A Stunning Picture of Blyth Comes to Light!

Queen Street Blyth  circa 1907

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL DELIVERY

Near midnight on July 17, 2012, I received an email from an unknown person. The message was simply "Please share this image!"  Attached to the email was a thumbnail image. When the full image appeared I could barely believe my eyes. It was the above picture of the business block between the current location of the CIBC and the Blyth Inn. In the faded distance you can see a bit of the Gift Cupboard.

I replied immediately to the sender, asking him how he expected me to get back to sleep after getting this wonderful but mysterious image. The picture was taken no earlier than 1906 when the hotel was built. The awning on the foreground store indicates "Gerry Hardware". We know that Mr. Gerry sold this business in 1908 but the new owner may not have changed the awning right away.  A good guess would be that the picture was taken around 1907 but it could be slightly later.

The first two stores in the foreground no longer exist. They stood in the gap between the CIBC and Sharon's Miniature Museum. They were completely razed in 1936 when they were both occupied as Munro's Hardware.

I am not sure what business was in the second shop, but the number 3 was the private bank of James McMurchie, and in number 4 was Frank Metcalfe's store. Frank was an entrepreneur with many interests. He was a jeweller, watchmaker, CPR ticket salesperson, telegram agent, book seller. He was also managing director of the Ontario Apple Growers Association. For many years he was one of the most active leaders in the Blyth Fall Fair Board. These two stores are in 2012 occupied by Sharon's Miniature Museum.

The fifth store was Bender's clothing store operated by Ezra Bender. We have close-up pictures of Bender's very attractive window displays. That store was completely gutted in 1929. We acquired pictures from the Huron County Museum showing that store before and after the fire.

The next building is known as the Milne Block. This was the office of Dr. W.J. Milne and he also had a drug store located at the from of the building. Dr. Milne's career was all, or nearly all, in Blyth. He also served as councillor and reeve for many terms and was from time to time Huron County coroner.

At the right side of the picture you can see the faint image of what was known at the time as the Commercial Hotel, but now is called the Blyth Inn. It was built in 1906 to replace an older frame hotel which occupied much the same footprint.

We are so pleased that so many people contribute treasured pictures like this one to the Repository of Blyth History as we call our collection.

HOW DID THIS IMAGE AT THE TOP GET SENT TO ME?

The picture came to me from a post card collector and dealer who lives, I believe, in Michigan. I don't know where he acquired the picture, but it is a really special type of post card. It was produced photographically directly from the negative. It had the names of two people on the back but with no addresses showing. (It had never been mailed anywhere.) The dealer recognized that the paper on which the card was printed had been produced for the Canadian Market. He sent an image of the card to a local (Michigan) Historical Society for identification. They sent it to the Ontario Historical Society in Toronto since they thought the location depicted might be in Ontario. The OHS sent the image to the Toronto Postcard Club, and someone in that club matched the image to other images on this Blog, "All About Blyth", and passed my email reference back to the owner of the card. 

I alerted a local post card collector who has since purchased the actual physical card from the dealer.

The Internet has been around for a long time, but it still continues to amaze.

Brock Vodden