The land on which this house was built used to be part of the land at 400 South Washington Street, next door to this. As with that property, ownership descended to Thomas W. Singleton and his wife May V. Singleton, who in 1917 sold the entire property to William Scarff Kelly (1887-1967) and Annie Moore Kelly. William Kelly served as Postmaster of Havre de Grace from 1920 to 1924. William was the son of Edgar Kelly (1855-1937) and Martha Kelly who began the Whistle Bottling Company on Lewis Street in 1907, later renamed the Kelly Beverage Company.

The Kellys sold the entire property and land in 1921 to William H. Williams (1899-1986) and Annie Williams. They owned it for just two years before selling it to Wilbur S. Ervin, Sr. and Anna Ervin who were owners for three years. In 1926 the Ervins sold all of the property to Robert F. Fadeley, Sr., and his wife, Myrtle. They appear to have subdivided the property and sold this part of it the following year to Alexander and Palma Seymour. It is assumed that the Seymours built this home around 1928.

There are several houses in Havre de Grace that were built with the use of Sears Modern Home Kit Catalogs that sold mail-order kits for constructing houses. A Sears kit contained around 25 tons of materials, more than 30,000 parts, 750 lbs of nails along with a 75-page instruction book that were shipped directly to the purchaser. The design of this house is very similar to some in Havre de Grace that are known to have originated as Sears kits, although some have since been modified. The 370 different designs were only offered in Sears mail order catalogs between 1908 and 1942. Sears houses built after 1916 have stamped lumber elements that sometimes can be found in attics or basements. Pictures of some models are listed online at: http://arts-crafts.com/archive/sears/. Sears sold about 75,000 homes by mail order in all 48 states, including several in Havre de Grace (due to the convenience of the railroad).

A mortgage attorney sold this home at a public sale in 1930 to John D. Myers, Sr. (1887-1978) and his wife, Edna Bernice Myers (1892-1982). Their son, Corporal John D. Myers (1919-1970) served in the Marine Corps during WWII. The Myers lived here for seven years and sold it to William and Mary Emma French in 1937.

Other owners included Karl and Lillian Smith and Esther Gutman and her daughter, Fannie Molitz. After Fannie married Walter Strong, Esther Gutman deeded the property to them in 1947. They owned the house until Fannie died in 1973. In 1975 Walter Strong got married again to Emma Strong and they jointly owned the house until Walter’s death in 1984. Emma continued to own the home until her death and in 2003 her estate sold it to James and Charlotte Snyder.

Around 2012, the Snyders, with a growing family, built a large addition to the rear of the home, without altering the overall appearance of the front of the house.

County Records
Built 1935. 2130 sq ft, 1.5 stories with basement, 2 baths, 7998 sq ft lot.