HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-06-23, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2016.
Fire, social movements shaped commerce in Ethel
GREY'S FIRST FIRETRUCK
Continued from page 18
store, grocery store, post office,
confectionary, restaurant, barber,
feed and flour shop and notary
public occupied the block. There
was a dance hall and apartments on
the second floor. Fire walls had been
installed between the stores, but not
on the second floor. When fire
started in the corner store, it soon
spread upward and across to the
other shops.
Stores were rebuilt, but the post
office moved to Dunbar's store.
A general store, and at times, a
bake shop or restaurant, operated out
of the Corner Block, under various
owners until the mid-1990s. The
postal outlet returned to the corner
store in 1960.
The library building was moved
across the road in the late 1940s and
the west end stores were demolished.
The first bank in Ethel was on Lot
23, Conc. 8 (Molesworth Line), in
the Love Block. The Bank of
Hamilton moved in 1919 to the
fourth lot south along King Street.
After the Bank of Commerce
operated for a few years, the
building was sold to the township in
1925 and used for council meetings
and the township office. It remained
there until operations moved to the
public works building on Lot 21,
Conc. 9 (Newry Rd.) in 1978.
Renovations were made to the
office facilities in the mid-1990s to
expand council chambers.
North of Main Street was the final
location for the Ethel library.
A hotel to the west burned in 1890.
A brick building, The Royal,
replaced it almost immediately.
The Temperance movement
resulted in a decline in hotel
business by 1908. Part of the
building was used as a grocery store
and barber shop. The livery stable
for the hotel had many owners and
uses over the years including
tinsmithing, welding and car and
machinery repair. By 1912, the hotel
was turned into a residence. It
returned as a confectionary,
restaurant and cigarette store in
1945. In the 1970s, it was used for
the sale of cement lawn ornaments.
The livery stable was demolished
in the 1980s.
Next door there was a grocery
which was used over the years as a
restaurant, harness and shoe shop.
Down the street there was a
grocery store which housed the post
office for a time.
The property for the township
office at the west end of Ethel was
purchased in 1892. With the
purchase of a former bank building
in 1925, the building was used as a
community hall and still is today.
The township garage, which stood
on the church lot after it was moved
in 1917, was sold to the fire
department in 1975.
A former sawmill and bending and
carriage factory at Reserve Street, by
Congratulations to Grey i6otli
on behalf of
Les Stewart Transportation and family
Ethel
Congratulations Grey Township
Listowel Hearing Centre
HEARING AIDS AND AUDIOMETRY
Maryanne Perrie
Hearing Instrument Specialist
145 Inkerman Street West
Listowel, ON N4W 1B8
ph: 519.291.4554
Chairs to fit your needs, your environment
Neil 519-318-9093
ndm@macglen.ca
www.macglen.ca
Congratulations Grey Township!
Fretz
Welding
Buy Direct and
Save Big
on all your attachments needs
We sell hardware now too!
* See us on Facebook
* CaII for more info
84316 McNabb Line, Brussels, ON NOG 1H0
Ph: 519-887-9707
In Fax: 519-887-9163
1901, were used for a hardware
store, broom maker, tinsmithing,
implement dealer, livery stable,
barbershop and grocery. The
buildings were torn down in 1972.
An old cement building in this
block, once used by the township
clerk became known as the soup
kitchen when the township supplied
transient men with food and a place
to stay in the 1930s.
The Methodist Church was moved
from the west end of the village and
down the street on the rollers in 1917
to the fourth lot west of John Street
and north of Main. It became the
United Church in 1925.
A new schoolhouse was con-
structed in 1914. When schools were
centralized in the mid-1960s, Grey
Central Public School, was built
south of the community. It was
recently renamed North Woods
Elementary School.
Congratulations Grey Township
BARMY TECH
THE CANVAS BAG CO
519-887-9393
42659 Walton Rd. 1 Walton, ON 1 NOK 1Z0
www.barmytech.on.ca
Congratulations to everyone
attending the Grey Township
160th Anniversary Celebrations
Certified
Dealer for...
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[ATM Spl,CO AS,
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SYSTEMS
JOSEPH SEMI - 519-887-6289
www.huronfeedingsystems.com
•
•
The Municipality
of
Morris-Turnberry