28. Home Hardware

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The Hardware Store – 92 River St

Before this building became associated with hardware, it was home to one of Sunderland’s early banks.

The Home Bank originally operated on the south side of River Street beside Taylor’s Store, where it appears on a 1904 map. Sometime before 1920, the bank moved across River Street to this location.

When the building later became Elgin Bagshaw’s hardware store, an unusual reminder of its banking history remained—the bank vault. Rather than simply abandoning it, the Bagshaws allowed customers to continue using the old safety deposit boxes to store valuables.

Elgin Bagshaw operated his hardware business here beginning around 1920 and was a member of the Sunderland Business Association. Period photographs from the early 1940s show advertising above the store for Murphy’s paints and Narvo products.

The hardware business continued for many years and was later operated by Hugh MacDonald and the Pilgrim family as a Home Hardware store.

The business expanded again in 1982, when property on the east side of the Thorne Funeral Home was purchased and Sunderland Homeland Furniture Store was established.

The building’s history as both a bank and hardware store is still recalled by the old vault—a reminder that a place once used to safeguard Sunderland residents’ money later became the place where they bought their tools and household supplies.