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Centre Road Parking on Main Street 1950

Downtown Mitchell is home to a number of historic buildings that tell the story of Mitchell’s heritage. You may not notice that the buildings have such a rich history behind them, however there are many stories behind the bricks and beams that hold the buildings up.

		Kingsley Robinson (right of the left photo) bought the poolroom in July 1949 and operated it as King's Billiards for 8 years. In September 1957, the Robinsons sold the business to Lyle E. Youn. It was later owned and operated by Ken (Oscar) Morey, who in June 1959 won $28,000 in the Irish Sweepstakes. The building now houses Culligan Real Estate.
		King Salton took over the drugstore in 1942 (left photo). Above it for some years were the dental offices of Dr. Robert McGill and his son Keith. Joseph W. Cull started the drugstore in 1875 and ran it for 15 years. For the next 5 years, the proprietor was W. Howard Thompson. It then belonged to William B. Barley, from 1895 to 1920, until King and Marie Salton bought it. It was recently called Betty's Thinking of You, a business operated by Betty Jermyn, but is now half of the Dollar Haven and Discount.
		The Mitchell Garage Co. (left photo) was a Ford dealership and service centre operated by John G. Scott and Peter Schott Barr. Al Jervis's Superior Store was later at this location, which is now the Godfathers pizza outlet. To the west of The Mitchell Garage Co. was William Holflich's poolroom, which was purchased in 1950 by Wes & Myrtle Pugh. Currently to the west of Godfathers is Sherri's Coffee Shop Dining Room; Tourism Rooms.
		The photo on the left is the Hicks House in 1950, in retail listings from the left: A. W. Norris and Son, electrical sales and service; Dave's Sandwich Shop; The Hicks House; Superior Food Market; and Neil Witmer's barber shop. The photo on the right is Hicks House in 2019, in retail listing from the left: B&B Pet Supplies; Hicks House Printing; All Styles II, Hicks Café; Heisz Financial.
		The vacated location of Harvey Hannon's Chrysler-Plymouth dealership, 102 Ontario Rd., in 1950 (left photo). The building later housed Sam's Cuthbertson's GM outlet, then Scott Gray's Perth Produce. Today it houses Hines Professional Law (right photo).
		Today it's the Lockhart Funeral Home (and residence), but when Thomas Symons Ford built this house in the 1880's, he called it Trevalga. T. S. was Mayor in 1890-91 and is credited with bringing the first electrical lights to Mitchell. Soon after the Fords built their house, lawn bowling found its way to Canada and T. S. became an enthusiast. He had greens built to the west of his house, where there is a parking area today. It was later that Ingram William Lockhart bought the house in 1951 and used as a funeral home and his own residence. I. W. died in January 1988, well after his son Paul had taken over the business. Paul was joined in 1987 by his son Jeff. Their mother and grandmother, Hilda, lived in the apartment above the funeral home for many years.
		Sawyer & Colquhoun Motors, the Dodge, DeSoto and Cockshutt dealership opened in 1951. The Saywers converted a basement room at the rear of the building into a body shop for Sid Adams, who was married to their daughter, Jean. Stacey Bros. later bought the building and rented the car dealership part of it to Charlie Skinner. Today it is the home of Perth County Chrysler.
		A few years after buying the Mitchell Advocate in 1976, Signal Star Publishing built new quarters for the newspaper, at 42 Montreal St. Signal Star sold the Advocate building to Stacey Bros. and the Staceys retained it as a heritage building. Inside, they kept on display a painting of the building and the paper's original sign, which had been carved by Rev. Harold Johnston of Main Street United Church, who went to St. Thomas in June 1952. Since 1987 the Advocate has been edited by Andy Bader. A long way from the hot-metal days of the Davises and Mounteers, production of the paper now involves desktop publishing, digital format cameras and a site on the Internet.
		The Cosy Grill suffered a major fire in June 1954 - during the days of 10-cent Borden's Big Boy ice cream cone. Bill & Barb Cheoros, with help from their daughters Cathy & Marie, renovated and reopened the Cosy, and it continued to be the meeting place for high school students, who flocked there for fresh french fries, cherry and lemon Cokes, and sundaes called the Tin Roof and Buster Brown. In February 1987, Lorne & Shirley Turford of London bought the restaurant and renamed it Crosswinds. The number of customers grew so dramatically in the first 2 years, they expanded the kitchen and built a banquet hall on the second floor. Shirley was profiled in the Toronto Sun with several of her dessert recipes after a food critic visited the restaurant in the late 1980's. Currently, it is the future home of The Hub Mitchell.
		What is now known as Calhoun's Roadhouse, was once The Plaza movie theatre in 1950. The theatre presented 2 shows nightly, at 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. with matinees on Saturdays and holidays.
		J. Charlie Jones' grocery store (left photo) which is now part of Walther's I.D.A Pharmacy. In about 1928, C. A. Jones had a drugstore on the south side of main street - at 40 Ontario Rd., where William F. Walther moved in 1940.
		What was once James Doughterty's meat market in 1899, then Stedman's 5-cent store, now since 1960 it has been Don Hutchison's Western Tire outlet.