This property was sold to Abraham and Ida Blumberg in 1920, both of whom were Russian immigrants who in 1896 had a daughter named Anna Blumberg (1894-1980). After living in and being educated in Havre de Grace, Anna married Benjamin Bernhardt in 1916 but was divorced a few years later. Anna then married Wolf William Uris (previously “Yerusalimsky”) and they lived in Baltimore when she gave birth to Leon Marcus Uris in 1924. He became the famous author “Leon Uris” of such books as Exodus, Trinity, and Topaz.

#115: This south side of the building was Gertrude J. Matthews’ seamstress/tailor shop. Irvine and Gertrude Matthews (1897-1980) had purchased the building in 1928 and lived above the shop, but Irvine Matthews died in 1936. Gertrude continued running her tailoring shop through the years but the raging fire next door in 1980 spread to this side. The 83-year-old Gertrude Matthews had fled but ran back inside to rescue her kittens; she died later in the hospital. The lot is now owned by the Silverstein family and remains unimproved.

#117: Farro’s Restaurant was on the north side of this duplex. Vonnie Walls said his grandparents, Rose and Jerry Farro, who had immigrated from Italy in 1912, initially opened the restaurant. Then in 1951 his Mom and Dad, Helen Farro and Tom Ryals, moved to Havre de Grace to help Helen’s parents get the business started. They bought the Farro business and ran it here from 1951 until 1966. Vonnie said his Dad would start preparing for the day at 5 a.m. and his Mom would arrive at 6 a.m. Sauce started cooking every morning at 5:30, meat/chicken arrived at 6, all produce, fruit, veggies, and breads arrived between 5:30 and 6. And they made fresh pasta daily. Vonnie relates that while that was going on, and until about 8:30 a.m., it was the local meeting place for business people, politicians, and police. Vonnie says that during Hurricane Hazel in 1954, Farro’s restaurant became a command post where his family provided food etc. not only for fire and police responders but for locals “with power.” They worked tirelessly for their community, he says.

The Ryals had to sell the restaurant around 1966 due to health issues and it became “Bonnie’s Restaurant,” a popular place for teenagers to get cheeseburgers after school. Following that, it was the first location of the “Chat N’ Chew” before Elizabeth Sawyer opened her new restaurant at 142 North Washington Street. In December 1980, when the fire erupted that destroyed the building, it was a fruit stand run by Jeff Herman’s Dad.

County Records
7,800 sq ft lot.