Snure General Store and Toll House

Snure General Store and Toll House. . , From the mid-1800s into 1950s, the Snure General Store was the economic and social heart of Jordan. Clark Snure was the General Store Merchant and acted as the Postmaster and Township Clerk. Other businesses that made Jordan a bustling community in the 1800s included three other general stores, several inn keepers, carriage makers, a butcher, a harness maker, a shoe maker, a cabinet maker, a watch maker, a weaver and a blacksmith., Located next to the Saure General Store was a tollhouse and gate. Keeping the Queenston-Grimsby Road passable was difficult and expensive in the 1800s and many of the early Pennsylvanian-German settlers in this area used the route when immigrating into Upper Canada. Initially, volunteer labour was used to maintain the road, but eventually road tolls were used to hire companies to make road repairs. In 1917, the Province of Ontario took over responsibility for road maintenance., After Clark Snure's daughter married into the Richardson family, the store became known as the Richardson General Store. Later still in 1966, the property came under the ownership of Nick and Alexandra Poursanidis who developed it to its current state., Since the Decew Hydroelectric Plant was completed by 1898 and providing electricity for the Hamilton, Grimsby and Beamsville Electric Railway by 1899, the transmission lines in the top right photo suggest that it was taken after 1898.