Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18BC51 Levering Coffee
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The Levering Coffee Site (18BC51), also known as Chase’s Wharf, is the archeological remains associated with late 18th-19th century residential and commercial buildings and mid and late 19th century warehouses in the Fells Point area of downtown Baltimore. The site is situated south of Thames Street along the waterfront of the northwest branch of the Patapsco River, and within the Fells Point Historic District. Fells Point is an urban area of mixed commercial and residential properties. Most of the area surrounding the site is heavily developed. Soils mapped for the area are classified as “Urban Land” meaning that 80% of the surface is covered either by buildings or by impervious surfaces such as asphalt or concrete.
Chase’s Wharf is one of many wharves that are located along the south side of Thames Street. Wharves have existed along this waterfront from the early 18th century. Chase’s Wharf is located on all of Lot #53 and most of Lot #54 of a 1773 plat of Fells Point, which shows the original shoreline of the area. Later maps show the shoreline extending further into the harbor. Chase’s Wharf was extended a considerable distance south and west into the North Branch of the Patapsco River during landfilling activities that took place before and immediately after 1800. Therefore, the modern site rests partly on original or “fast” land and partly on fill soils or “made” land. The fast land is that closest to Thames Street.
Lot #54 was divided by the Fell/Giles family in the 1760s and its two halves conveyed separately throughout much of its history. The west half of Lot #54 conveyed as a deed property together with Lot #53, while the east half of Lot #54 was a leasehold property until the mid-1990s. The waterfront portion of the east half of Lot #54 was sold off in 1794, creating a jog in the east boundary of the property.
Lot #53 and the west half of Lot #54 were sold as a single unit by the widowed Ann Fell to Hercules Courtenay, a prosperous local merchant, on 20 November, 1767 for £64.10 sterling. Unlike many of the properties in Fells Point, the two lots were sold, not leased. This exception probably resulted from Courtenay’s ability to pay the full asking price, which many landseekers could not do. Courtenay kept the property for nearly 11 years and sold it to another merchant, William Neill, on 17 October, 1778 for £1,660 in current money.
In the meantime, Ann Fell Giles and her second husband James Giles leased the east half of Lot #54 on 7 March, 1771 to Abraham VanBibber, another prominent merchant of Fells Point, for £1.15 annual ground rent. Abraham VanBibber promptly conveyed the lease to Isaac VanBibber on 25 July of the same year.
Due to the lack of maps and city directories before the 1790s, the occupation of the Chase’s Wharf property in the 1770s and early 1780s is uncertain. It is not clear what Courtenay built on the west portion of the site, but given the 1778 price and the rate of construction on other prime waterfront lots at the time, he appears to have constructed at least one wharf and accompanying buildings.
Isaac VanBibber’s activities on the east half of Lot #54 are better known. In 1771, the shoreline of the Chase’s Wharf property was considerably further inland than it is today. Following an act of the Maryland General Assembly permitting infill of the shoreline along Fells Point, VanBibber appears to have done considerable work on the east half of Lot #54, extending its shoreline at least 75 feet south by 1794 and creating a wharf. VanBibber’s efforts to extend the property were described in his 1794 assignment of the property lease to a John Burney.
Jon Burney promptly subdivided the east half of Lot #54. As a cooper, he appears not to have needed VanBibber’s made land. Three days after his purchase, Burney sold the waterfront portion of his property to General Samuel Smith for £190. General Smith later built a warehouse on the boundary, which was mentioned in many subsequent deeds for the east half of Lot #54.
William Neill, owner of Lot #53 and the west half of #54, died in 1791, and Hercules Courtenay was appointed trustee of his estate. Courtenay sold the two lots on 2 July, 1791 to a merchant named Nicholas Slubey for £905 current money. This represented a drop in the property’s value from £1,660 in 1778, though this may be attributed to shifts in the value of the pound currency. Slubey did not appear to occupy the property personally. The 1796 city directory lists him as living on Front Street in Old Town, and his business, Nicholas Slubey & Co., operated from a counting house at 42 Water Street. However, Slubey evidently did carry on some building activities at his Thames Street property, which were detailed in later chancery records when he went bankrupt.
