Duffin's Creek General Store
c. 1840
This building and the Brougham Temperance House once shared a porch. They were located in Brougham at the corner of Highway 7 and Brock Street. This building has served as a harness shop, County Office, and home. As the Museum's General Store, it serves as a post office and community centre. Set in 1910, it shows electricity use which was just being introduced to Pickering Township.
The exhibit inside is set-up to show the typical general store’s role as a store, post office, and community hub, c. 1910.
A general store provided more than consumer items for the surrounding countryside. It was also a marketplace for farmers to sell produce and handmade items for cash, or to exchange them for credit to store purchases. On display are some of the many items that were available in the early part of the last century.
Canned foods and individually packaged items were common by 1910, as were bulk goods that had to be weighed out and packaged according to the customer’s needs. Factory-made items and patent medicines were also common. If a customer was interested in examining an item, the shopkeeper would retrieve it from the shelves and place it on the counter. Customers did not serve themselves as we do today.
Brass scoop and postcard from China Hall, Pt. Lot 30, Concession 9. Pickering Museum Collection. 2019.39.2
Did you know?
The earliest known general store in Pickering Township appears to date to 1818. William Smith operated it where it likely stood on the south side of Kingston Road, west of Duffins Creek. It stood across the road from Woodruff’s tavern.
The Hamlet of Brougham had a general store as early as 1835. William Bentley was the owner. It stood at what is now the north west corner of Old Brougham Road and Highway #7. The general store in Green River is worthy of note. Charles Luther Burton, the son of George Burton the store merchant, became the Chief Executive Officer of Simpson’s Department Stores. It is likely that he had learned the rudiments of the merchant trade from his father.
Photo: Green River General Store. Courtesy of Pickering Public Library