In the spring of 1868, James Ashdown joined several settlers at the crossroads where the Nipissing Colonization Road met the Parry Sound Colonization Road (modern day Highway 141), a few miles west of Rosseau. Like his fellow settlers, he had been guided here by the hope that a prosperous future could be built upon the rocks that seemed ever present in his harsh landscape. Within just a few years, the obscure crossroads would be known as Ashdown Corners, in honour of the tireless entrepreneur. You couldn’t help but associate the intersection with the man. His general store, a large, two-storey structure emblazoned with huge lettering along the side that read “Cheap Cash Store,” served at the heart of the village and dominated the streetscape for a quarter of a century.
James Ashdown was born in Britain in 1829, but by the 1860s he had immigrated to Canada and was living in Toronto. Blessed with a solid formal education, Ashdown was serving as a clerk in a local store but dreamt of his own establishment and his own fortune. The Free Lands and Settlement Act, opening up Muskoka-Parry Sound District for inhabitation, caught Ashdown’s attention. Here was an opportunity too good to pass up, free land and a chance to start fresh. So in the spring of 1868, 39-year old James Ashdown packed up his family and headed north, starting anew for the second time in his life.
Ashdown had no intention of being a farmer, so he began scouting out locations for establishing a store. Ideally, it would have to be in a growing community, a place that saw heavy traffic, and yet one not already served by a rival merchant. When Ashdown happened upon the hamlet at the crossroads of the Nipissing and Parry Sound Colonization Roads, he knew instantly this was the place. It met all his criteria; the community was small but growing rapidly thanks to its position astride two busy roads, and there was no store for dozens of miles.
A half-acre lot on the northwest corner was purchased and before year’s end Ashdown’s store was up and running. The mercantile serviced the hamlet then growing up around the crossroads, as well as the flood of settlers making their way north along the Colonization Road, and quickly began doing a thriving business. Its name prominently painted on the sidewalls like a latter-day billboard, the store was the most notable business in the area and a landmark of sorts. It was therefore natural that the hamlet be named Ashdown Corners after the store’s owner.
Within a few years, and despite the constant struggle that was scraping an existence from the wilderness, Ashdown Corners was a small but thriving hamlet, with a population of between fifty and eighty souls. At the time it was easily the largest community for many miles. Ashdown was the wealthiest citizen, and the Cheap Cash Store the heart of social and commercial life.
Ashdown later diversified his holdings as well. When the Humphrey House hotel burned down a few short years later, its despondent owner abandoned the site and moved away. Ashdown built a second hotel, Junction House, on the same spot and prospered.
It wasn’t long before the long hours began to take its toll on the elder Ashdown, undermining a body that was already fragile to begin with. As James’ health began to fail, his eldest son, William, returned to assist in running the businesses. William had already proven himself an able businessman in his own right while running a store of his own in the village of Spence, located about eight miles south of Magnetewan, and was a boon to his father. As the years passed, he took on an increased load, allowing James to ease himself into restful retirement.
Though no doubt honoured to be the namesake of the village and proud of all they had accomplished in the village, the Ashdown men were first and foremost businessmen. So when the nearby village of Rosseau began to overshadow Ashdown Corners and draw away its business in the 1880s, neither had any hesitation about abandoning it for greener pastures. They moved to Rosseau and once again opened a general store.
The Cheap Cash Store in Ashdown Corners, meanwhile, was taken over by James Brown, who continued to operate the business with some success until nearly the end of the century. By this time, however, the once-thriving roadside hamlet had dwindled to a mere handful of homes and most businesses had long-since closed up shop. Brown bowed to the inevitable and boarded up the store. Like his predecessors, he too moved to Rosseau, where he purchased another mercantile. Once again, his store’s previous owners were none other than the Ashdowns.
The fortunes of the Cheap Cash Store and the Nipissing Road were inexplicably tied together; they thrived as one, and failed as one. Today, the store is long gone, with nothing to mark its passing. Rocks, shrubs, and trees do not hint at the important business that once stood. The Nipissing Road, for its part, is impassable for long stretches and little more than a rough road for most of the rest, a sad reflection of a settlement highway that was literally the lifeline of the region.
To the casual observer, there is little to suggest this tranquil natural setting was ever of importance. Yet, only a century ago, the quiet would have been interrupted by the jingle of harnesses and the squeaking of wheels as wagons passed along the busy roadways. Invariably, these wagons would stop at the Cheap Cash Store – for supplies, respite, news and idle gossip.
Cheap cash store
Date: Mar 09, 2010
Cheap Cash Store at Ashdown Corners about 1869.
User Comments
