This home was first owned (and perhaps built) by Andrew and Catherine Drechsler. In 1863 Andrew and Catherine Drechsler deeded this property to Catherine. Andrew was the brother of George P. Drechsler and they had both come to Baltimore from Bavaria, Germany, around 1850 and then moved to Havre de Grace about two years later. George Drechsler and family lived in the house immediately south of this one, at 354 Bourbon Street. A property dispute between the Gottschalk Company and George Drechsler in 1899 resulted in the court awarding ownership of this to M. Barratt Walker and Thomas A. Hays, Jr. of Baltimore. The Gottschalk Company were distillers (their whiskey bottles are now collector pieces) and George Drechsler ran a liquor and grocery business until 1895, when he was “struck with paralysis” from which he died in 1900. Walker and Hays appear to have owned this property until 1903 when they sold it and the house next door to John N. Spencer (1845-1918). Spencer owned the Silver-Spencer Mansion on South Union Avenue and invested in real estate.

Paul C. Coakley resided at this address when he enlisted in the National Guard on April 24, 1917. He was promoted to Corporal on October 7, 1918. Cpl. Coakley was born in Havre de Grace on June 20, 1897, and served overseas from July 1918 to June 1919 and is listed on the Roll of Honor in Tydings Park. Corporal Coakley is one of three Coakley brothers who served in WWI. The two others were Pvt. Percy E. Coakley and Shipfitter 2nd Class Walter R. Coakley, both of whom lived at 551 Fountain Street when they were inducted. This was the home of Eugene W. and Myrtle Coakley and their family when their three sons returned home from serving in WWI.

In 1918, Edgar Stone and Harriet V. Stone, his wife since 1910, purchased this house. Born around 1892, she was a nurse/midwife who delivered several local babies and was known as Hattie V. Stone. Havre de Grace local, Larry Sampson, has shared that both of his parents were born in Havre de Grace; his Dad was born in 1922 and his Mom in 1927. Both were born in their respective homes and their births were assisted by a midwife named “Hattie Stone.”

Hattie Stone, who also taught Sunday School in the United Methodist Church, became Havre de Grace’s infamous serial killer in 1929. She was convicted that year of murdering her son, George, after murdering her husband (Edward A. Stone), her mother-in-law, and another son during the previous three years. Much has been written about her but reportedly she used strychnine and murdered for insurance money so she could run away with a 39-year-old railroad worker, James “Jimmie” E. Aberts, who was boarding in a Stone home off St. John Street. She was one of several children born in 1892 to Margaret and John A. Blackburn. Her father was the Cemetery Sexton in Angel Hill Cemetery, where he dug all the graves and she played. It is also the cemetery of all the victims.

The murders came to light when Hattie Stone was arrested for poisoning her 15-year-old son, George, in 1929 for trust money he had received after the death of his father, Edward. During the course of the investigation and trial it was revealed that other family members had died under similar circumstances over the previous three years (from each of which Hattie collected insurance money). Mary “Emma” Johnston Stone (her mother-in-law) had died in January 1924; Hattie’s 18-year-old son, Edgar, died in June 1927; Edward A. Stone, her husband, died in January 1927; and George, her son, died June 1929. She was also suspected in the death of John H. Stone (1855-1919), her father-in-law.

The home of Hattie Stone’s in-laws, where some of the victims died, was located in an irregularly shaped lot between between the 400 block of St. John Street and North Union Avenue (that was subsequently demolished by Jimmy Vancherie). Several months after the trial,TheBaltimore Sun reported that a package of strychnine was discovered in that house by its next occupant. He discovered "hidden in the rafters a package containing between a third and a half pound of strychnine.” The Baltimore Sun commented that this was enough to kill about 5,000 people. Since Hattie was the remaining owner of this home on Bourbon Street, her attorney sold it in 1929, prior to her being imprisoned for 18 years.

This became the home of Richardson family members in 1937 and remains in the family. It was purchased by William Kemp Richardson (1911-1999) and his wife, Evelyn Davis Richardson, the second daughter of George and Mary Davis who lived at 131 South Washington Street. Having lived here for more than 25 years, and raised their daughter, Beverly Pelton, here the Richardsons sold this home to their son, William K. “Billy” Richardson, Jr., who was married to Priscilla Shane Richardson. Priscilla is the daughter of James and Ruth Shane and is best known for the many years she spent working at Joseph’s Department Store. Her husband, Billy Richardson has passed away and Priscilla continues to make this her home.

Priscilla’s Richardson’s brother, Stuart Shane and his wife, Robin, are the parents of Jimmy Shane, the world champion hydroplane racer whose family runs Shane Custom Metal Fabricators on Webb Lane in Havre de Grace.

County Records
Built 1930. 1504 sq ft, 2 stories, 1 bath, fireplace, garage, basement.