From deeds it is apparent that William Williams and his wife, Sarah E. Williams, owned a square block of land bordered by Juniata, Adams, Otsego and Ontario Streets in 1890. Their heirs sold it to Robert Seneca (1846-1931) in 1890. Robert and his brother, Stephen Seneca, owned the fruit-packing business in the Seneca Warehouse on the waterfront. One year later, Robert and Caroline Seneca sold a part of the property to John Schmidt (1849-1912) of Harford County. By 1900, John Schmidt and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Schmidt lived in Philadelphia and sold these two lots to Jeanette Barnes Maires (1847-1940). It appears that Jeanette Maires built this house and most likely lived here for 24 years. A telephone directory indicates that Frank M. Barnes had telephone service at this address in 1916.

In 1924, Jeanette Maires sold this property to Frank M. Barnes, who immediately deeded it to Jeanette Maires for the remainder of her natural life, with the remainder to go to Lillian M. Barnes (1889-1966). Lillian may have been the daughter of Jeanette Maires. But in 1937, three years before she died, Jeanette sold it to Lillian Barnes and her brother, Walter D. Barnes. Once more, in 1945 this property was deeded to Lillian Barnes individually. This is now a rental home with four separate units but it is not known when it was converted from being a single family home to having four rental units. Because Lillian Barnes alone owned this large property until 1966 when she died, she may have converted it.

Lillian Barnes left her Estate in 1966 to Letha B. Freeze of North Carolina. Letha and her husband, Paul Freeze, sold this property right away to James Walter Buchanan (1928-2014) and his wife, Betty L. Buchanan. Betty preceded her husband in death but James owned this property for almost 50 years by the time he died. James was a veteran of the US Navy having served in Korea, and retired from the VA Medical Center at Perry Point. Philip K. Buchanan, his son, and Donna Buchanan have owned this large rental property since 2014 and live elsewhere.

In September 2020, Gary A. Wasielewski and Amanda E. Shaffer, his wife, bought this large property from the Buchanans and are living in it as a single family residence now. Gary Wasielewski has been a history teacher and assistant principal with the Harford County Public Schools for several years and was elected to the Havre de Grace City Council in 2003. Amanda has been involved in the Havre de Grace Middle School PTSA and says one of the two basements in this house is the original and “tunnels up to the front of the house.” Together they had previously renovated the nearby 742 Ontario Street from being a rental property to a single-family home, which they sold in November 2020.

County Records
Built 1900. 5083 sq ft, 2.5 stories, no basement, garage, 5 baths, 12,000 sq ft lot.