09. The Nipissing House Hotel

by

The Nipissing House Hotel – 123 River St

In a picture from 1912, the building sign said Nipissing House Fogg. The owner was Thomas Fogg, and he ran the hotel from 1912 to 1920. He was listed as the proprietor in 1891.
About 1868, the Toronto Nipissing Railway had been built and ran through Sunderland to Cobeconk. The hotel was a long frame building that started at the southeast corner of river and Church street south ran to the west. The hotel was built in 1870. It was a great site for boxing matches, wrestling and dances. Mr. Collins, a local resident, had gamecocks at the back of the property and entertained the guests of the hotel with bird fights.

The original building started at the current laundromat at the SW corner of Church South and River and the hotel ran to the west. Eventually, the west end of the long building was cut away and turned 90 degrees to face north on River Street. That part of the building became Gordon’s garage and then became a private home.

In 1917, the walkway between the upper levels of the two buildings was taken down and it became a separate residence. At one time there were retail stores on the ground floor of the building.

Thomas Fogg lost most of his money through bad investments and part of the building was bought by John L. Gordon for a car repair service center. The business was sold to Goodison Threshing Mills and later became a Pontiac Buick franchise. Herb Thompson was an accountant there.

The garage was the site for repairing cars and also had a towing surface. In 1950, after the Great fire in Sunderland, the Gordons sold the Township of Brock a new GMC fire truck which still remains in mint condition in the fire hall just up Church Street North. Tom Longboat, the famous long-distance runner from the Six Nations Reserve, while at the Nipissing Hotel, he bet a man with a horse and buggy that he could outrun them. He easily beat the horse and driver back to the hotel. After 1930, Fred Wakelin opened a tailor shop in the part of the old Nipissing Hotel and made suit there for over 20 years before the Old Fields opened their bakery at the stop for variety to the east they were in the Nipissing Hotel.

In 1955 Gordon sold City Service Gas. Later, from 1952 to 1967, Stan Will and his wife Myrtle Snowden had a Tip Top tailor store here and they sold dry goods, clothing and chinaware. After that there was a florist shop. Carl Umphrey had a barber shop on the Corner and in 1967 the garage was sold to Charles Thompson and converted to a residence. Currently the Nipissing Hotel building has a laundromat at the east end and several rental apartments throughout the complex.