Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
This is a photo of 7 Main Street West taken in 1936 when it housed J. W. Gledhill Jeweller.
At one time, Huntsville’s Main Street was lined with buildings similar to the one at 7 Main Street West. Now, this little gem of a building is the only surviving wood-frame and wood-clad commercial building. It is two stories high and has a “boom town” front that projects out from the upper story to cover the eave of the sloped roof behind.
J. W. Gledhill arrived in Canada from the British Isles in 1879 and arrived in Huntsville six years later. He opened his store on Main Street West that year. The building is now considered the oldest commercial building in town.
Gledhill was a graduate of the Dominion School of Optics, and his store carried a full supply of optical goods. He also repaired watches and stocked every kind of fancy article usually carried in such a store in those times—watches, clocks, jewelry, fancy china, and so on.
Gledhill was a Town council member for many years and was one of the chief promoters of establishing an electric light plant in town.
(From Huntsville More Pictures From the Past, a Committee of Heritage Huntsville, Boston Mills, c1998 and Muskoka Digital Archives.)
See more Wayback Wednesday photos HERE.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Click here to support local news
Is this right across from the old capital theatre? Used to be called Trickie’s were we would go for treats.