This was one of five contiguous properties sold by Mary Goldsborough (the widow of Howes Goldsborough, 1790-1841) in 1855 to Robert L. Morgan (1819-1878) and his wife, Elizabeth, of Halls Cross Roads (near Aberdeen). Those five lots on the west side of Union Avenue between Green and Franklin Streets are now known as the Aveilhe House at #300; the old Post Office building at #308, an apartment building at #314-316; the Wright-Henry House at #322; and this now empty store at #324.

The Morgans sold this property in 1862 to John Wright (1831-1887), the same person to whom the Morgans sold the Wright-Henry House next door at #322. Amos Spencer (1816-1899) was a former town commissioner and merchant operating a store in this building when he provided a 15-year mortgage in 1887 to the newly widowed Martha Wright (1830-1910). She, however, paid off the mortgage the following year. Martha apparently then rented the store to Edward A. Zeitler (1858-1931) in 1898 and he opened his own City Pharmacy in this building with his wife, Susan Charshee Zeitler. Edward had been a pharmacist partner of A. Lincoln Lyon in the early days of Lyon’s Pharmacy on St. John Street.

In 1903, Martha Wright passed this property on to her two sons, Clarence Leslie Wright and John G. Wright in 1903. In 1916, this address is listed in a telephone directory as the location of a millinery shop with telephone service. With the death of John G. Wright in 1928, Clarence and his wife, Fannie, became the owners. But, because they were living next door, it is assumed that they rented this store and building. It may have been around this time that Louise Burns Waller and her husband, Marshall C. Waller (1887-1948), had a photographic studio in this corner building.

In April 1931, Pearl Zimmerman announced the opening here of a New Beauty Shop “with all lines of beauty culture,” “expert hair tinting,” and “Frederic Vita-Tonic Permanent Waves” in The Havre de Grace Republican. The beauty shop was followed around 1934 by “Jerry the Barber” (Jerry Farro) until 1944 when he moved. Connie Farro Richardson, his daughter, remembers that the shop had pieces of colored glass embedded in the stucco exterior that her little fingers loved to pick out. Another barber, Johnny Marcucci, may have operated “Johnny’s Barber Shop” here for a short time after Jerry left, and advertised that “Ladies Are Invited.”

During the early 1940s, the Susquehanna Trading Company (with Duane Henry, who owned #322) was located here, where he sold household belongings and held auctions. In the late 1940s, David and Jean Newman opened their own “City Pharmacy” here. They sold drugs, medicine, cigarettes, toiletries, stationery, and candy but in 1959 moved to 309 North Union Avenue.

As with the home at #322, this corner property was sold by Clarence Wright’s Estate in 1969 (Fannie had predeceased him). Dr. Louis H. Miller and Joseph D. Silverstein (of Joseph’s Department Store) bought the property together in 1969 as an investment. The following year they sold it to Emory L. McFadden and family. The McFaddens owned it for about nine years before selling it to Duane A. Henry and Christianne D. Henry who were living next door in #322.

Duane Henry bought this building in 1979 and continued operating the Susquehanna Trading Company, but this time carrying gifts, antiques, decoys, and art. In 2002 this became “Bill and Andy’s Collectibles,” the business owned by Andy Andrews, with two floors packed with antiques until the store closed around 2012. By then, Duane Henry had died in 2011 at Perry Point Veterans Hospital and the store sat vacant.

A small building at the rear was also part of this property, even though the sign on it says “508 Franklin.” It could originally have been the carriage house for this building. Some locals remember a barber shop here and an old photo reveals a shoe repair sign outside it.

Christianne Henry continued to own this and the home next door at #322 until 2017 when she sold both properties to Raymond Perry Stone & Associates (of Florida). Ray and Bonnie Stone, his wife, both grew up in Havre de Grace and have many family members in Harford County. They therefore remember these properties as they were in their prime and are in the process of renovating them with the use of local contractors.

County Records
Built 1920. 2820 sq ft commercial retail store. 1270 sq ft lot.