Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
In 1951 Ernie Glass along with his wife Myrtle and two children Jim and Brenda moved from Toronto to Bayou Park, a few miles north of Orillia. They purchased an old farmhouse with a large lot at the end of the 10th line, now called Bayou Road. They acquired it from the Gregg family, friends from Toronto who had just purchased the large farm for development.
Ernie started working at the Ontario Hospital School as an “attendant” and with the help of his brother, Albert, and local carpenter, Joe 'Old Joe' Shilling, proceeded to build cottages on the adjacent lot, usually one per year. They built five cabins, two singles and three doubles that could be rented to two families which meant up to eight families could be accommodated.
The store, which was run by Myrtle, was converted from an existing garage to supply area residents and tourists with a few necessities like bread, milk, pop and snacks. It also had a pinball machine to entertain the kids on a rainy day.
The photo was taken in the late 1950s by Ernie’s friend, co-worker and amateur photographer, Jack Malley. It shows the renovated convenience store next to the Glass home.
Twelve metal advertising signs decorated the exterior of the building. Many of them would have been manufactured at Porcelain and Metal Products in Orillia and are highly collectable today. There are five soft drink signs including the Pepsi and 7up signs mounted on the original garage doors on the left. Also displayed are signs for Kodak Film, The Telegram and Black Cat Cigarettes.
