Creemore in the 1940s: Part 5
South of the Town hall, the present 100 Mile Store, was the Creemore Post Office. Later it was the Village of Creemore Municipal office. The large frame two-storey building on the corner in the 1940s was operated as a Farmer’s Co-op, managed by an Albert Lennox. It had an apartment upstairs. At that time the building was smaller, not extending as far west. My uncle Ike Watson, a plumber, and tinsmith worked out of a one-storey building going west on Caroline Street and there was another small building west of it but I can’t remember who was in it. The next building was Bert Walker’s repair garage. He sold Dodge cars during the forties, as well as Massey Harris farm machinery. He was an excellent mechanic and well-liked in the farm community. West of the lane was Howard Priddle’s grocery store. It was the first store in Creemore, using self-serving carts. Howard had an almost new Ford car, which he parked on the street. Newer Fords at that time had a steering wheel lock on the ignition switch. One night, someone hot-wired his car and tried to drive it away, except of course the steering was locked and could not be turned. Becoming excited the thieves accidentally blew the horn. This of course woke-up the Piddles, who lived upstairs, who called the police and apprehended the culprits.
The next building was George Nixon’s egg grading station and farm feed store. He bought eggs, sold baby chicks and installed a walk-in freezer, where his customers could rent a locker to keep their frozen food before individuals had household freezers. He also bought a lot of alfalfa for seed. All the rest of the buildings going west were residential, until St Luke’s Anglican Church, at 22 Caroline St. W. In 1886 it replaced the first church in Creemore, which was up in the Cemetery. In the 1940s, it did not have the present Parish Hall but has always been a very pretty church.
To the north of the church was Creemore’s lawn bowling green, with a small clubhouse. It had been quite popular before WW2, but perhaps they had problems keeping a grounds-keeper during the war and it had to fold. Coming back down Caroline Street, my Aunt Merle Blackburn had a hair salon at 7 Caroline St. W. The next building was a Blacksmith’s shop operated by Ed Osborne. This building blew down in a storm years later. The next building, now the House of Stitches was a combination Fire Hall, for part of the 1940s and farm supply store. Next was The Creemore Star, which of course is still the office of the Creemore Echo. It was then owned and published by C.B. “Bert” Smith. Several years ago I did extensive research on old Creemore Stars and before Bert taking over it contained very little local news. Bert changed this because he now had a linotype machine, instead of hand-setting the type. The Creemore Echo staff has now even improved Bert’s excellent reporting.
Gerry Blackburn is the author of Creemore, as Remembered by Gerry Blackburn, available at The Creemore Echo Newsstand.
