John Gallop Building
100 Main Street South, Seaforth, Ontario
( Year built: 1928 )
Long before Gallop had this building built in 1928, Thomas Bell bought the lot from Franz Meyer in November 23, 1873. The Huron Expositor reported: Mr. Thos. Bell has purchased from Mr. F. Meyer, the corner lot on Main Street opposite McIntosh & Morrison’s carriage factory and intends erecting on it next spring a dwelling house and livery stable.” Bell did build a livery on the back of the lot and, nearer to Main Street, a large frame building where he kept his carriages. Bell’s home was north of this building. David McNaught was the property owner in 1875. Goerge Whiteley was the livery man. It was Arthur Forbes who bought the Commercial Livery from Whiteley in 1876.
In 1878 to 1882, a building on part of the north half of the lot was used as the Fireman’s Hall. Forbes owned the building by 1883 when it ceased to be the Firemen’s Hall. Forbes owned the entire lot by 1890 and continued to operate the livery stables throughout the 1880s. William Hunter worked for Forbes as a hostler in 1888. From 1895 to 1900, W.M Ward had a saddlery shop on the north part of this lot. Forbes owned the livery until 1904, but Thomas Levey was the livery man in 1899-1902 and, Wilfred and Gilbert Morrow, young men of 23 and 21 at the time, took over in 1903 and were the owners by 1904.
Advertisement Above Right: An early 1890s Queen's Hotel register; and Advertisement Below Left: The as was shown in The Huron Expositor February 9, 1877.
The livery stable was burned on May 18, 1915. Arthur D. Strong of Galt was the property owner at the time. Little was done for many years with the building which remained on the lot until, in 1928, John Gallop bought the lot and had the existing building built. Gallop started as an Implement Agent but later had a garage, machine shop and car sales shop in his new building. In 1931, there were two gas tanks and pumps here. The tax assessment records for 1933 indicate that Mrs. Gallop, John’s mother, ran the pumps.
In 1944, Kenneth Campbell bought the property and opened his Electric & Welding business. At the end of the decade, Campbell sold to Scott Habkirk who used the building and land for bus storage and maintenance. Habkirk Buses, later Habkirk Transit, was here until the early 1980s.
Left Photo: Ken Smith Pools was in business in the Gallop Building in the early 1990s. The photograph clearly shows the boomtown or brick corbie stepped roof.
The John Gallop building is a one-storey structure of grey textured block with red mortar. The roof is pitched but hidden by its boomtown, or corbie-stepped, gable end. The stepped gable end is the distinctive architectural feature of this building.
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