Patrick Megary Store
30 Main Street South, Seaforth, Ontario
( Year built: 1877 )
The first building here on the north part of this lot, in the 1860s, was Sydney Jacob’s tinsmith shop. The September 24, 1875 issue of The Huron Expositor reported on “Gradually Disappearing Buildings on Main Street” noting that the “frame building on the opposite side of the street, recently occupied by a laundry was also removed to a lot bought by P. Megary who will build a brick store next season.” George Forsythe had the laundry here in 1875. On the south part of the lot there was another frame building where George Baxter had his Dining Saloon in the 1860s. Megary had both buildings torn down to make way for his new brick building. It was Megary’s almost completed brick block that checked the fire of 1876, saving a row of frame buildings further south. The window casings in Megary’s new building were all burned, but were soon repaired. He opened his bakeshop for business before the year was out.
Patrick Megary’s bakery was here until 1876 when Thomas Daly took over the store. Daly, who was one of the first children born in Egmondville, had a grocery and meat store here for many years, until 1921. J.F. Daly, a jeweller, set up shop in part of this store in 1895-96. He then moved across the street to a store in the Cardno Block.
Apartment rooms above the stores were let in 1888-89 to a dentist, W.J. Fear, and, in 1890, to W.S. Ferguson, MD. After Thomas Daly retired from business, the store was occupied for a few years by a pool hall run first by Elgin H. Close, 1923-25, and then by Marshall Stewart, 1926-27.
In 1928, Samuel Shinen opened a dry goods store here. He became the building’s owner in 1948. Over the years, Shinen’s evolved into a clothing store. The business was still here in the early 1980s. By 1990, Bee's Clothing Store had replaced one of the longest running businesses in Seaforth.
Above Photo: This photograph, taken during a parade in 1940, shows Shinen’s, James Graves’ store to the south and J.J. Cleary’s Red Band Store in Sam Stark’s Block to the north. Arnold Westcott’s jewellery store is in the north part of Graves’ store block and Verna Graves paint and paper store is in the south part. Advertisement Above Right: An advertisement from a special carnival issue of The Huron Expositor July 24, 1940.
Patrick Megary’s store is a 2½ storey white brick building. It was set four feet forward of the other buildings to its north, making it stand out from the rest of stores on the street until the Graves Block was built in 1897. The cornice was removed from both the upper and storefront levels. A replica of the original storefront cornice was added in the early 1990s. There are three window openings each with two very narrow and long windows. The windows are unusual compared with other buildings on the street: the segmented brick label surrounds extend to the base of the window and there are no window sills. On the storefront level, the doorway is central and inset. A plain doorway with a rectangular transom light divided in two, at the north end of the façade, leads to the second-floor apartment.
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