WELLAND’S OLDEST MERCHANT

George Cronmiller Sells Out His Furniture and Undertaking Business

            George C. Cronmiller, who for many years has conducted a furniture store and undertaking establishment on East Main Street, on Saturday completed a deal whereby the business and property passes into the hands of J.J. Pattison, a well-known resident of Welland. Associated with Mr. Pattison is Geo. Dart, an expert undertaker. Both the furniture warerooms and the undertaking establishment will be continued by the new owners.

Will Enlarge

            The price paid was not made public but it is said to be keeping with the values of real estate and property in Welland. The property is well-known to Wellanders, being one of the oldest establishments in the town.

            It is the intention of the new owners to enlarge the building and make other improvements.

In Business Many Years

            Mr. Cronmiller’s retirement from business comes after many years of hard and active work in building up an enviable business. Mr. Cronmiller is one of the oldest business men in Welland. In fact, he is the only man who has been doing business in the same stand continuously in Welland for thirty-seven years. There are two other men who have been doing business in Welland continuously for this number of years, but they are not now in the same business places in which they started. These two men are the only ones now in Welland who were here and in business when Mr. Cronmiller came here in 1874. They are Alonzo White, proprietor of White’s Livery Stable, and J.J. Sidey, editor of the Welland Tribune.

            “These two men are the only ones in business when I came, who are still here,” said the veteran furniture dealer to a Telegraph reporter on Saturday.

            Although the frost of years is beginning to settle on Mr. Cronmiller’s brow, yet he is still active.

Welland of 1874

            “There is a vast difference in Welland of 1874 and the Welland of today,” said Mr. Cronmiller. “When I came here with the intention of opening business it was a different looking town than it is now. In the block in which my store stands, at the present time, there were two hotels, a house and a shoe shop, and that was all. A hotel stood where Robert Doan’s second hand store now stands. A man by the name of Scallion was the proprietor. John Evans conducted a hotel where Chas. Stewart’s block is today and D. McCaw’s shoe shore and residence was also in this block. The registry office was still at Fonthill and a little frame hotel stood where the Mansion House now is.

            The Opera House was not built until a year or so after I came. The Arlington Hotel, I believe, was standing at the time, or at least part of it.”

Not Two Hundred Houses

            “How many residences were there in Welland at that time?” asked the reporter.

            “Well, I doubt if there were over two hundred in all.”

            “How about mud?”

            “Oh mud. There was plenty of mud in those days. The town was muddier than it is now. You could hardly get across the street without getting into it up to your knees,” answered Mr. Cronmiller.

            Continuing he stated that it was about this time that the Welland canal was enlarged to its present size. The only railroads that were here at the time were the M.C.R. and G.T.R.

            “I remember well when the registry office was built,” said Mr. Cronmiller, in speaking of that structure. “I cut all the glass you see in the windows of the office. I remember that the wrong measurements were given me, and as a result I spoilt a lot of glass and it was necessary to do the work over.

Land Values in Early Days

            When I bought my original lot, part of which is now occupied by the present building, I paid seven hundred dollars for it. That seemed high but it would seem nothing now. The size of the lot was 66×133. The lot where Lon White’s livery stable is now was held at $2,100, which was a very high price at that time. Of course, I did not do the business then that I do now, either.

 All Board Walks

             The sidewalks at that time were all board walks. Pavement was not thought of in those days. In many places those walks consisted of only one plank, too.”

             Mr. Cronmiller will live retired in future.

Welland Telegraph

7 February 1911