The Slubey business failed in the last years of the 18th century, leaving Nicholas unable to pay his debts. Slubey’s creditors seized his Fell’s Point Property and appointed Samuel Moale as their trustee to sell it. Moale sold the two lots to merchant and sea captain George Stiles at a public auction on 25 June, 1798 for $22,400. On 18 December, 1798, Moale formally transferred title of the property to Stiles and a partner, merchant Thorndick Chase. The two each held a half-ownership in the property. Before and during his ownership, Stiles built and resided in a Fells Point house, which is now 1730 Thames Street. Chase, a sea captain whose name soon became associated with the wharf, did not appear in Baltimore city directories until 1803, when he was located at 15 Market Street.
By 1799, at least one, and possibly two houses stood on Lots #53 and #54 along Thames Street. They were the residences of local businessmen and their families.
Thorndick Chase was the only owner of Lots #53 or #54 known to have actually lived on the property. While George Stiles lived elsewhere, Chase appears to have been closely tied to his wharf. City directories from 1804 onward consistently list him at 39 Thames Street, except for a brief period (1807-1808) when his address was listed as 35 Thames Street. The two-storey brick Chase home was located fronting on Thames Street directly opposite Philpot Street. After 1827, there was no street number listed for the house and it was simply described as being on the south side Of Thames opposite Philpot.
In 1804, the city directory published residents’ names listed in order of street address. The directory lists, by that time, several homes on the west end of Thames Street. James Ramsay had a house and grocery at 21 Thames (present from at least 1799) and a Miles Ray had a sail loft nearby. The property at 23 Thames Street was occupied by James Biays (also since 1799), a merchant and shipbuilder. The next house, which was not numbered, contained William Combs, a dock worker. The next house was 29 Thames and was occupied by porter John Farrier (since 1799). At 33 Thames was a house occupied by James Dillon, a grocer, and Thorndick Chase lived and worked at 39 Thames Street. The properties at 33 and 39 Thames Street were probably among the houses situated within the boundaries of 18BC51.
On 6 September, 1810, George Stiles placed his one-half interest in Lot #53 and the west half of #54 in trust to John Hollins to secure a $40,000 loan. Less than four years later on 23 May, 1814, Stiles and Hollins sold the property to Amos A. Williams, another merchant, for $11,000.
John Burney died around 1810, and the lease on the east half of Lot #54 passed to his two daughters, Mary (who was married to Thomas Keithley) and Martha (who was married to Nahum Warren). Thomas Keithley was appointed Burney’s administrator, and on 10 January, 1811, he and Nahum Warren assigned the lease to Samuel Chubb of Baltimore for $1,425, plus annual ground rent of $1.15.
Within a few years, Chubb relocated to Philadelphia and assigned the lease to Thorndick Chase for $1,400 plus the annual ground rent of $1.15 on 17 September, 1816. This gave Chase leasehold possession of the east half of Lot #54, and a half ownership interest in Lot #53 and the west half of Lot #54. Chase and his descendants retained title on both properties until 1861. By 1816, Chase had founded his own company at the site, called T. Chase & Co. In that year the company was assessed $1,600 for the wharf lot and $1,400 for the brick improvements standing on it. Chase himself was assessed for the east half of Lot #54, which contained one “old” brick dwelling. Chase also owned 3 slaves, furniture, and a cow. Some of the buildings are visible in an 1818 map, which also indicates that 3 piers stood at Chase’s Wharf. It is thought that his dwelling is the northernmost structure depicted. Chase continued to reside on the property (making additional improvements) until his death in 1838. He willed his property to his son, also named Thorndick Chase, who took up residence in his father’s home.
