Early Businesses / Businesses of 1897 / a 1916 Industrial & Business Perspective
The following businesses were noted in “The Free Lance” and “Westville News” in 1897 and 1898. Other businesses that did not advertise in the paper also operated in the community.
- T.J. Gray, grocery, dry goods
- H.P. Burns, bakery
- D.W. MacDonald, hardware, stoves
- Union Store-McGregor & Co., dry goods, hardware, grocery
- George E. Munro, dry goods, clothing
- Robt. A. MacDonald, dry goods, carpets, boots & shoes
- J.A. Hood, hardware, Sherwin William’s paints
- D.W. Crockett, hardware
- John A. MacKay & Co. hardware
- R. Fraser, druggist
- J.D. MacKean, tailor
- People’s Grocery (opposite St. Philip’s Church) dry goods and grocery
- McDearmid & Henderson (corner South Main & Drummond St.), dealers in clothing, gents’ furnishings
- John Brown, Joiner (corner South Main & Court St.) furniture, undertaking & embalming
- Murdoch McKay, boots, shoes
- Talbot & Co., footware
- A.J. Munro & Sons, Westville saw mill
- Johnson and Nelson, boots, shoes, straws
- J.A. Murray, harness
- R. H. MacKay, clock & watch repairing, spectacles
- Norman Gunn
- James D. Maxwell, flour, feed, fish, bacon etc.
- J. C. MacNeil (corner Main & Black Diamond) blacksmith and repair shop
- James McLaren, undertaker & upholsterer
- A. R. Munro, Pictou Central Seed Store
- W. S. Munsie, Royal Café & Bakery
- Fredericks Studio – McGregor Building (Drummond Corner)
- James White, Jr. plumbing
- George W. Carruthers, clothes cleaned & pressed
- James MacLeod, grocery, dry goods
- John MacLeod, blacksmith
- Sutherland & Co. – Westville’s largest store
- J. A. MacDonald, furniture, groceries
- J. T. MacQuarrie (Church St. ) meat
- Andrew Brown – American Hair Dressing and Shaving Parlor
- W. A Reid, canned goods, magazines, weekly papers
- Thompson and Sutherland, hardware
- James M. Wright, bakery
- Grant Bros. druggist and pharmacists
- Charles S. Chelsea, groceries
- R. D. Sutherland (corner Church & Main streets), blacksmith
- T. W. Campbell, blacksmith & dealer in light and heavy harness, horse rugs, curry combs, etc.
- James Sutherland, boots and shoes
- James Roy and Sons, coats, blankets, etc.
- D. R. MacDonald ( South Main, dry goods, etc.)
- Dan MacKay’s – Main
- James D. McCoull, livery stable
A.R. Munro
General Merchant, Westville 1900
Mr. Munro has been engaged in general merchandise in Westville for ten years. His tow stores exemplify the various lines of trade, as follows; A general stock of groceries and provisions, including teas and coffees and high-class goods, dry goods, gentlemen’s furnishings, a full line of ladies’ wear, crockery, enameled ware, boots and shoes, hats and caps, flour, feed and provisions, carpets, house furnishings, oils, fertilizers, and full line of seeds.
Flour and provisions are purchased from Upper Canada producers. He buys seeds from W. Rennie, Toronto; feet, etc., from Plattsville Milling Co. Ontario. Mr. Munro has lately found that his original store was too small for his growing trade, so he has opened a branch store in town, exclusively for the sale of dry goods and ladies wear. This marks him as a man who can promptly meet demands upon him.
Mr. Munro is an ex-councilor of Westville, and as a citizen he is much appreciated by the people.
The Canadian Trade Review
1900
Mr. and Mrs. Robert A.
MacDonald
Robert A. MacDonald
General Merchant
1900
The present mayor of Westville, Mr. Robert A. MacDonald, is one of the town’s most reliable and able merchants. In fact, to his well-known ability as a businessman, and to his undoubted probity as a citizen, he is indebted for his municipal prominence, and the very general confidence which his fellow citizens repose in him.
He occupies the civic chair now for the second time, by a large majority of the votes of the town. He is a prominent member of the fraternal organizations, taking an active interest n the genera life of the people, fraternally and socially. Mr. MacDonald has been in business in Westville for a period of 17 years. His store is stocked with a fine line of dry and dress goods, ladies’ wear, haberdashery, boots and shoes, groceries, hardware crockery and glassware, house furnishings, including carpets, curtains, etc., and, in fact, every article of sale which can possibly be required. His store is headquarters for gun goods and sporting gear generally. He handles agricultural implements and workman’s tools of all sorts.
Mining (gold) and farming occupy much of his energies and attention also, and to show his great versatility, it may be recorded that he has been a successful publisher as well. The “Free Lance”, Westville’s wide-awake journal, was inaugurated and conducted by Mr. MacDonald for some time, when his other interests becoming too extensive to admit of his attention being unduly divide, he sold the paper. It finally came into the hands of Mr. J.W.H. Sutherland, the present proprietor.
The Store of general merchant
Robt. A. MacDonald, on the corner of South
Main and Drummond. Another general merchant, Robbie
Albert, is on the far left.