601 Water Street was the location of Baldwins Dock and boat rentals in the 1950s and 1960s prior to the devastation of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Ed, Thomas, and Jeff Baldwin rented john boats (grey trimmed in red) and gear, including 6 HP Firestone motors, fishing tackle, ice and bait, for several years. They sold outboard gas and also had a launch ramp on the river. William Schweers used to buy bloodworms for catfish there and Linda Hash said the Baldwins kept minnows and fish in a bathtub in the store. Gina Fisher Nieszczur remembers sitting on the Baldwins’ dock for hours listening to her transistor radio and eating snacks from her Mommom’s sub shop (Cianelli’s) on Otsego Street. 

The Baldwin business, operated from a Quonset hut, never recovered from the damage caused by the river surging through all 50 gates of the Conowingo Dam that had to be opened during Hurricane Agnes. Jolene Forrester of “JoRetro” on North Washington Street is the niece of the Baldwin brothers and she says some of her earliest memories were of stopping by their wharf to visit. She says “Baldwin’s Boat Rental was tucked under the railroad bridge in Havre de Grace. When the trains ran above our heads everyone would stop talking for a few minutes, just smile and enjoy a cold drink. . .”

Now the property is the 0.9-acre Jean S. Roberts Memorial Park, with public boat ramp, kayak launch, parking, picnic table and fishing pier. Jean Sharp Roberts (1929-1983) was a lifelong Havre de Grace resident, a teacher at the Elementary School for 34 years, and a City Council member from 1982-1984. During her term on the City Council, Jean was liaison to the Recreation Committee and stayed on the committee even when her term ended. Jean Roberts originated the plan of a park and was tenacious in getting it funded through Harford County’s Program Open Space. She died before the park was finished but the City Council named the park in her memory at its dedication in 1985.