The Revere House and Brown Building

The Revere House and Brown Building. . , George Fletcher, son of William and Margaret Fletcher (founding family of Alliston) erected this building in 1878-79 at the southwest corner of Centre and Victoria St. It was initially built as a temperance hotel, as his family were ardent advocates of the temperance movement. The hotel was a three-storey building of white brick with a large "T" in the red brick over each window. The "T" stood for temperance, indicating a no drinking policy at the hotel. , The building was sold to William Henry McDougall, who secured a liquor license and named the hotel "The Revere House". Sadly, the entire building was lost in the devastating fire of 1891 and was not rebuilt. , Thomas Milton Brown was an Entrepreneur who moved to Alliston in the 1880's. About 1885, he purchased George Fletcher's gristmill, situated north of Hwy 89, west of County Road 10. He then bought the Mercer Manufacturing Co. building (now Gibson Centre), where a full line of farm implements were being manufactured. In 1907, Brown moved his family to Toronto, but he maintained close ties with Alliston. , A few years later, in 1911, Brown and William McBride, president of the Alliston Board of Trade, were named as interested parties with plans to erect a $10,000 factory building. A three-storey building went up in September 1911 and several businesses, such as the Diamond Wood Co. (casket manufacturer), occupied the space right up until it was demolished in 1990.