” Hatem (1908-1991). The Hatems in 1930 had begun running a general store at the corner of North Stokes and Franklin Streets, which they owned for many years. Joseph and Nancy’s first child was Thomas J. Hatem (1925-1985), for whom the Route 40 bridge over the Susquehanna River was named in 1986; their next child was Dr. Frederick J. Hatem (1927-2011), who became a well-known obstetrician in Harford and Cecil Counties and was married to Arianna Hatem; and their third child was Dr. Rose Mary Hatem Bonsack (1933-2020), a family practice physician and politician who served in the Maryland House of Delegates and married James Bonsack. It is assumed that the Hatem children spent most of their childhoods living in this home.

The building became rental apartments at some point in the late 1940s into the 1950s after the Hatem children had moved on with their lives (in 1955 Dr. Frederick and Arianna Hatem bought and moved to the house on the opposite corner of Commerce and South Washington Streets). And on the 1955 Sanborn Insurance Map this building is marked as “apartments.” Richard Wooten remembers the house well, since he lived in the adjoining property at 901 South Washington Street. The included photo of the mansion was taken in the 1970s. The house deteriorated over the years, particularly after Joseph’s death in 1968, and became vacant. The local fire department extinguished arson fires a few times but the mansion was finally destroyed by arson in October 1979. It has been said that previous offers to buy the property were turned down by the Hatem family.

In 1992, after the death of Nancy Hatem, the property was deeded to her children who continued to own the unimproved 24,000 sq ft lot. The personal representatives of the Estate of Frederick J. Hatem, Sr., sold this lot in 2019 to Robert W. Wright and Mary Martin, who used to live nearby at 463 Commerce Street. While the historic mansion that used to be on this lot may have had a Commerce Street address at one point, this property is now known by Harford County as 913 South Washington Street. Mary Martin has run an historic postcard business in Havre de Grace (Mary L. Martin, Ltd.) for many years and attends antique postcard shows all over the country.

County Records
24,000 sq ft lot of land.