So Where Was that Sign? MacGregor’s Body Shop — Hughes Grocery — Asselstine and Shwerdtfeger’s

Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum Photo
·Our wall ‘o signs is filling up! We are finally taking our signs out of storage and hanging them up! Manny Gomes donated the McGregor sign.

For all those who asked here is MacGregor’s Body Shop that was on Mill Street where Boulton House is. -Photo Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Paul Dulmage —A group of lads owned the boathouse behind the body shop and had a Boat Club called 8 Buoys Boat club. We sold the property to the town.

Carol Ethridge I remember that boathouse well from the days Doug Allan and my father owned it 🙂

Cathy Paul Dulmage My Grandfather, Horace Dorland Dulmage ran a garage there many years ago. Paul Dulmage

Julie Sadler My first car, ’67 Mustang, was painted here. Wish I still had it!

Carol Ethridge As a child I don’t know why but I loved the smell of the paint in the body shop. Always found some excuse to go into the garage when I was there playing with Susan and Nancy. And I remember my father always took the car to Don to get the headlights properly aimed….and either Don or Peggy would always let my mother know if I was playing behind the dam.

Bill Crawford I’ve been in that boathouse many times. Milt Phillips had his beautiful moulded mahogany boat there, and Lee and I got to use it when we could afford gas.

Wendy LeBlanc The family lived over the shop. I remember that in the 1950s, my Mum, Betty Robertson, belonged to ‘The Club’ that met every second Friday evening at a different member’s home. One of the members was Marg MacGregor; others were my aunt, Isobel Robertson, and Beryl Gibson. There were more, but I can’t recall their names. Marg always brought a basket of mending to do at The Club meetings, that consisted of general chit-chat, tea and desserts.

Ray Paquette I worked across the street at Mil Phillips Motors when the business was Don MacGregor’s body shop, circa 1958. Every morning, during their break, the staff, Lyle Grant, Bill Stevens and Mr. MacGregor would come across the road for a soft drink and a chocolate bar. There was another young apprentice who worked there, whose name escapes me, who was killed on highway 7 just outside Perth when he fell asleep at the wheel late one night…

Paul Todd In my cable vision days my red truck was painted there every spring

James McNally Hung out there and bugged the heck out of Mr MacGregor but he did paint my 68 satellite
Nice guy heck of a body man.

Lynne Johnson I remember the MacGregors live upstairs. They had huge stone window sills. You could hear the river and rapids. I LOVED that apartment.

HUGHES Grocery/ Asslestine’s

Photos-Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

127-131 Bridge Street Carleton Place Circa 1870

The first storey storefronts of this building have been modified from the original glass windows for easier viewing of merchandise–hence the different colours of brick. 127-131 Bridge Street has housed a number of different businesses including pharmacies, clothing stores, grocery stores, and poolrooms.

The Hughes family bought the pharmacy from Dr. Preston in 1905.

W. J. Hughes Rexall Drug store was located on the corner and Thomas Lloyd Hughes born in 1897 along with his brother Harold until they each decided to run a smaller store at the opposite ends of town. Lloy’s store was on Moffatt Street and Harold on Lake Ave West. For 50 years they were in groceries together and then the store was sold to Thomas’s nephew and for 12 years Thomas drove a butcher wagon. There was a dark room at the rear of the store where Mr. Hughes tested your eyes for glasses. You could buy a roll of film #116 for a Brownie Box camera for 25 cents and for $1.25 he would send it away to be developed.

The folks in Carleton Place will always remember the Rexall Drug annual 1 cent sale and every local household stocked up on cough medicine, cough drops, peroxide and all sorts of liniment. Some of the clerks that worked there were: Olive Dick, Ruby Voyce, and John Briscoe and Wilbert Robertson.

Harvey Asselstine attended the Ontario College of Pharmacy in 1929. In 1944, he
returned to Carleton Place and bought the drugstore at the corner of Bridge and
Franklin, from W.J. Hughes who operated it for 38 years. Betty Findlay and Mary Cook both worked at Assestine’s Pharmacy. In the rear of Asselstine’s drug store the CPR Telegraph operated during the 1950s. Asselstine expanded his drug store and bought out Hughes Grocery. In 2006 the Athen’s Corners Restaurant was located there.

Taber and McCrae operated a Men’s and Boy’s clothing store within Struther’s Block, which later became a pool hall (next door) operated by Mel Barclay. Charlie Giroux, who only had one arm took over the pool hall then Ab Dowseth from Smiths Falls operated it for a short time but when McCann and Porter gained ownership they moved the pool hall to the old Bank of Commerce.

Jeremy Stinson— That corner was, for much of my childhood, the home of the Blossom Shop. Back before the one way street.

As Good As New–33 Bridge Street Carleton Place– Shwerdtfeger’s

Then Photo- Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum -Shwerdtfeger s on he right and his wife had the hat shop until they married.

Now

As Good As New–33 Bridge Street Carleton Place–

In 1820 this was part of the 100-acre land grant to Edmond Morphy. Like many of the other properties on Bridge Street, it passed through a number of different owners. In 1872, a Robier sold the land to Cuthbert who in turn sold it to Kurrich or Kurrick. In 1879, the property was sold to John Gillies and in 1885 Gillies sold it to Bertha Mayhew who married Henry Schwerdtfeger. 1903 was the year that saw ownership falling into the hands of Henry Schwerdtfeger.

Harold Schwerdtfeger was also known to many as Dutchy and his clerk was Steven Jones who lived on Queen Street. Most have mentioned that his store was always tidy and neat and the walls were decorated with photos and calendars of Old Chum Tobacco.

The back room held a large round table and several chairs. Here gossip takes over, and it is often mentioned that card games took place there regularly, and many an argument could be heard out on the streets coming from the old cronies that congregated there.

The building was later occupied by Tim Rogers who operated a stationary store there by the name of Quill and Fulton and of course Charles Jay before he moved up Bridge Street operated his boot and shoe repair shop there. (Marjorie Whyte) Carole Flint said that a friend of hers, Kay Ford and her husband Norm Nichol, had a repair shop there and lived in the apartment above. That was in the late 60’s early 70’s

Shwerdtfeger sold tobacco products and paraphernalia at his store up until 1989 when the store was sold to the Lanark County Interval House. As Good as New is now located in the building.

By the way, the As Good As New building was obviously built some time after the Mac Williams building that I am located in – there are window wells in my side of the basement that are now blocked by that building.-Petra Graber–The Good Food Co.

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte