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What is now Harbourfront Restaurant was once and perhaps originally the property of James W. Street, merchant. The old newspapers show that Mr. Street was in business as early as 1836, probably on this same property. Not a lot is known about Mr. Street, beyond his business, apparently a prosperous one, importing and retailing goods from Britain and the West Indies. There were many such "houses" along the waterfront in the 19th century, and indications are that Mr. Street was one of the more successful merchants in this line. James Street had a large wharf at one end of his property, including commodious warehouses for his West Indies trade in rum, molasses, etc., all of which were destroyed in a gale in 1905. The newspaper article noting this catastrophe, stated that the wharf was one of the oldest in the town, predating perhaps any living inhabitant.

In 1907 this property was purchased by Benjamin DeWolfe, another prosperous merchant, and a large wharf added on to the property for the purpose of importing coal. It became known as DeWolfe's Wharf, and was the terminus of a shunt railway line extending along the waterfront from the railway terminus at Indian Point, and was used mainly for transporting coal to the downtown area. The shunt line dated from 1858, but Mr. DeWolf'e wharf was eventually its ending point. The building itself fronting Water Street became in 1912, a year after Mr. DeWolfe's death, the town's first motion picture theatre, called the "Acme." Later the "Acme" became under new management the "Marina Theatre," one of two establishments in the town to show motion pictures. The other was Andraeleo Hall, now Europa Restaurant.