Special Places


Melita Site Inventory

Page 2 : Commercial Sites

336.D.1 Northern Bank Building

Construction Date:  1906
Location:  139 Main Street

Origins:

Northern Bank,
1908 Northern Crown Bank (amalgamated with Crown)
Royal Bank 1919
H.H. Richards – Manager 1906 –first car in town
1968 – R.M. of Arthur – office

Features:

- stone trimmed façade with pillars and large arch
- buffalo head medallions
- stone panel with “Northern Bank” sign
 - stone-framed entrance
- elaborate cornice on each level
- one of only two built in this style (Melita & Qu'Appelle)




336.D.2 Lefty's Grill Building

Construction Date:  1892
Location:  Main Street

Origins:

Hughes – Tailor 1892 – 1897
A.M. Wright – jeweler / G. L. Dodds owner.

G.W. Archibald also an owner
Robert Love 1910 – 1924 Harness maker, “Melita Shoe Hospital”
1926 James Reid – tinsmith – 1941 did the ceiling of the St. Boniface Cathedral, Lorne’s Barbrshop etc.

Lefty’s Grill  Mr. & Mrs. O.N. Wyatt 1947 – 1967

Shaw’s Carpet & Furniture – R.F. Shaw – 1964 – 1967
Darwin’s Electric 1967 - 1976

Features:

Much altered but retains the roofline.



336.D.3 Morrow Pharmacy Building

Construction Date:  ca. 1891
Location:  123 Main Street

Origins:

H.L. Elliott – general merchant
1900 A. Pope rented as a Drug Store
1901 Purchased by J.W. (Wes) Hewitt
1930 – Purchased Harry L. Morrow
1959 – Gerry Morrow

Features:

- Served as a pharmacy for about 90 years
 


336.D.4 Barker's Men's Wear Building

Construction Date:  ca. 1915
Location:  123 Main Street

Origins:

Mr. G.B. Barker
Jack & Ted barker – 1945

Features:

- Barker’s Men’s Wear for about 90 years – over 70 in same building
- “Barkers” embossed in tiles of old entrance way
 


336.D.5 Melita-Arthur Telephone Company Building

Construction Date:  ca. 1905
Location:  116 Souris Street

Origins:

Melita-Arthur Telephone Company
1908 – Manitoba Government Telephones
1921 Manitoba Telephone System

Original Building Function:

Telephone Exchange Office until 1951 when dial phones and extended territory necessitated a new building (next door).

Features: - extended and roof rennovated


336.D.6 Crerar Law Office

Construction Date:  1904
Location:  129 Souris Steet

Origins:

John Crerar
Frank Barrett 1928
D.W. Yuill 1938
-Yuill & Yuill (His Daughter Winnifred)
1974 Morris Smeltz
1981 R. Holmes

Original Building Function:

Law Office

Features: -  as of 2011, 107 years as a Law Office with one short interruption – 1934-39.


336.D.7 Melita Quick Freeze Building

Construction Date:  1949
Location:  99 Main Street

Origins: Original Owner Name:

Mr. A.A. Rourke and Ramsay
1954 Norman Walker
1973 Burt Hicks
1980 – Bumper to Bumper

Original Building Function:

Locker Plant – Meat Market
Became a Royal Bank



336.D.8 Strand Theatre Building

Construction Date:  1940
Location:  89 Main Street

Origins:

Mr. Hairsine (From Birtle) – Stardust Theatre
Chuch Doerr 1954 -  Strand
Mr. & Mrs.  Kowbell - 1955
Bill & Pat Gerlock – 1977
1979 – Bill, Marilyn & Bob Holden
1984 – Addition to north side
1997  - 2011 Bill & Marilyn Holden

Original Building Function: Theatre

Features:

- originally “Stardust Theatre”
- seating for 400
- living quarters in back
 - classic sign
- still operating as a multi-use facility


336.D.9 Former Sturgeon Block

Construction Date:  1891 - extended 1902
Location:  148 Main Street

Origins:

Mr. Srurgeon & partner P. Powell
1900 W.G. Blyth
1901 Hamelin Brothers

Original Building Function:

Hardware & General Store
- Upstairs – Sturgeon Hall
1960 – Robinson Store
1959 – Housed Regional Library and Rest Room

Features: - photo p316  Info P348
- known as the “Corner Store” for many years


336.D.1 Melita Bakery

Construction Date:  1900
Location:  Main Street

Origins:

Lot purchased by Mr. Sturgeon in 1892
Herbert Maycock 1900 (Building) – 1904
Tenants Jeweller A.E. Kemp and Barrister John Crera.
Geeorge Sales & Evans – bakers tenants 1903-06
Ice cream parlour added in 1904
1907 Chene & Evans – groceries
1911 – Jobbins groceries
G. Jobbins purchased building in 1933 from Cheynes –until 1939
Fred White est. bakery in 1944
1946  Wilfred Menzies
1948 George Kelley
1957 Henry Stocklein – enlarged building
Gerald Bolton


Features: - bakery since 1944