Burnt River’s Business Section

By Guy Scott

The business section of Burnt River grew up along the “Main Street,” the road between lots 12 and 13 in the 6^th Concession. The businesses flowed on either side of the railway crossing. The business section consisted of 2-3 stores, a blacksmith shop, post office, railway station, two churches and later a gas station. There were a variety of residential houses built along the street as well as a series of workers’ cottages around the quarry.

The first true business in downtown was a large brick store, built on the west side of the street just north of the railway crossing. The store was built by Joseph Eyres in 1884; a clear sign of the rising prosperity of the new village. The store was operated by a number of merchants between 1884 and 1944. Peter Fitzpatrick, Daniel Duggan and James Rettie owned the building between 1891 and 1901, but how often it was open for business is unknown. Likely it was vacant most of the time, or simply a residence. Mary Ann Robinson was the resident from 1901 until 1906 when Benjamin Miller actually ran a general store here for one year, before selling out to Robert S. Frost from Kinmount who stayed in business until Thomas Suddaby purchased the business in 1920. The Suddabys remained in business until John Handley took over in 1942, then the store was completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1944.

The second general store was started by David Chalmers Sr. in 1900. The Chalmers family had been original settlers at Kinmount. They built a large, square structure with rooms for rent upstairs, likely designed as a hotel for quarry workers, The Chalmers sold in 1910 to George and Sarah Wright, whose family operated the business until 1966. The Wright General Store was a true “general” store, carrying a wide range of merchandise including groceries, meat, candies, over-the-counter drugs, tobacco, dry goods, work clothes and boots, nails, paint and coal oil; just to name the highlights! Roddy and Eva Wright took over the store and expanded the operation by building a gas station and snack bar next door. The snack bar, named the Chatterbox, was a popular hangout for local youth. The Wrights retired in 1966 and the re-named Burnt River General store passed through many hands until it was destroyed by fire in 1995. Nothing remains today on the original site, but the Chatterbox next door became the home of the Burnt River Post Office and the Library from 1970 to 1993, when the old school across the road was converted to house both services.

In 1946, Marion and Chester Godwin bought a vacant lot on Main Street and built a home with a small store in one end of the building. Building materials were scarce in the post-war era, and Chester salvaged lumber from an old mining camp and scavenged used nails from the building, even straightening them by hand! Chester worked for the Handley Lumber Company (Fenelon Falls) by day, while Marion ran the store. They catered to summer tourists, chauffeuring tourists from the train station to their cottages on Four Mile Lake. He also delivered groceries and blocks of ice for the ice boxes used before electricity arrived at the lake. For years, Chester Godwin carried a load of high school students to Fenelon Falls on his way to and from work! For over 50 years, Godwin’s Store was a familiar sight on the Main Street of Burnt River. But nothing lasts forever, and today the store is closed: the last business to grace the hamlet.

A hamlet the size of Burnt River was definitely an opportunity for a blacksmith. The blacksmithy was on the east side of the street, just south of the railway line. Numerous blacksmiths tended the equine needs over the years, including Robert Wilson, Tom Woods, Jim Graham, Bert Bates, Jack Bates, Alvery Cain and Leo Rettie. The Wilsons ran an ice cream parlour from their house in the early 1900s. The site became the residence for the Godwin Family in the 1940s.

The village hosted some other small business operations at various times in its history. In 1906, the Morgan family moved to Burnt River and eventually purchased a home on the Main Street. The building had previously been operated as a tavern by the Palmer family, most certainly relying on the quarry workers for their patronage. They boarded quarry workers and operated a small store in the front of the structure. The business burnt down in the late 1930s and the Morgans replaced it with a residence. In 1942, the home was purchased by Ralph Sheehey, who started a garage business with gas pumps. The garage was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1944, but the gas pumps were kept open until the late 1950s.

Besides the two gas stations on the main street, the hamlet also had two stations on either end of the bypass, both operated by the same family. In the late 1930s, Roddy Wright built a gas station at the corner of the East Line Road and Highway #121 and added a snack bar and some small, overnight rental cabins. At the time, the Wrights also ran the general store on Main Street. They found the two businesses too much and sold the gas business (it was a White Rose station) to Wesley Switzer. The gas station changed hands several times and in the 1960s was closed.

At the south end of the new Highway #121 bypass, the same Switzer family built a house and in 1965, Milton and Marina Switzer opened another gas station with a snack bar. This business operated from 1964 to 1986 when it was closed due to their declining health. With the closing, Burnt River lost its last gas station. Where at various times (but not at the same time) there had been four gas stations, they are all gone now. This scene is playing out all over the area. Where Kinmount once had three gas stations at once, now there are none.

Today, Burnt River does not contain any full-time retail businesses. The times, they are a changing.