HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-07-06, Page 17THE RESTAURANT IN ETHEL
CONGRATULATIONS GREY TOWNSHIP
• Renovations • New Homes
• Sales & Installation of
Windows & Doors
NSTRUCT1° Call Ken
Brussels 519-887-9857
Congratulations Grey
Township on 150 years!
1
Molesworth
Farm Supply Ltd.
RR #1 Listowel, ON
519-291-3740
Serving Grey Township's livestock
feed needs for 30 years!
eanwitutatiam, qtey, an yam Meth
P.O. Box 140
Brussels, ON NOG 1H0
85491 Brussels Line
McCall Livestock
• Order Buyers •
• Slaughter/Feeder Cattle •
• Western/Eastern/Local Cattle •
• Cattle Appraisals - Processing Available •
Ross McCall
Matt McCall
Keith McLean
Don Sholdice
Office/Res. (519) 887-9571
Fax (519) 8874171
Mobile (519) 357-5139
Walton
519-887-9261 1-800-786-1476
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2006. PAGE 17 .
1&56
GraRg Twp. 2006
Train station brought business to early Ethel
The small community on Conc. 7
and 8 (Brandon Rd. and Molesworth
Line), Lots 21 and 22 of Grey Twp.
began as Carter's, Carter's Mills or
Carter's Corners. When the post
office was established, however,
Carter's Mills was already taken so
Ethel was assigned.
The first settlers in the area were
Jacob Storm. Alex Hutchinson and
Robert Ross who purchased Lots 22-
24, respectively, in 1860.
The train station just outside the
hamlet brought a lot of business .to
the existing mills including Milne's
where a building still stands at
Arthur and Mill Streets.
Weigh scales were installed in
1905 then moved to Mill Street in
1918. The village rebuilt the scales
in 1927. They were sold to Robert
Cunningham in 1955.
The flour and grist mill burned in
1912 and was reconstructed as a
chopping mill.
After a succession of owners,
D.W. Dunbar bought the mill in
1925. It burned in 1931, but was
rebuilt by Cliff Dunbar replicating
the previous structure.
With many changes, renovations
and moves in Ethel over the years,
very few buildings remain in the
original state or location.
James Spence built a store which
housed the post office at the
northeast corner of Mill and Main
Streets. There was a stable in back of
the store and a pottery was to the
south. The clay used at the shop was
drawn from land now owned by Bill
Turnbull of Brussels on Huron
County Rd. 12, (Brussels Line)
where ponds still mark the site.
The first doctor's office was at the
corner of Mill and Main. A hardware
store was built on this lot in 1887
and a livery operated from the
southern section along Mill Street.
In 1899, a store was completed on
the next lot east and hardware was
moved from Dunbar's store to this
location.
During this time there was also a
butcher shop, blacksmith, general
store, dry goods store, millinery,
dress and mantle shop and jewellery
store. In later years, there was a
tractor repair shop where the
blacksmith once was. To the
northeast, the Corner Block had two
entrances. A hall and meeting rooms
were created in the upstairs area. It
burned in 1909 and was rebuilt as a
two-storey structure with four stores
and apartments. It burned again in
1923.
After the first fire, a general 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 across the corner 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 of the block were
demolished. Gas pumps were later
installed.
- 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,
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
1901, were used for a hardware
store, broom maker, tinsmithing,
implement dealer, livery stable,
Continued on page 18
Conc. 9 (Newry Rd.) in 1978.
Renovations were made to the office
facilities in the mid-1990s to expand
council chambers and office space.
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