This brick building, along with a few others, reflect a time when the town was a prosperous reshipping port for grain, lumber, coal and fish served by the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal and the railroads. The lot was bought by War of 1812 veteran Henry Barnes (1792-1858) in 1829 who then built the house. “H. Barnes” appears in this location on the Herrick and Jennings Map of Harford County, 1858. Henry’s first wife, Sarah Whitaker, had died in 1841; his second wife, Elizabeth Bayless Barnes, as his widow, sold the house to John A. Hopper (1804-1878) in 1864. It was John’s son, Peter Lesley Hopper (1856-1917), who created the Hopper Map of Havre de Grace 1899, compiled from an original survey, which is still used today. John Hopper's nephew, James Hopper (1932-1902) built and was the proprietor of the Hopper Hotel near the Lockhouse.

John Hopper added the large bay and new Italian style portico entrance on the Adams Street side in 1865. It is thought that the basement may have once served as a shelter for people following the Underground Railroad north to freedom. On the south front it is shaded by several large trees. Although there are no outbuildings now, a concrete slab and partial wall remain on Hoppers Lane behind it. This could have been a summer kitchen or stable. And between the house and Hoppers Lane, the 1910 Sanborn Insurance Map shows a shed.

Originally a single family home, the Barnes-Hopper house is a three-story building with a basement. It was divided into five apartments in the mid-1900s, possibly due to an influx of workers during the WWII era. It was in 1964 that John Biemiller and Holden P. Rogers bought it and John Biemiller rented apartments in it until 1974. It was then owned by G. DeWayne Curry of Curry Property Management of Aberdeen until 1990.

The owner today is Cecilia League who, when she purchased it in 1997, went about a major restoration of this home. She replaced 33 original windows and shutters with architecturally correct copies. In addition, she stripped years of white paint from all the original bricks. She had the portico rebuilt and repaired, retained the original door, reopened several of the original fireplaces, and preserved the three-story circular staircase. The owner lives in one of the apartments and enjoys a private porch that she added in 2015. This property received an award from the Havre de Grace Historic Preservation Commission in 2019.

County Records
Built 1870. 3,974 sq ft, five-bathrooms, brick, corner lot of 11,900 sq ft.