The Hillhurst House
Author Unknown
December 31, 1980
December 31, 1980
Mr. H. Ray Mackean told Heritage this building was erected in 1896. Mrs. Elizabeth ( Roberts) McCue of Rocmaura Nursing Home was unable to tell us who the builder was but her grandfather, Thomas Roberts, was the first owner; he left it to her father, Walter Roberts who in turn left it to her brother Guildford F. Roberts. Ray was the owner from 1962 to 1976, J. Douglas Templeto from 1976 to 1979 and Scholton's in 1979.
Mrs. McCue's father, a blacksmith, moved his family from Saint John to Fair Vale in 1912 to operate a "smithy" there with living quarters above. Nearby was Hillhurst House with a 14-room section at the rear, a general store in the front of the building, and a coach house on the Gondola Point side. In 1922 Walter, his wife and ten children, moved into Hillhurst House to take care of grandfather Thomas Roberts and remained there until 1934. She remembers the river steamers Majestic and Hampton calling at Hillhurst Wharf discharging freight and loading farm produce and recalls her experience clerking in the store; "Frank White's hard-mixture candy" was in strong demand' she recounted an incident when a couple came into the store and the wife ordered a pound of cookies; the husband insisted a half-pound would be enough, whereupon Elzabeth's father had her break a cookie in two or to make the scales balance exactly!
Ray Mackean send Heritage this account of his experiences - "Even during my proprietorship of this store some of the old store traditions were encountered such as bulk cookies, 100-LB bags of dried beans, onions, potatoes...all sold by ladling out as required. We also sold root beer syrup along with the corks, caps, etc.. and various sizes of horseshoe nails. Some of my customers carried trading accounts..they brought in eggs and produce in exchange for other purchases. And until the area began to develop as an urban community the store was a place to gather on winter evenings to discuss politics etc.. if Horton Saunders showed up it always turned into a riot or as close as you can get to one without the law intervening. On those occasions it was prudent of the proprietor to move the cookies and wheels of bulk cheese to a safe place...or run the risk of bankruptcy. The jars of candy, particularly the thick peppermints and Ganong's double dipped chocolates took a severe beating. And one got to know clientele very well...perhaps to well!! One farmer could always be counted upon to include a heavy rock in a bag of turnips."
Ray Continues...
"Daisy Harrison (Mrs. Bud) was one that kept life very interesting. One time I had sent around a flyer in which, lemons were on special for, say 2 for 10c. It was in t he dead of winter and Daisy phoned to ask us to deliver two lemons. Now I was "...trying to please everybody in hope of building up a better volume, but I figured I should draw the line somewhere. So I told Daisy that these deliveries were very expensive to conduct and that we would need a significant order, she was very pleasant about it and and said she understood, and that she would phone back. Which she did..a nice order several pages in length. This was duly put up and sent out with the delivery boy. Late that night the boy came back unloading all the empty milk and pop bottles and arranging for all the personal errands requested by customers along the way, he began lugging in several boxes of groceries. Incidentally, he was soaked to the waist from wading through deep snow to places but he couldn't reach the car...Daisy was one of them. I asked "What's wrong? Couldn't you reach one of the customers?". He replied. " Oh, I got all of them, but Daisy picked out the lemons, paid the dime, and returned all the rest, and not before we had a fight...she wanted me to take two empty pop bottles, of a kind we can't handle in payment for the lemons."
"Another time (I was a sucker for punishment I guess) when a butt-end of a pork loin might be put on special for about 39c a doubt and when pork chops might be selling for 59c a points..Daisy ordered a butt-end. She met the delivery boy with a request that he cut off two chops for the loin butt...which he did...then she wanted him to take back the remainder of the butt-end. Thank God he refused...but only because she wanted him to "weigh the remainder on a set of bathroom scales that registered 5lbs with nothing on it."
"Every Spring and Fall another dear soul could always be counted upon to show up with a few quart cans of Super Kemton paint to change them for another color. It would be the only time we would ever see her in the store. What she would do was buy these discounted colours which other stores were trying to get rid of at $1.00 per quart and then try to swap them with us for up-to-date stock selling for $3.95. No matter how many times w pointed out to her the error of her ways she came and went as regularly over the years as the robins."
