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The Theatre Block: Harold Hill's booming auto business (8 photos)

In this week's Remember This?, Mary Harris offers part six of her exploration of Barrie's theatre block

When James Gifford died in late 1928, he left a two-storey house on the south side of Elizabeth Street on the edge of the rapidly developing western end of the Barrie business district.

It was no surprise to anyone when the property was quickly snapped up by local businessman Harold Hill.

Hill had partnered the previous year with Fred VanPatter at 43 Elizabeth St. Both men were involved in the automobile trade, which was booming right along with downtown Barrie.

The venue was small, and Hill hesitated very little in grabbing the spot that would become present-day 55 Dunlop St. W., for his own auto dealership.

Prior to joining Mr. Van Patter, Hill had been a used car dealer at 16 Bayfield St., longtime location of the Barrie Examiner newspaper offices and current home to the Salvation Army Bayside Mission. He engaged in the sale of nearly forgotten makes such as Maxwell, Studebaker, McLaughlin, Star and Gray-Dort, and the occasional horse-drawn conveyance, one of which was advertised as a “good rubber-tired buggy, only one driver and a heavy mare.”

Harold Hill loved his Durant automobiles! He firmly believed in the vehicles produced by the upstart company that was founded in 1921 by Billy Durant after his ouster as CEO of General Motors.

Durant had started out as horse-drawn carriage maker and eventually became the largest in the U.S. He was originally no fan of motor cars, but soon saw the coming wave of horseless transportation and jumped into producing cars.

Hill became the Barrie dealer for the Durant line of cars during their heyday.

Durant was rapidly expanding, as Billy Durant tried to go up against the models produced by GM, a company he had co-founded. His Flint, Eagle, Rugby and Locomobile models were meant to give the Packard and Cadillac of his competition some strong rivalry.

It was no fault of Harold Hill that Billy Durant, the perennial risk taker of the vehicle world, overextended himself once again and began to lose the market share on his namesake company. The Durant brand shut down in the U.S. in 1931, but stumbled along until 1932 in Canada.

With that, Harold Hill was back to advertising used cars for sale. Not surprisingly, the bulk of those were Durants.

Hill was not terribly worried. The automobile was here to stay and the business possibilities in the car industry were endless.

Harold Hill had a fine and modern garage from which he continued to sell used vehicles and car parts, and offer repairs. His showroom offered new Chrysler and Plymouth models.

The 1940s were expansion years for Hill. In addition to his location at 55 Elizabeth St., Hill had built a paint shop on the east side of Mary Street and acquired a spot on Bradford Street to display more of the used cars he had for sale.

In early 1961, Hill discontinued all of his automobile operations and advertised his properties for lease. Late that same year, the location, by then known as 55 Dunlop St. W., was advertised as the Barrie Auction Rooms and Second Hand Store.

The Second Hand Store on this site was very popular and is still well remembered by the residents of Barrie who were around during that era.

In the 1970s, it became the Pink Elephant which, in part, forms some of my earliest memories of travelling along Dunlop Street with my parents, years before I became a citizen of this city. I also clearly recall the flashing neon signs in the window of the Wellington Hotel promoting, ‘Go Go Dancers!’

As the decade closed and the 1980s arrived, 55 Dunlop St. W. became what most of us know it as today, a theatre venue. At first, it was a much-expanded version of the old Imperial Theatre and later became the Uptown Theatre.

It is the last of its kind, the last of the silver screens along a once-glittering row of entertainment houses.

Each week, the Barrie Historical Archive provides BarrieToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past. This unique column features photos and stories from years gone by and is sure to appeal to the historian in each of us.


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Mary Harris

About the Author: Mary Harris

Mary Harris is the Director of History and Research at the Barrie Historical Archive. The Barrie Historical Archive is a free, online archive that centralizes Barrie's historical content.
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