264 Ridge Road

264 Ridge Road. Downtown Ridgeway Business Improvement Area. This house 254 Ridge Road was built circa 1879 for the Disher family. Sitting on a field stone foundation, it also had scroll roof brackets, clapboardsiding and circle head windows. Four generations of the Disher family lived in the house until it was sold to andrew Benner in 1926, and several generations of Benners lived here un 1983. , R.M. Disher in his book "Robbie" tells of visiting his grandmother Ellen Benner in 1926, and some of her cool sweet preserves brought up to the pantry from the basement in the dumb waiter. Robbie was born in 1899 and his book is filled with delightful reminiscences of life in Ridgeway when he was a child. His grandfather Benjamin Moore Disher had a large mercantile business next door beside the railroad, and in various years served as clerk of the township of Bertie, member of municipal council, and justice of the peace. He also installed Ridgeway's first Bell telephone switchboard at his grocery store. , After several other short ownerships the house was purchased by Robert and Wendy Lawson in 1997 and they received a historical designation for it in 2004, given by the Town of Fort Erie under the Ontario Heritage Act. They operated the business My Better Half Crafts and Things (1999-2009), then sold the property to Debbie Robson in 2014 and she opened Robinson and Associates Insurance. , Picture compliments of Debbie Robinson , Research and text by Ada Sherk