The Peanut House

The Peanut House. (The Zimmerman House). On this site for nearly 180 years stood a two and a-half story brick building with ties to local, state and national history. Initially the home of early settler John Frey, the house was sold in 1817 to a noted clockmaker, Frederick Heisley, whose son George is linked to the National Anthem. George Heisley, during the War of 18 12, was a member of Pennsylvania's First Regiment. At the siege of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, September 1814, he reportedly provided Francis Scott Key with music for the Star Spangled Banner., The house later was owned by the Boyd Family, then a succession of merchants. At various times it was an oyster house, a dry cleaning business and a restaurant. Its nickname, "The Peanut House," comes from Salvatore Magaro, an Italian immigrant who came to America as a stowaway at age 17 in 1889. In 1921 he leased the building and turned it into a grocery store and living quarters. His store, "The Buzy Corner," lasted 70 years and earned a reputation and a name for its fresh vegetables and its nickel-a-bag fresh-roasted peanuts., Magaro's grandson, LeRoy Salvatore Zimmerman, lived on the second floor with his family and worked in the store as a teenager before attending law school. He later was elected District Attorney of Dauphin county and served from 1965 to 1980. In 1980 he became the first elected Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the state's top legal and law enforcement post, in which he served two full terms, establishing the state post as an independent agency to represent Pennsylvania's citizens in criminal, civic and consumer affairs.