This property on the southeast corner of Franklin and North Stokes Streets was owned by George H. Bristow (1828-1896) and his German-born wife, Margaret Schreitz Bristow, when Margaret died in 1904. The house appears on the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of 1885 and had been either built by or acquired by the Bristow family. Upon their mother’s death, the adult children conveyed the Bristow estate to Trustee Peter Lesley Hopper (1856-1917) to divide it among them. This corner property and a lot immediately south of it was deeded in 1904 to Jackson Wickes Maslin (1862-1943) and his wife, Katherine “Kate” Maslin (1863-1918), a daughter of the Bristows. Kate had married Jackson Maslin in 1898; her other siblings were Pearl, Charles, Harvey, and Fannie Bristow.

The Sanborn Map of 1921 shows a slightly larger footprint for this corner building, which may have represented the addition of two porches in the rear. The building now just south of this at 319 North Stokes Street was part of the original parcel and was sold by the widowed Jackson Maslin in 1922 to State Properties, Inc. Nine years later Jackson sold this building to the same company, which then owned both pieces of property.

State Properties, Inc. sold this corner lot in 1931 to Horace L. Churchman (1898-1948) and his wife, Dorothy (1901-1984), and Horace’s sister, Esther Churchman (1884-1962). The Churchmans may have modified the building with a corner entrance to facilitate Esther Churchman’s desire to create a women’s dress shop on the ground floor. She may have rented out the second floor but she did not live in it. Horace and Dorothy Churchman had owned and lived in a house at 307 South Washington Street since 1922 and according to the 1940 Census, Esther lived with them and their two children. Presumably the dress shop materialized for some time but was then closed by Esther.

The building directly south of this on North Stokes Street became the telephone exchange of the C&P Telephone Company of Baltimore City in the 1940s and 1950s. Subsequently, a tenant of this ground floor corner space converted it to a coffee and sandwich shop for the C&P employees. However, that business ended when C&P moved to new premises at 650 Fountain Street in 1960 when the direct dial phones began.

After the 1948 death of Horace Churchman, his widow, Dorothy, had sold this corner property to Esther Churchman. Three years later, Esther married Norris A. Watson (1884-1960) and they added the name of Esther’s nephew, Horace E. Churchman (1925-2005) to the deed in 1958. After Esther was widowed in 1960, she and the Churchmans sold this property to Horace A. and Mary E. Walker in 1962 (they also sold their property at 307 South Washington Street to the same Walkers that year). The Walkers were related to the family of Horace E. Churchman’s wife, Frances Walker Churchman (1927-1999).

The Walkers owned this property for about nine years after which the property had a succession of several owners until it was bought by Donald J. Fair, a local real estate investor, in 1987. Some local residents recall the corner shop being “Pop Hansell’s Ice Cream Shop” for a period of time, run by WWII Army veteran, Joseph “Dale” Hansell (1922-1997), but it closed during the 1980s. Over the years this corner building had been divided into three rental units, two on the first floor and one on the second floor, but each with its own entrance. Although there no longer is a store on the first floor, that unit continues to have the corner doorway.

In 1994, Donald Fair sold this corner property to his daughter, Sheila M. Boyd, and her husband, James “Kevin” Boyd. This three-unit building continues to be owned by them as an investment property.

County records
Built 1920. 2220 sq ft, 2 stories, 2.5 baths, garage, fireplace, 1749 sq ft lot.