J.H. Crow – Welland’s Leading Hardware Merchant

[Souvenir of the Town of Welland issued August 22nd, 1902 by the Welland Telegraph, Sears & Sawle Publishers]

Some twelve years since Mr. J. H. Crow disposed of his grocery stock since which time he has most successfully conducted a hardware and tinsmithing establishment, his business permeating a large portion of the Niagara Peninsula. Mr Crow occupies a three story brick building on West Main street, the lower floor being utilized for the display and sale of stoves, silverware, shelf hardware, tin and granite ware; the second being used as a repair shop for all kinds of tin and galvanized ironware, and the third for the storage of light stock, such as screen doors, etc; the basement being filled with painter’s and other supplies, including nails, glass, oils, and also horseshoes. Mr Crow also does a large business in plumbing and gas fitting, and had the contract for the plumbing of the Dexter House, as also many of the fine residences in town. Mr Crow buys for cash, and sells at close profits, and no doubt exists but that this is the place to purchase stoves and hardware. Mr Crow has been honored with a membership in the High School Board several times, as well as in the town council; is treasurer of the Methodist church, and a P.D.D.G.M. of the Masonic Order in the Niagara district.

R.G. Common, Baker and Confectioner

The professional baker is just as essential to the community as those who provide any other matter of life’s sustenance, for the baker is usually prepared at short notice to furnish the individual or the family, the hotel or private party, with such cooked breadstuffs that for palatableness and variety excels that of domestic cooking. There is a difference, nevertheless, in bakers, for while the ordinary daily consumption of this particular necessity of life is of every day plain variety, there are occasions, not infrequent, when something in fancy breadstuffs is required, which often develops the resourcefulness of the manipulator thereof, and brings the baker’s art into prominence, creditable alike to his genius and those for whom he caters, and it is this which has redounded to the credit of Mr and Mrs. R.G. Common, whose modern baking establishment with its handsome plate glass front, is located on East Main Street, not far from the Court House. Mr and Mrs Common have been associated in this essential profession for upward of sixteen years, successfully, and are familiar with every detail in the production of plain or fancy baking, the components of which are from the best material and substances. Aside from the production of plain home made bread, cake and pastry, requiring the constant use of a delivery team in order to supply patrons, other than those who procure their supplies from the establishment itself, they make a specialty of ornamented wedding or party cakes in any design desired to order, as also the very best  of fancy cooked and ornamented breadstuffs, in all its forms, and are prepared to supply parties, large or small, with bread, cake or pastry, at the shortest possible notice. Then again they have added a handsome ice cream parlor to their premises, wherein is dispensed during the season, this delicious substance, of all flavors, and of their own manufacture, together with ice cream soda tinctured with the best of home made pure fruit syrups. Ice cream can also be procured at all times in any quantity, or of any flavor, upon order, for receptions or parties. Mr Common also carries a fine line of candies and sweetmeats, and being a confectioner as well, manufactures his own confections to a large extent. Altogether it is the leading baking and confectionery establishment in Welland.

A. Griffiths, Warden Welland County

Mr. A. Griffiths, Warden of the County of Welland, was born in the township of Crowland, where his father, Mr Thos Griffiths, still resides, at the ripe old age of 86 years. The subject of this sketch located in Welland in 1864, and has been actively engaged  in business since, maintaining an active interest in agricultural, educational and municipal affairs, having been connected with the management of the County of Welland Agricultural Society for several years. He has served on the Public and High School Boards and was a member of the Town and County Council in 1895. He was Mayor of Welland in 1897. In 1901 he was elected a member of the Board of County Commissioners, and became Warden of the  County of the current year. He is one of the promoters of the 20th Century rink, built by himself and C.J.Page in 1898. Mr Griffiths has done much to beautify the town in the matter of building a substantial class of residences and he owns a block of land adjacent to the G.T.R., admirably situated for manufacturing purposes.

H.A. Rose, General Store

While the general store, or more properly speaking, double store for, though combined, each has a separate street entrance, of Mr H,.A. Rose, located in the three story brick building on the corner of West and North Main Streets, and which has been in successful operation since 1864, is not in a strict sense a department store, yet in its appointments, about all that is necssary to the comfort of mankind in general, externally, can be found within. The corner store, which is 70×21, affords ample room for the display of such goods as are a delight to the fair sex, and the male sex as well, comprising all the latest and most fashionable patterns in dress goods, both domestic and foreign, from a common print to the finest fabries, together with dress linings, trimmings, hosiery, gloves, small wares, underwear and furnishings for either sex. In  connection therewith Mr Rose carries a complete stock of boots, shoes and general footwear, including rubbers of all sizes and adaptable for either sex, with wall papers and carpets of various designs and grades. The adjoining store is devoted to groceries of which Mr Rose carries as complete a stock as can be found in town, including all the staple commodities included in the grocery catalogue. in addition thereto. Mr Rose carries a full line of crockery. As a fitting conclusion, a well stocked ready made clothing department, wherein can be found ready-to-wear garments for young or old is one of the essentials of one of the best general merchandise establishments on the Niagara peninsula and the stock of which is maintained to a high standard of excellence, while the prices are no higher than is often quoted for inferior articles.