Village Squire, 1978-07, Page 14For most of us in this mobile life, our family history consists of
at most a family tree. In St. Marys, Valerie Marshall is
surrounded by her family's history every day.
She runs Marshall's of St. Marys, an unusual complex of three
shops under one roof and that roof has been in her family for well
over a century.
The building now occupied by the complex was originally the
Grand Central Hotel, built in 1843 and one of the earliest
buildings in St. Marys. Valerie has deeds that go right back to
the Canada Land Act. It was one of eight hotels originally in the
town, most of which have long since disappeared.
Her grandfather ran the hotel into the early 1900's. Those
were the glory days when exciting things were happening. The
Opera House was in full swing then and visiting troupes stayed
at the Grand Central. Among these was the Uncle Tom's Cabin
show and the bloodhounds were kept in the stables at the rear of
the hotel.
PG. 12. VILLAGE SQUIRE/JULY 1978.
A
working
family
history
For Valerie Marshall
her family heritage
is all around
Valerie Marshall liked unusual things so her shop is filled with
imports from around the world.
In those early days a young boy used to deliver milk to the
hotel every morning from the family farm nearby. The boy was
Arthur Meighen who later became Prime Minister and is
generally regarded to be one of the tragic figures of Canadian
political history because of his honourable. but losing battles
with Mackenzie King.
Valerie Marshall enjoys this feeling of history around her.
That's why she started out back in 1950 to re-establish the family
name with the old building. The hotel itself had closed about the
period of 1917 to 1919 then the country went on the wagon and
prohibited the sale of alcohol. It was converted into apartments.
About 1950 Valerie Marshall decided to open up a small gift
shop in a store that occupied what once had been the lane
leading back to the stables at the rear of the hotel. That grew and
about 15 years ago she moved it to a larger location next door in
the old building and used the small shop as a dress shop. Finally.
both these shops were shifted over to larger quarters and a card