Some sources say that in 1836 Abraham Jarrett Thomas (1777-1841) sold this property to John Donahoo (1786-1858), a sergeant in the militia in 1812 and builder of the Concord Point Lightstation. Donahoo built the United States Hotel here with three stories and river-facing double chimneys. “U.S. Hotel” appears in this location on the Herrick and Jennings 1858 Map of Harford County. It also had piers for finished goods to be ferried by boat or train across the river.

Deeds show that John and Elizabeth Donahoo sold the property in July 1837 to Matthew Newkirk (1794-1868), with the agreement that if Newkirk “wishes to have the tenement now occupied as a tavern removed I Donahoo will pull down and remove the same within a reasonable time after being directed by Newkirk.” Newkirk was a railroad construction pioneer in Philadelphia who was devoting the 1830s to raising money for and then building a rail line from Philadelphia south to Wilmington and Baltimore. No doubt the United States Hotel, with a tavern, and next to the Susquehanna River, would have been an asset to railroad travellers. Newkirk invested in all four of the state-chartered railroads, installed himself on their boards, and assumed the presidency of two of them. Then, in 1838 he merged the railroads into one, The Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail Road (PW&B) and made himself President.

In 1854, Matthew and Kelty Newkirk sold this whole property to The PW&B Rail Road (they also owned other properties in Havre de Grace). There were a couple of different hotel managers, one being Israel Allen in 1867; another who died of smallpox; but by 1872 John P. Adams took over the United States Hotel and made some renovations. In 1878, however, the hotel was refitted and renovated by R.T. Clayton, the former proprietor of the National Hotel in Middletown, Delaware. But shortly after that a huge fire that started in the kitchen ravaged this large landmark. Being beyond repair, the remaining walls and debris had to be removed by a crew of men hired by The PW&B Rail Road to clear the site. In January 1880, The PW&B Rail Road sold the property along with “wharves, docks, piers, water ports and privileges to the Port Warden’s line” to Stephen J. Seneca (1837-1918).

Seneca then began constructing this 20,000-square-foot brick and stone building at the water's edge. The cannery’s original interior and exterior walls are still visible today, as well as the post and beam support structure. Named the S.J. Seneca Fruit Packer and Can Manufacturer, and owned by Stephen and his brother, Robert Seneca (1846-1931), they sold under the Red Cross label. It was one of the largest canning operations on the Chesapeake Bay—the location being advantageous for both water and rail shipping. In 1888, they urged Havre de Grace Republican readers to, “Patronize and Encourage Home Industry” by buying Harford County made cans. In 1891, they converted the second story of the main building into a hosiery mill, producing 700 dozen pairs of hose per week.

The cannery property was so large it filled the space on the water’s edge between Pennington Avenue and Green Streets with piers, wharfs, docks, and sheds and buildings, including “Polish Employee Quarters” (shown on the 1899 Sanborn Insurance Map). The business prospered and by the 1904 Sanborn Map, the “Polish Employee Quarters” had become the “Bohemian Employee Quarters.” These were shanties basically where families would stay overnight, with one room to each family. Some elderly locals remember the unique smell from the tomato cannery in summer and the sight of tomato skins floating on the water in the river. And some remember as kids the fun they had when trucks bringing tomatoes to the cannery had to slow down—they jumped on the trucks and threw tomatoes at everyone.

Brass or aluminum tokens were used by cannery owners during the first half of the twentieth century to pay workers for skinning tomatoes and other vegetables. Local merchants or banks would honor the tokens in return for goods, or workers could exchange them for U.S. currency at the end of each week. The practice of paying in tokens ended in the early 1950s with passage of federal wage and hour laws.

Stephen and Annie Seneca sold the property in 1901 to D. Wiley McCaughey of the Rock Oil Company in Chicago. Within one year McCaughey sold it to the American Can Company, which had just become incorporated in 1901 to manufacture tin cans and containers.

The entire canning business was bought from American Can in 1909 by retired Major Edward V. Stockham. Stockham was not new to canning. In 1910 he had won first prize for his essay on “How to Increase the Consumption of Canned Goods”—it was for the Canning Machinery and Supply Men’s Association competition and appeared in California Fruit News, Volume 41, Issue 1131. The Major and his wife also were the owners of one of the largest tracts of land taken by the government for the building of the Aberdeen Proving Ground. In recognition, the Major’s wife, Marion Stockham, was chosen to fire the first gun at Aberdeen Proving Ground on January 2, 1918, which happened during a blinding snowstorm. The first shell burst was from a 1905 model three-inch gun, followed with 416,294 rounds fired during 1918. During these years, Edward Stockham canned tomatoes and other vegetables grown on Maryland's eastern shore under the Edward Stockham, Inc. label.

By the 1921 Sanborn Map the cannery area was marked the “E.V. Stockham Inc. Cannery,” and by 1930 the Tilghman Packing Company packed fish nearby. In a very detailed deed, Edward and Marion Stockham sold the whole operation in 1927 to Edward V. Stockham, Inc. together with “improvements, wharves, docks, piers, waterfronts and privileges, including all power plant and sprinkler equipment, it being understood that all shafting, hangers, bearings, and pulleys are part of said power equipment.”

The old Seneca Cannery building was sold by Edward V. Stockham, Inc. in 1956 to Bayou Realty Company, Inc. which sold it seven years later to Dr. Harry C. Engel and Philip Golbin (1919-1997). They were two very successful attorneys who also owned the historic Barnes-Boyd House at 301 St. John Street in the mid-1960s. At that time they also were President and Executive Vice-President, respectively, of the Bloomingdale Rubber Company. The Engel-Golbin partnership owned the Seneca Cannery until 1997. In 2002, the building became the two-story Seneca Cannery Antiques under a new owner. On the St. John Street side of the building, there is a separate small space that has been home to a few enterprises including the Pencilworks Studios & Gallery, run by Carl Woerner, and later the Goldfish Gallery, operated by Lia Parrish. That small space is now an office for Allen J. Fair of 201 St. John, LLC, which now owns the building.

To the surprise of many who knew that the Seneca Cannery was on the waterfront, there is now a condominium apartment development just behind it on the waterfront—Seneca Pointe Condominiums, built in 1994 and owned independently. This former cannery building is a good example of a late-19th century brick industrial building, with its severe classical façade and massive stone buttresses in the rear.

County Records
Built 1900, 19,280 sq ft, storage warehouse, 11,215 sq ft lot.