South River, Ontario: Canadian History in Vintage Postcards
Highlighting in vintage postcards the history of towns and townships in the greater Lake Nipissing and Lake Temagami areas of Northern Ontario, Canada including the Nipissing District and portions of the Parry Sound District which are in the “Blue Sky Region.” These Canadian postcards are shown in digital museum format for educational purposes. If you have images or historical information which you’d like to share with our virtual museum, feel free to do so.
This is an ongoing project; comments and questions to the webmaster are welcome. Click on the thumbnails for larger images. Close the larger image before opening another thumbnail. The occasional duplicates for sale can be found using the search box on the main (home) page of VintagePostcards.org.
Located in the Parry Sound District, South River dates to the 1860s, when Fraser Lumber began logging in what’s now Algonquin Provincial Park. Hotels were built in 1881, electricity arrived in 1901, and the town incorporated in 1907. To the left is a 1907 pioneer-era real-photo postcard (RPPC) of Main St. in South River, with The Sovereign Bank of Canada in a frame building in the foreground. On the same side of the road, a sign can be read for the “South River Meat Market,” with a smaller sign on the building advertising “camper for rent.” If you know the names of other buildings seen here, let us know. The sender, who was in the area hunting, sent the postcard on 14 November 1907 to Mr. George Barclay of 119 Wabash Ave. in Detroit. He wrote: “This is a shot of the nearest village within 25 miles of where I have been for two weeks. It seems good to get back in civilization again. We shot seven deer and had a fairly good time, only walking in and out of camp.”
The presence of the Sovereign Bank is interesting because it was one of four important banks which failed in Canada after 1890. (The others were the Commercial Bank of Manitoba, the Banque du Peuple of Montreal and the Ontario Bank.) In June 1907, the Sovereign Bank wrote off $1.25 million in the reserve fund and $1 million of capital and the bank reorganized. But the reorganization failed, and the bank closed its doors on 18 January 1908, with over $16 million in liabilities owed to the public. However, another bank found the bank’s assets sufficient to assume the liabilities; the bank reopened the following day under a new name, and customers were given the option of withdrawing their funds or remaining with the new bank. (Four smaller banks closed between 1893 and 1908, with one of them being the Banque Ville Marie, only 132 miles away. The Ville Marie bank’s activities were considered fraudulent at the time; it only had capital and reserves of about $489,000, with liabilities of nearly $1.8 million. The Banque Ville Marie customers were less fortunate than the South River customers, as Ville Marie patrons received only 17 percent of their assets back. Ouch!)
A 1911 RPPC of Main St., with what appears to be a hotel at right front and a series of frame falsefront Victorian stores beyond the brick hotel, is to the left. Fast forwarding to the 1940s, a CKC real-photo postcard shows many changes in South River. Three teen-aged boys are in front of Chequers Restaurant, with a taxi stand next door. Who ran the taxicabs in South River? A sign on a telephone pole indicates that the distance to North Bay is 37 miles. The R. R. Wood grocery store is on the same side of the street as Chequers. McGirr’s general store is at left front, with signs for Sweet Caporal cigarettes, a hardware store and “Quick Lunch” also visible. Note the railroad crossing down the street. At bottom left is a 1912 view of Main St. Published by Rumsey & Co. of 1528 Queen St. West in Toronto, it is finely detailed, which is a characteristic of Rumsey postcards.
A scarce real-photo postcard shows the Grand Trunk Railway station in South River. A sign on the building says “North Bay, 39 Miles.” The train station, still present in South River, was repainted in 2007 using historic colors of the Grand Trunk Railway which were found beneath layers of siding and paint on the building. According to long-time area resident Keith Thornborrow, a contract was let by the Northern Pacific Juntion Railway (NPJR) to the J. M. Hendrie Co. in July 1884 for construction of 111 miles of railroad track, with surveys to begin immediately. The South River station was built by the Northern Pacific Junction Railroad in 1884 to 1884, with the original location being on the east side of the track.
The NPJR ran from Gravenhurst to Callander, a total distance of about 106 miles. Thornborrow wrote: “About 111 miles of track were laid, so I presume the additional five miles would be sidings, etc. South River alone had at least five sidings and a turn table, which was eventually replaced by a turn-around siding. Heavy freight trains picked up an extra locomotive in South River to make the grade to North Bay.” Behind the scenes in 1886, the Grand Trunk Railroad (GTR) was quietly buying up NPJR shares. They had a controlling interest in the NPJR by 1887, and finally took over the company in 1888. Under GTR’s management, the line was later extended from Callander to North Bay. You can read more about the GTR and other area railroads on the North Bay page.
