Graw Alley's Longest Mural Wall Comes Down Next Year. The Alley Stays Open.

Come into Graw Alley Art Park from Congress Avenue at Hutchins Park and the history of Havre de Grace runs along the walls at two stories tall. There's the old racetrack, the Underground Railroad, women's suffrage and the Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal lock house. Nearly 40 large murals fill a site of almost an acre, and QR codes link each one to an audio story.

The demolition reported in October is narrower than the headlines make it sound. What's slated to come down is the building at 123 Market Street and the roughly 250-foot wall Ezra Berger painted directly onto its masonry. Murals on the neighboring buildings in the alley are not affected, and Graw Alley stays open through construction. The schedule has also slipped since summer, so there's a real window to see that wall in person. The schedule on the Harmer's Town construction page puts it at this fall and winter.

One Building, One Wall

The Capital Gazette reported on October 8 that residents had spoken against the demolition at City Council meetings and on social media. Some pushed for ways to save the walls or document them. The Harmer's Town Art Center board answered with a written statement on mural preservation. Saving the building had been its preferred outcome, it said, until architects, structural engineers, contractors and grant agencies found the structure "deteriorated beyond the point where it could safely and responsibly be preserved."

The board also looked at keeping just the mural wall standing on its own. Engineers found that neither structurally feasible nor financially responsible. Because the paint sits directly on the brick, and some sections are already peeling, the board said the murals cannot be lifted off and moved.

The plan instead is to document the wall at the highest quality possible before demolition. The images would then come back inside the new building through reproductions, interpretive displays and a dedicated presentation of Berger's work and story. The same board statement adds one condition.

"No reproduction will be represented as the original."

Berger, who died in July, painted murals on buildings across Havre de Grace. On his own artist biography he calls Graw Alley his "magnum opus," a project that grew from a planned 27 murals to nearly 40 two-story paintings. In a statement from the City, Mayor William T. Martin remembered him as a creative force whose art inspired the community. His sons' August 3 statement, published by Harmer's Town, put it this way: "while paint and bricks are temporary, we feel that solid reproductions of his artwork, art studios, learning and community are forever."

What Stays Standing

Once the 123 Market Street wall is down, most of what you walk past today will still be there. Harmer's Town lists these as staying:

• The murals on the other buildings in the alley. The construction FAQ says they "will not be impacted by the new construction."
• The three racehorses. Chesapeake artist Aaron Paskins made life-size sculptures of Seabiscuit, Man o' War and Citation, a nod to the Havre de Grace racetrack that ran from 1912 to 1950 and gave the alley its name.
• Brent Crothers' "Water Wars" pieces. Three works were dedicated on April 18: "Water Wars #2" from reclaimed garden hoses, "Golden Egg #2" from recycled tire treads and "Synergy" from reclaimed copper pipe.
• The everyday access. The park stays free and open daily from dawn to dusk, with entrances from Market Street, Bourbon Street and Congress Avenue at Hutchins Park. Its listed address is 115 Market Street.
• Every mural's story. QR codes will keep working on murals the construction doesn't touch. The audio stories for all the murals, including the ones on the wall coming down, stay online on the Harmer's Town mural audio tour.

The organization does warn that construction fencing may go up at times, and that access could be limited for stretches during site preparation and building. The alley stays open, though not always every part of it at once.

The Schedule Moved, and the Window Got Wider

In July, Harmer's Town announced that demolition and construction would start in late 2026 and finish by the end of 2027. The organization's current construction page gives a later timeline, and the Capital Gazette's October 8 report matches it.

So the 123 Market Street wall is still scheduled to be standing through the end of 2026, and probably into the new year. No demolition start date has been announced. The organization says it will post updates on its construction page and offers an email sign-up there. If you've been meaning to show the wall to visiting family, or just walk it slowly one more time, these cool-weather months are the clearest chance you'll get.

How to Walk It Before It Changes

The point is to see the original paint while it's still on the brick, and to know where the stories live once it's gone.

1. Bring a phone with some battery. All 36 audio tour entries are on the Harmer's Town site, with titles that include "The Graw," "Dream Race," "Bayou Hotel," "Murray V. Lawder/Wheelin' & Dealin'," "Native Americans" and "The Red Onion."
2. Use the three entrances on purpose. Coming in from Market Street, Bourbon Street or Congress Avenue at Hutchins Park each puts a different stretch of wall in front of you first.
3. Go by daylight. The park closes at dusk, and in late fall that comes early in the evening.
4. Time a visit to a scheduled gathering. SamhainFest is listed at Graw Alley for Saturday, October 31, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the listing also shows a November 1 date. The ECHO: HdG Sing Along Community Group meets there on Friday, November 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. It's open to anyone, with no audition or experience needed and song sheets provided.

The First Friday Graw Alley Art Party, which ran May through October from 5 to 9 p.m., held its last 2026 gathering on October 2. For the rest of this year, the alley is mostly a place you walk through on your own time.

What the Alley Turns Into

That shift is the longer story. Graw Alley opened in October 2023 as Phase I: a neglected alley turned into an outdoor art park with landscaped paths, sculptures, seating and murals. Phase II puts a 26,400-square-foot building next to it, designed by SM+P Architects of Baltimore.

The current plans list a 1,500-square-foot gallery, a museum and cultural center, four to six private artist studios, and a multi-functional classroom. There are also ceramic, fused glass, jewelry, textile and painting studios, a printing lab and retail space for local art. The local history museum is set to include racetrack memorabilia and artifacts from the post-Civil War period. Harmer's Town projects 20,000 visitors a year in the center's first three years, growing to 35,000.

For people who live a few blocks away, that means the alley changes jobs. Today it's an outdoor walk you can finish in one visit. By spring 2028, if the schedule holds, it becomes the outdoor approach to a building with year-round classes, studios and a museum, where Berger's imagery is meant to return as a dedicated, clearly labeled presentation. The renderings are still a work in progress. The construction page says some features will keep changing as plans are finalized, including how Berger's murals are preserved. The original wall at 123 Market Street, painted straight onto the brick, is still there to see this winter.

Places like Graw Alley are part of what makes a downtown block in Havre de Grace feel the way it does, and I keep track of them for that reason. If you're thinking about what's changing near Market Street and Congress Avenue and what it could mean for your own plans, Rose Calderone + Co. is glad to talk it through. Schedule a consultation with Rose.