Name/Title
Photo of Eberhardt's Store - circa 1911Entry/Object ID
2020.12.1Description
Plaqued photo of Eberhardt's Store - circa 1911Context
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. Charlie built a general store located at the northwest end of the Main Street Bridge. He opened the original store around 1911. It was located on the north east bank of the Nottawasaga River immediately to the left of the new Main Street Bridge. The small, wooden building had a front porch where shoppers enjoyed resting. The store eventually became a two-storey building with rooms to rent upstairs for tourists in the summer. The upstairs was also used for school classrooms.
Charlie 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.
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. He built a general store located at the northwest end of the Main Street Bridge.Acquisition
Accession
2020.12Source or Donor
UnknownAcquisition Method
GiftDimensions
Height
10-3/4 inWidth
16-1/4 inDepth
3/8 in