The younger Thorndick Chase continued the operation of his father’s company. In 1841, the Thorndike [Thorndick], Chase & Co. business was assessed for all of the Chase property. The assessment divided the parcels by lot number, rather than lumping the west half of Lot #54 with Lot #53. Lot #53 was valued at $8,559 and landfilling and construction had taken place in the years prior. There were now 2 three-storey brick warehouses present (valued at $2,000 and $1,600 respectively), 1 one-storey brick warehouse valued at $900, and one brick and frame one-storey warehouse valued at $300. The company was also assessed $1,625 for Lot #54 which had a two-storey brick dwelling and store (the Chase home), a brick office and store, and a one-storey brick and frame warehouse. These were collectively valued at $2,000. At least one or two of these buildings was formerly assessed as part of the property.
Meanwhile, the half-ownership in Lot #53 and the west half of #54 was retained by Amos Williams until his death in 1821. Nathaniel Williams, son of Amos Williams, was appointed trustee after his father’s death and sold the lots for $10,000 to General John Stricker. General Stricker died not long afterward, and the half-interest descended to his 7 children, including a son named John and 6 daughters. On 30 August, 1825, John Stricker mortgaged the Chase Wharf’s lots and other property to his brother-in-law Richard B. Magruder to satisfy a debt owed to Magruder and another brother-in-law, John Bradford, for $1,223.11. There were a few shifts of the family estate among the siblings in 1830. Eventually, in 1846, John Bradford, husband of Anna Stricker Bradford, and the surviving Stricker heirs sold their half-interest in the property to Alexander and Robert R. Kirkland.
The Kirklands quickly formed a partnership with Allen A. Chapman and Daniel Chase, who was either son or brother of the younger Thorndick Chase. Kirkland, Chase & Co. was a shipping firm dealing in West Indian sugar and coffee and operating out of offices elsewhere in Fells Point. However, they are believed to have constructed the three-storey brick warehouse with rounded corners that is the lone surviving building at Chase’s Wharf today. It was likely constructed between 1846 and 1848. The younger Thorndick Chase moved away from Thames Street around this time.
At an unknown date, the Thorndick Chase family acquired the freehold interest in the east half of Lot #54. No records to this effect were located, but the fact that this interest was owned by Thorndick Chase’s descendants into modern times indicates that one of the two Thorndicks bought it from the Fell and Giles heirs. On 10 September 1861, the younger Thorndick Chase as administrator of his father’s property, “subleased” the east half of Lot #54 to Kirkland Chase and Co., with Daniel Chase, Alexander and Robert Kirkland, and Allen A. Chapman as receivers. The description of the transaction as a sublease, rather than a lease, suggests that the Chases did not yet own the freehold. But Clementia Chase, widow of the younger Thorndick Chase, owned it after his death and passed it to her children. The freehold followed an entirely separate chain of title from the death of the younger Thorndick Chase in 1866 until 1994, with a ground rent of $112.50 per year during that entire period.
Thorndick Chase’s interest in the Chase’s Wharf property, minus the freehold on the east half of Lot 54, was acquired by Kirkland, Chase & Co. after Clementia Chase’s death in 1872, giving the company full title to most of the wharf. Improvements on the property in 1868 included 3 three-storey brick warehouses, 1 two-storey brick warehouse, 1 one-storey brick warehouse, a frame shed, and 2 two-storey brick dwellings.
By 1870, the emergence of the B&O’s Locust Point terminal as a modern shipping facility had put a damper on some of the goods passing through Fells Point, leaving it dealing primarily in coffee and flour. These changes and the national economic woes of the early 1870s probably contributed to the failure of Kirkland, Chase & Co. By early 1873, the company had gone bankrupt. Randolph Barton, Walter B. Brooks, and Cornelius Leary were appointed trustees of the bankrupt estate and sold the Chase’s Wharf property at public auction to the B&O Railroad on April 23rd, 1873 for $170,000.
After acquiring the wharf, the B&O used it for its coffee business. Nearly all of the buildings were used as coffee warehouses. The B&O razed a number of older structures, constructed at least one new building and probably replaced a few existing warehouses along the tail of Thames Street as well. By 1876, maps show 6 warehouses on the site. Numerous changes to the configuration and number of warehouses would follow. Maps from the 1890 Sanborn onward show the Levering Coffee Company in a warehouse at the site location, from which the site takes its “official” name.