"And a storekeeper had to have a sense of humor...one night about 3:00 a.m. someone pounded on my door and related his misfortune in running out of gas on his way home to the Kingston Peninsula. I got dressed, went up to the store on the pumps and asked "How much would you like?" "25c worth please."
Mrs. McCue's father, a blacksmith, moved his family from Saint John to Fair Vale in 1912 to operate a "smithy" there with living quarters above. Nearby was Hillhurst House with a 14-room section at the rear, a general store in the front of the building, and a coach house on the Gondola Point side. In 1922 Walter, his wife and ten children, moved into Hillhurst House to take care of grandfather Thomas Roberts and remained there until 1934. She remembers the river steamers Majestic and Hampton calling at Hillhurst Wharf discharging freight and loading farm produce and recalls her experience clerking in the store; "Frank White's hard-mixture candy" was in strong demand' she recounted an incident when a couple came into the store and the wife ordered a pound of cookies; the husband insisted a half-pound would be enough, whereupon Elzabeth's father had her break a cookie in two or to make the scales balance exactly!
Ray Mackean send Heritage this account of his experiences - "Even during my proprietorship of this store some of the old store traditions were encountered such as bulk cookies, 100-LB bags of dried beans, onions, potatoes...all sold by ladling out as required. We also sold root beer syrup along with the corks, caps, etc.. and various sizes of horseshoe nails. Some of my customers carried trading accounts..they brought in eggs and produce in exchange for other purchases. And until the area began to develop as an urban community the store was a place to gather on winter evenings to discuss politics etc.. if Horton Saunders showed up it always turned into a riot or as close as you can get to one without the law intervening. On those occasions it was prudent of the proprietor to move the cookies and wheels of bulk cheese to a safe place...or run the risk of bankruptcy. The jars of candy, particularly the thick peppermints and Ganong's double dipped chocolates took a severe beating. And one got to know clientele very well...perhaps to well!! One farmer could always be counted upon to include a heavy rock in a bag of turnips."
Ray Continues...
"Daisy Harrison (Mrs. Bud) was one that kept life very interesting. One time I had sent around a flyer in which, lemons were on special for, say 2 for 10c. It was in t he dead of winter and Daisy phoned to ask us to deliver two lemons. Now I was "...trying to please everybody in hope of building up a better volume, but I figured I should draw the line somewhere. So I told Daisy that these deliveries were very expensive to conduct and that we would need a significant order, she was very pleasant about it and and said she understood, and that she would phone back. Which she did..a nice order several pages in length. This was duly put up and sent out with the delivery boy. Late that night the boy came back unloading all the empty milk and pop bottles and arranging for all the personal errands requested by customers along the way, he began lugging in several boxes of groceries. Incidentally, he was soaked to the waist from wading through deep snow to places but he couldn't reach the car...Daisy was one of them. I asked "What's wrong? Couldn't you reach one of the customers?". He replied. " Oh, I got all of them, but Daisy picked out the lemons, paid the dime, and returned all the rest, and not before we had a fight...she wanted me to take two empty pop bottles, of a kind we can't handle in payment for the lemons."
"Another time (I was a sucker for punishment I guess) when a butt-end of a pork loin might be put on special for about 39c a doubt and when pork chops might be selling for 59c a points..Daisy ordered a butt-end. She met the delivery boy with a request that he cut off two chops for the loin butt...which he did...then she wanted him to take back the remainder of the butt-end. Thank God he refused...but only because she wanted him to "weigh the remainder on a set of bathroom scales that registered 5lbs with nothing on it."
"Every Spring and Fall another dear soul could always be counted upon to show up with a few quart cans of Super Kemton paint to change them for another color. It would be the only time we would ever see her in the store. What she would do was buy these discounted colours which other stores were trying to get rid of at $1.00 per quart and then try to swap them with us for up-to-date stock selling for $3.95. No matter how many times w pointed out to her the error of her ways she came and went as regularly over the years as the robins."
"And a storekeeper had to have a sense of humor...one night about 3:00 a.m. someone pounded on my door and related his misfortune in running out of gas on his way home to the Kingston Peninsula. I got dressed, went up to the store on the pumps and asked "How much would you like?" "25c worth please."