This ongoing series from Barrie Historical Archive curator Deb Exel shows old photos from the collection and one from the present day, as well as the story behind them.
Canadian Tire — Dunlop Street West
In the early 1900s, the north side of Elizabeth Street (now called Dunlop Street West) between Toronto and High streets was not overly busy or densely developed. That would not always be the case.
At the east end of the block was Lowe’s Furniture, located in the former Royal Hotel, an elegant and popular establishment in its heyday. The Lowes had moved west from a smaller store at the northeast corner of Mary Street to the far larger hotel premises.
The Lowe family was not just known for its generational furniture store, but also for the beautiful Shetland ponies they kept on their Lo-Land ranch, now the west end of Wellington Street.
At the other end of the block, at Elizabeth and High streets, set well back from the street, was the lovely home of Nathaniel and Annie Dyment — Rowanhurst.
And in between these two substantial buildings was the grocery store of James Cheesman.
Cheesman, a tailor, was born in 1851 in Tunbridge Wells, England. When he came to Canada in 1872, he spent time in Toronto, Collingwood, and Rome, N.Y., before making Barrie his home in 1874, working for the tailor A. McNab on Dunlop Street.
While still employed as a tailor, James established a grocery business with his brother, John, on Elizabeth Street, with a house next door on a narrow strip of land.
In 1879, James returned to England to marry Naomi Crowhurst, also from his hometown of Tunbridge Wells.
Back in Barrie that same year, James bought out his brother’s share in the grocery business. James and Naomi had three children together before she passed away in 1891. James remarried in 1893 to Sarah Hunter and together they had six children.
In 1921, James sold the grocery business to his son, James.
Years later, a new business would appear on that block, which would change the downtown dramatically.
In 1938, Hamp Fralick opened the first Canadian Tire store in Barrie at the corner of Dunlop and Mulcaster streets. It wasn’t long until he moved the business west in 1940, to the corner of Dunlop and Mary streets, where W.D. Minnikin’s funeral home had operated.
Ten years later, Fralick built his modern, new store — specifically designed to sell and service Canadian Tire products — right between Lowe’s Furniture and Cheeseman’s grocery store. In July 1953, Fralick sold the franchise to Roy Ronald of Fergus.
In 1963, Archibald (Arch) John Davidson Brown became the associate Canadian Tire dealer in Barrie.
Arch Brown had an extensive background in business prior to landing in Barrie: managing a travel agency in Toronto, supervisor of Trans-Canada Airlines in Malton and Nassau, the youngest district sales manager of General Motors Canada before becoming dealer sales manager for the Canadian Tire Corporation.
In 1955, just five years after the ‘new’ Canadian Tire store opened, it was expanding and would soon cover most of the block. Rowanhurst, the former Dyment home, was demolished and a gas bar would stand on that corner as part of the enormous new Canadian Tire operation.
Parking for the downtown superstore sprawled where Kembla Grange, home of Deputy Reeve Fletcher and the former Barrie General Hospital, once sat on High Street. But, faced with increasing parking and traffic challenges, in a bold move, Arch relocated his Canadian Tire business to the old Savette store on Bayfield Street in 1976.
Many doubted Canadian Tire could survive relocation to the wilds of Bayfield Street, but by 1988, the store employed 180 workers and Bayfield Street became the Golden Mile of business.
When Arch retired from Canadian Tire in 1995, his store had the leading sales in all of Canada. And the little store that brought him to Barrie is still standing.
Arch Brown was not just known for his success as Mr. Canadian Tire. His accomplishments, beyond the Canadian Tire organization (did you know he was responsible for the corporate roll-out of Canadian Tire money?) would require far more words than my kind editor might allow. The list of Arch Brown’s many titles conferred, awards, advisory and board positions is lengthy.
But if I had to mention a few, I’d start with Arch’s idea to use the Huron (Ouendat) word “chay” as Simcoe County’s “aloha” at Barrie’s first FM radio station, CHAY; his generosity and deep involvement with Georgian College; his extensive participation in many service organizations, local military establishments and community volunteer initiatives; and the naming and donation of the copyright of Barrie’s very own sea monster, Kempenfelt Kelly.
Arch was also recognized with the Governor-General’s Commemorative Medal (1992), was invested with the Order of Canada (1995), received a Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) and was invested with the Order of Ontario in 2004. Arch Brown’s benevolence and commitment to the community was pretty legendary.
I think that’s the Canadian Tire story most people remember.
