“Hartley Palmer, better known as ‘Al’, was one of the first to start a garage business in Barrie, starting in a small building on Bayfield St., in 1913 when Barrie and district only had a car population of about 65 cars.”
When this paragraph appeared in the Northern Advance in 1929, H.R. Palmer had been located at the address then known as 57-59 Elizabeth St., for some six years, ever since the block between Maple Avenue and Mary Street began to rise as an important part of the downtown business district.
Just prior to this, Palmer had been in partnership with C.H. Beelby at 39 Elizabeth St.
In 1923, movie theatres and motor cars were the main attractions in that rather modern commercial strip. Gas pumps popped up like mushrooms along the street in front of the automobile-related businesses.
When C.H. Beelby closed the McLaughlin car dealership at the corner of Maple Avenue to make way for Robinson Hardware that year, he left a gas pump behind.
H.R. Palmer applied to council to have the old Beelby pump moved down the street to his new garage a few doors west. His request was approved. In turn, Charles Robinson applied to have a new gas pump installed in front of his hardware store. That, too, was passed by council.
However, the gas-pump situation soon became a bit of a menace as all manner of merchants, those in the garage business and otherwise, began to realize the value in offering gasoline for sale to the growing number of auto drivers passing through town.
As the volume of cars increased, so did tourism and the crush of vehicles snaking through downtown Barrie on the way to cottage country was seen as both a gift and an aggravation. The street-side gasoline was handy, but further clogged the already crowded roadway.
The 1920s saw town councils all over Ontario attempt to rein in the gas-pump problem while still being fair and allowing free enterprise.
By 1928, Barrie had created a bylaw that said that no more gas pumps were to be erected along Dunlop and Elizabeth streets, between Mulcaster and Bradford streets.
After that, minor battles erupted when long time pump owners applied to replace older devices with double or triple pumps.
The pump owners had their differences with town council and sometimes with each other.
By June 1925, H.R. Palmer had been feuding for two years with G.G. Moore, his neighbour to the west, owner of an automobile supply shop. Both businesses, separated by an eight-foot-wide laneway, had gas pumps in front.
Each man claimed that his neighbour often deliberately blocked the pumps of the other with his personal vehicle.
All of this finally landed the two of them in a courtroom in July of 1925. Mr. Moore had had enough one day when he felt that a customer of Mr. Palmer was taking too long in filling his tires and diverting business away from Moore’s gas pumps.
Moore solved the problem by bringing a sharp pair of shears from his shop and cutting the offending air hose in two.
The result was a $1 fine for Moore as well as an order to pay Palmer $9 for the destroyed property.
By 1926, C.H. Beelby and H.R. Palmer were back together again. This time, Mr. Beelby was the appointed Barrie dealer for the newly rebranded McLaughlin-Buick automobiles while Palmer was created official service representative.
