Upper Geddes Street

Upper Geddes Street. . When this part of Geddes Street was developed, its shops were built exclusively on the east side. During the 19th century, the west side of the street, from the Town Hall to the intersection of Henderson Street, consisted of cattle pens and open lots filled with stacks of firewood. Early businesses here included a wide variety of shops and services such as hardware merchants, shoemakers, tailors, jewellers, barbers, a butcher, a bank, a railway express office and even a music store. The music store was built, owned and operated by William Stafford beginning in 1868. A few doors north was a shop that became an institution in Elora. Alexander Kerr started as a butcher in a rented stall at the Market House and moved to the east side of Geddes Street in 1887. The Kerr family remained in the meat business for an astounding 120 years. In 1910, a new library, built with Carnegie funding, graced the streetscape on the west side. When Elora first established itsef as an agricultural supply centre in the mid-19th century, farmers visiting from the north were greeted by a wagon and carriage factory, a lumber yard, blacksmith shops and a farm implement enterprise. Connon's Block stood at the gateway to the village on the northeast corner of Geddes and Mojr Street. Built by Thomas Connon in 1867, this structure housed his photography studio upstairs and living quarters for his family in the rear. Thomas’ son John joined the business at an early age and also helped run a small grocery store in the building. He was a avid collector of local stories and documents and, in his later years, wrote "The Early History of Elora and Vicinity".