After the 1909 fire which destroyed the Old Queens Hotel, the South River station was relocated to the weest side of the tracks, onto part of what had been Old Queens Hotel propery. Only four of the original NPJR train stations remain:
Burk’s Falls (moved off site and renovated as a private business)
Gravenhurst (out of service)
Huntsville (still used by the railway) and
South River (out of service)
The large two-story falsefront Victorian store seen on Ottawa St. (not Main St., as the post card indicates) was W. J. Elliot’s general store when this c. 1930s real-photo postcard was made. The store was originally the South River Lumber & Mercantile Co., managed by a Mr. Ard. After Mr. Elliott’s ownership, this became Harkness’ store and then the Harkness Apartments. Today, the building contains two smaller rental store fronts. In the right foreground, one can see a brick building which went through many name changes: Originally the King Edward hotel, it was renamed the New Queens and then the Norland hotel. It’s since been destroyed by fire. On the far side of Elliott’s store is a brick house built for Rienhart Cook, a partner in the South River Lumber & Mercantile Co. Home ownership then passed to James Prunty, who owned the Old Queens Hotel (Prunty purchased the King Edward Hotel, renaming it the New Queens when the Old Queens hotel was destroyed by fire in 1909.). The brick house remains today. Beyond Mr. Prunty’s house was Duvals barber shop and McGirr’s store, originally known as Vincent’s store. The final building visible on the right side of the road, on the other side of Isabella St., is Don Johnson’s BA Service Station. At the time this photo was made (pre-1943), part of Ottawa Ave. and Isabella Street were the Ferguson Highway (Highway 11). Many thanks to Keith Thornborrow for this fine description. A larger view of the Queens Hotel is seen below.
A handsome c. 1957 postcard, sent by tourists to Darwin Whitehair of Terra Alta, WV, shows the Art Deco-influenced Fox theater in South River at top left. A school, the community arena and the Chequer’s Inn are also shown. The Chequer’s Inn, located at the southeast corner of Ottawa St. and Isabella Ave. beside the Royal Bank, was built c. 1933- 1935 and operated by Mrs. A. Howard. The business was sold to P. C. Johnston and a partner, Jack Root; they continued to operate the restaurant. The restaurant closed in 1953 and, over the years, served as a drug store and a dentist’s office. In 1969, the building was converted into apartments by Mac Drummond, and the former Chequer’s Inn remains an apartment building as of November 2008. The Fox Theatre is now a physical fitness center, the South River public school has had many additions, and the arena shown in the postcard has been replaced with a newer arena on the same site.
Two scarce early Atkinson Bros. patriotic postcards focus on the natural resources of the area: the 1904 private postcard at top left is entitled “A Day’s Sport at South River, Ont.” and shows two rifle-bearing hunters with numerous slain deer, while the 1905 Atkinson Bros. postcard shows a trusting gentleman perched precariously at the tip of a large boulder while the falls rush past him. In the background, one sees numerous early buildings. If you can identify any of the buildings or the gentleman on the rock, let us know and we’ll include that information. We’ve included a portional view below, to aid in identification of this man.
For collectors of vintage postcards, old postcards and the antique postcard. Deltiology, the hobby of collecting vintage postcards, is one of the fastest-growing collectibles hobbies. Old postcard collections interest collectors of antiques, memorabilia and ephemera; collectables such as old vintage postcards are used by museums and historians to document what was.
South River, Ontario: Canadian History in Vintage Postcards "South River, Main St. and The Sovereign Bank of Canada")
 "South River, Main St.")
 "South River, Downtown Businesses in the 1940s")
 "South River, Main St. in 1912")
 "South River, Grand Trunk Railway Train Station, c. 1916")
 "South River, W. J. Elliott General Store, c. 1930s")
 "South River, Queens Hotel Before the 1909 Fire")
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 "Deer Hunting at South River in 1904")
 "The Falls at South River in 1905")
 "Unidentified Gentleman at the Falls in South River, 1905")
 "South River, Little Falls, 1907")
 "Looking Down the Rapids at South River in 1908")
 "On the Rapids at South River, Ontario, c. 1907")
 "South River, Standard Chemical Plant 1")
 "South River, Standard Chemical Plant 2")
 "South River, Aerial View c. 1950s")
 "South River, Algonquin Camp and Hiawatha Lodge c. 1920s")
 "Harvey's Inn, Halfway Between South River and Sundridge")
 "South River, Southwind Motel")
 "Sightseers at Fairy Falls in South River, Ontario, c. 1908")
 "South River, Falls 1, c. 1920s")
 "South River, Pipeline Near a Bridge")
 "South River, Falls 2, c. 1920s")
