Name/Title
Metal Coin Changer, 4 BarrelEntry/Object ID
2025.4.3Description
McGill High Speed Coin Changer, 4 barrelContext
The metal coin changer was manufactured by McGill Manufacturing Company and was distributed by J.L. Galef & Co., New York. The featured coin changer was used by the Eberhardt family to dispense change when delivering ice to area residents and visitors prior to the use of refrigerators.
Charlie Eberhardt was one of Wasaga’s early entrepreneurs who moved to the area around 1905. Mr. Eberhardt caught fish and sold them to neighbours and summer visitors. He also operated an ice cutting business. The Eberhardt family lived at the corner of River Road West and Beck Street where Gough’s landing is now. There was a large barn behind their house where the ice was stored; covered with sawdust and woodchips. Part of the original barn was incorporated into the Gough's Landing condo complex when it was built. Ice blocks were cut from Marl Lake and Nottawasaga Bay in the winter to sell to locals and tourists to keep their food cold as refrigerators were not common then. He built a general store located at the northwest end of the Main Street Bridge. He then added a second floor and began renting rooms to tourists and year-round visitors. The top floor of the store eventually became a classroom for students. The Eberhardt family also ferried people up and down the river and across the bay from Wasaga to Collingwood. In later years they operated a taxi business and a miniature golf. Ivan Eberhardt took over the ice business from his father, Charles Eberhardt in 1952.
Lorraine Pomeroy (Eberhardt), donor of the coin changer, is daughter of Ivan and Bessie Eberhardt, sister of Robert (Bob) and Harvey Eberhardt and granddaughter of Charles (Charlie) Eberhardt.
Lorraine's donation, along with a previous generous donation of $5000 to the Archives, is made in memory of her grandfather Charles Eberhardt and father Ivan Eberhardt.Acquisition
Accession
2025.4Acquisition Method
Gift
