This location was the site of a meat and grocery business opened by Henry C. “Harry” Lawder, Sr. (1842-1921) in 1860 in a partnership with Frederick P. Carroll until 1870 when Harry Lawder became the sole owner. Frederick P. Carroll is listed as an “owner of bulls” in the “Herd Register” of The American Jersey Cattle Club in 1886. In 1888, H.C. Lawder, “Butcher and Green Grocer” advertised his business with “Fresh meats of all kinds” in the Havre de Grace Republicanand he had a “cold storage plant.” Harry Lawder also served on the City Council in the 1890s and was appointed Postmaster in 1914.

The Lawder business moved to St. John Street when Citizens National Bank of Havre de Grace became the owner of the property, built this bank, and opened here in 1900. Robert C. Harkins was President and Stanley M. Hanley was cashier. Later, William A. Leffler (1876-1961), a former mayor, worked here as cashier for several years until 1955 covering the period of The Graw Races (1912-1950). The Graw made for an exciting time for this bank; every evening an armored truck, accompanied by State Police, would drive the money to the bank here and each day around 11 a.m. sirens were heard again escorting the armored truck back to the racetrack with money for the day. However, the bank experienced even more excitement in 1955 when a $100,000 shortage was discovered and three of its prominent employees ended up pleading guilty in federal court.

Note how the exterior of the Citizens National Bank on the corner changed over the decades while it was under their ownership for more than 100 years.

The Mercantile County Bank had a branch in this building in 1992, followed by County Banking & Trust in 1995, and since 2007 the building has housed the PNC Bank. In November 2019 PNC announced the closing of this bank branch. The building is now for sale.

County Records
Built 1900. 3750 sq ft, branch bank, 2600 sq ft lot.