Mr. Wale came to my home, and, as we sat around the kitchen table, he told about Stevensville, when he was a lad. Here's his story. (E.W.)
"When I was a boy, my father, who was Levi Wale, had a sheet metal shop. This shop was located on East Main Street, in the large red brick building next to where McGregor and Miller Insurance is now located. Mr. & Mrs. Moon once had their home in this building. Before this building was made into a home it consisted of two large rooms, one upstairs and the other downstairs. In the upstairs area, my father had the sheet metal shop where he made and sold eavestroughs and stovepipes. Here he repaired milk pails. He put new screens in the top of the pails and soldered the leaky spots. He charged $1.00 for replacing a screen. In the downstairs area, my father sold such things as gas mantels, lamp globes, irons and cream pails."
"My family lived on the next lot, east of the shop. Here Dad had a barn in which he kept a horse and a couple of cows. He would use his horse to take eavestroughs to Erie Beach and put them on the houses. It took him a couple of hours to go each way.
"Later, this building was bought by Andrew Saylor, after he sold the house where Alvin Sider now lives. Mr. Saylor put in window frames through the solid brick wall.
"On this same lot stood the old cider mill, just east of McGregor and Miller's parking lot. The same driveway that is there now, went into the cider mill. I can hardly remember it.
"Jim Evely, a painter, had his home moved to the area which is now the parking lot of McGregor and Miller Insurance.
"Near my home, going east on East Main Street is the Otterman home. The first hotel in Stevensville was housed in this building. Behind it, there was a seed mill owned by Frank Schier. Here the farmers brought their seed to be cleaned, as far away as Port Colborne.
"My Uncle Charlie Wale operated the cider mill on West Main Street, just a couple of houses past Frank's store. This building was formerly a wooden building, but it burned down and Uncle Charlie rebuilt it, using brick. Here he made good, sweet cider. Then he made apple butter. He used a gas engine built in 1901 and made in Buffalo. The neighbours could hear it chucking every morning. I (Lloyd) ran this mill for 15 years. Then it was closed down. This shed is now used for a storage area by Wale's Plumbing.
"John Pirson, who operated the sawmill on Pirson Road was also a road contractor. He built the railroad bridge over the QEW, between Niagara Falls and St. Catharines. Mr. Pirson also went down to Florida and bought a parcel of land, intending to build up a sawmill business there, but he went broke.
"There also was a barrel factory behind Cliff Spear's house. Here they made wooden barrels, for sale. Keith Gilmour remembers the kids called it "The Pooper Shop". I'm not sure why. Keith could not remember this factory in operation so it must have closed down in the early 1900's.
"Next to the hotel, on West Main Street, there once stood a building, about fifteen feet wide and thirty feet long, called the sample building. This building was out close to the sidewalk. Here salesmen would come and put their things out on display. There would be articles of clothing such as shoes, coats and sweaters. The salesmen would have big trunks which were used to carry the things from one town to another.
These would come in on the train and teams of horses would carry them from the station to the sample building. The different articles were put on display for a week or two. People in the clothing business would come from Ridgeway and Fort Erie and order the articles they wished to sell in their shops. The salesmen would live at the hotel during their stay in Stevensville. Then they would pack up their things and go to another town. This building was later used as an ice-cream parlor.
"Stevensville seemed to be a railroad centre, with the station on the Michigan Central Track, on the north side of Stevensville, a very busy place because this is the track on which most of the passenger trains ran. The mail came in and went out at this station. The C N station, on the south side of Stevensville, was used for freight and shipping livestock.
"When I (Lloyd) was old enough to get a job, in 1927, I took the ferry to Buffalo. There I was hired by Weinheimers, on Genessee St., after the fifth visit. Now the company has moved to the Niagara Falls Blvd., across the road from the Holiday Inn. Most of the boys were paid eight dollars a week, but Mr. Weinheimer gave me nine dollars because I had to use the ferry. The Peace Bridge was not finished, at that time. It took four or five years to complete the bridge. The other boys never found out that I got the extra dollar.
"When I came home from Buffalo, after I had learned the plumbing trade, we moved a building from the corner of East Main Street and Winger Road, to the lot where the Wale family lived. Ben Dean had his sawmill in that area, east of Stevensville. The mill burned down but this building was not destroyed. We used horses to move the building, since there were no trucks. This is where I began Wale Plumbing. Later, after I moved my business to the present location, I sold the building to Jimmy Weldon for $700. He moved it to 3522 Main Street, across from the Stevensville Public School. It is a part of his home, today.
"I tore down the old home, in 1934, and rebuilt the white stucco house where my daughter now lives.
"Now I am retired, and my son, Larry, runs the business, with my daughter working in the office. The business continues to serve the community and the surrounding area."