It’s Wayback Wednesday, sponsored by Jamie Lockwood, broker/owner of Sutton Group Muskoka Realty!
This is a postcard of River Road from 1910.
Many visitors to the area marvel at the tranquility of River Road, particularly in the early evening hours. While it connects to Huntsville’s Main Street, it is insulated by the river on one side and the fact that traffic only runs one way. It’s likely one of our favourite roads in the Huntsville core. This postcard (from a photo of River Street in 1910) was produced by Pugh Specialty Co. Ltd and was part of the Baldwin Collection of Canadiana. It is now part of the public domain and found in the Muskoka Digital Archives.
The two-storey house at 9 River Street can be seen on the left and was built around 1884 by Martha and James Whitney Bettes. James was appointed sheriff of Muskoka in 1886 and the family moved to Bracebridge. The house was rented for the next eighteen years and in 1906 sold to Peter Laing. In 1920 it was sold again to William Mawhinney, a merchant from Burk’s Falls who was married to Mary Valerie “Daisy” Wardell, daughter of well-known Huntsville merchant Matthew Wardell. In later years the three Wardell sisters Daisy Wardell Mawhinney, Annetta Wardell Boyd and Maude Wardell Nickalls lived in the house. The last surviving sister Annetta died in 1985 and the house was sold to Craig and Mary Louise Teakle and the history continues… (excerpts from the Muskoka Digital Archives).
See more Wayback Wednesday photos here.
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9 River Road evokes many special memories, my grandparents William and Ellen Webster rented the upstairs apartment for many years, grandpa worked at the drug store in the winter and in the spring time , they owned “Hamilton House” on Big Doe Lake.