The Heritage Corner, Springhill Record
November 30, 2005
Nov. 30, 2005 – Businesses in 1907
Ever wonder what businesses were on Main Street at the turn of the Century? According to the McAlpine Gazette in 1898 Springhill had the following: 30 stores, 5 churches, 1 hotel, 3 newspaper offices, Canadian Express Office, NS Telephone Office, Western Union Telegraph, P.O. Saving Bank and Branch of the Halifax Banking Company.
In the McAlpine Directory of 1907, the following are stores on Main Street at that time; Academy of Music and The Publishing Co. , Moses Jones Prop.; Acadia Drugstore. Dr. J.A. Sutherland, Physician & druggist; Anderson , M.R., watchmaker; Anderson, Minnie J., milliner; Canadian Bank of Commerce; Bank of Nova Scotia; Union Bank of Halifax; Barkers Ltd, grocers and crockery; Bauld Brothers, (Branch), wholesale fancy groceries; Boss, H.S., general merchant; Broidy S., dealer in furniture, clothing & furs; Brown, Arthur W., carriage builder and undertaker; Brown H., watchmaker; Brown J.D., barrister; Brown, Logan, confectionery & c; Buskirk, William, shoemaker; Carrigan, Dougald, grocer; Clay, Havelock, dentist; Cochran, TH & Co, druggist; Coombs, HF, grocer; Cosgrove, Peter, insurance agent; Cumberland Pork Packing Co Ltd (retail) victuallers; Cumberland Rail & Coal Company; Davidson Harvey J, hairdresser; Dick WW, blacksmith; Eisner & Levy, furniture, carpets, oilcloth, ladies & gents clothing; Fawcett PG, watchmaker, jeweler & optician; Fickler S, dry good store; Forbes, Martin, furniture; Fraser, Charles, hairdresser; Fraser, Fraser & Co, clothing and gents clothing; Fraser, James, confectionary; Fraser, Simon, books & stationary; Fuller, Elizabeth, millinery; Gillespie, James C, dealer in boots and shoes; Gilroy, E, meat and provisions; Grant, George, insurance agent; Heffernan, WE & Co, Furniture Hall; Johnson JA, dentist; Lamberts, RS, ladies & gents tailoring; Layton, OC, tinsmith; Mattinson, DA, fruit and confectionary; MacDonald, JS, bookseller & stationer graduate optician fancy goods & c; McKay Printery, William McKay prop; McKenzie Edward, fruit & confectionery; McLeod & Co, merchant tailors; McLeod, Harry, restaurant;
McNutt Opera House, Silas McNutt, Prop., McPherson & Sons, general merchant, dry goods, groceries, crockery ware, boots & shoes, M McPherson, prop; Melanson, Wazaire, temperate drinks; Mills, FL, dry goods and groceries; Moss, LB, watchmaker and jeweler; Murray John Jr & Co, general merchants, dry goods, groceries, crockery ware & c; Murray, Robert B, insurance agent, real estate, broker & conveyancer; Murray Robert L, physician & druggist; Music Hall, Moses Jones, prop; Nova Scotia Telephone Co , central; Purdy, AG, dry goods, groceries & provisions; Rogers & Soley, dry goods, groceries, boots & shoes, hardware; Ross Bros, bakery, groceries and confectionary; Royal Hotel, JJ Ritchie, prop; Shenton JS, fruit & confectionary; Simpson & Richmond, meats, provisions and groceries; Sprague MH, boots and shoes; Springhill Tribune, NS Sanford, publisher; Teed Leslie, blacksmith; Terris, HS, general merchant, dry goods, groceries & gents furnishings; Terris, Samuel H, fruit and confectionary; Thompson Johnston, harness maker, dealer in robes, saddlery, hardware and furnishings; Wardrobe MJ, physician; Weatherbee, UJ, Tinsmith & plumber, hot air and hot water heating, stoves, coal and wood furnaces; Wilson, AB, dry goods, groceries & c; Wilson, JW, bakery, confectionary, fruit & c; Wilson, John, dry goods, groceries & c; YMCA.
In addition to these business on Main Street there were several others in town such as the Belleview Hotel on Elgin St; Bond, JS, fruit & confectionary, Victoria St; Boss, Mervyn, livery stables, Victoria; CPR and ICR ticket offices at Railway Station; Clark, John P, grocer, Herrett Rd; Colwell, James, confectionary, Jct. Rd; Crawford HW, carriage builder; Dominion Express Office, Railway Station, Edison Light & Power Company, Lisgar; Embree, Thomas, confectionary, corner McGee & Herrett Rd; Fong, Lee, Chinese laundry, Church St; French, T, insurance agent, corner Mechanic & Drummond; Glendenning, HAB, boarding, livery & coach stables; Jewkes, Joseph, grocer, Herrett Rd; D.A. Mattinson, Fruit & confectionary, corner Pleasant & Drummond; McGilvary, Jane, confectionary, Queen; Saffron & Stone, junk dealers, Church St; Talbot Hotel, W.H. Stevens, prop, Victoria St; and the Western Union Telegraph Office at the Railway station.