Essentially, the B&O Railroad used Chase’s Wharf as unloading and warehouse space for its coffee importation business into the early 20th century. After 1914, it called the location Chase’s Station of the B&O. The decrease in the coffee trade after 1900 is indicated by the functions of the various Chase’s Wharf buildings, as labeled on the 1914 Sanborn Map. Whereas most were labeled as coffee warehouses in 1902, by 1914 only the Levering building and Warehouse #5 to the south of it were still used for coffee.
Over the next few decades, warehouses were used for housing lumber, ship supplies, rags, railroad materials, and other articles. By the early 1980s, Bond Street Associates had accumulated a number of former industrial properties in Fells Point, including Chase’s Wharf.
Chase’s Wharf was excavated in 1984 as part of the Fells Point Project in 1984 sponsored by the Maryland Historical Trust. Chase’s Wharf and a number of other sites in the area were excavated. The Bond Street Associates, who were the owners of the property in 1984, funded the survey. At the time, the extant structures were slated for renovation and the remaining property was slated for development. In 1987, the Bond Street Associates declared bankruptcy. The property and buildings were never renovated or developed as proposed. Due to these circumstances, no final report or documentation of excavation was ever completed. However, a 2003 study went back and attempted to reconstruct the fieldwork from written field records, drawings, and photographs archived at the Maryland Archeological Conservation (MAC) Laboratory, as well as maps and drawings in MHT’s possession.
In 1984, the area was first graded down to pre-1850 levels. A series of backhoe trenches were then excavated, profiled and photographed. At least twenty-five 1.524 X 1.524 m (5 X 5 ft) test units were excavated using shovel and trowel. The soils in the test units were then screened through hardware mesh.
The site was found to consist of the subsurface remains of three building phases: 1) late 18th/early 19th century residential and mercantile establishments underneath 2) mid 19th century warehouses, 3) underneath 1860-1880s warehouses. Artifacts found included Rhenish stoneware, slipware, Canton and Chinese export porcelain, creamware, pearlware, whiteware, wine bottles, and clay pipes. Dates ranged from 1750 up into the 20th century. Numerous features were identified that relate to specific warehouses and other infrastructure built on the site.
Excavation records for the northwestern and extreme southern portions of the site are missing. However, catalog sheets for artifacts found in these areas are among the records, indicating that excavation sheets were extant at one time. The documentation available shows that portions of the site on the northeast and the center of the site have been extensively excavated. This is the most intensely used part of the site as well as the earliest to be used. The original shoreline and a later one, along with its associated bulkhead or crib wharf were identified. The south and southwest areas of the site were all on made land (i.e. fill soils). Though less work appears to have been carried out in this area, enough excavation took place to document the construction of several later warehouse buildings. More detail of the precise features and their relationship to historically documented structures on-site can be found in the full 2003 report. A detailed artifact catalog for the site was not provided in the 2003 report and the authors mention that re-processing of the materials is desperately needed.
It was the assessment of the 2003 researchers that sufficient archeological work had been carried out in 1984, such that additional excavation was not warranted. Archeological monitoring of any future ground disturbing activities at the site was recommended.
In 2004 archeologists returned to the site to conduct archeological monitoring for the removal of an existing bulkhead and pier, as well as construction of a new bullkhead, promenade, boat ramp/marine railway, and pier. The Living Classrooms Foundation was developing the site as an educational and museum facility to focus on Baltimore's maritime history and would be restoring the extant 19th century coffee warehouse. The aforementioned construction activities and alterations were a part of the larger museum project.
The remains of timber cribs used to create the manmade land on which the site lies, two overlapping sets of railroad tracks, and a former water break were observed and documented in the two areas of the site in which excavation was monitored. While the lower set of railroad tracks was somewhat unexpected, no significant archaeological features were observed in these areas.
Site 18BC51 is a significant archeological site. However, most of the site’s research potential has been realized. Continued archeological monitoring of any future development of the site is warranted, but additional testing is unlikely to produce significant new information.
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