b'HISTORIC SCUGOG by J. HvidstenHISTORIC SCUGOG by J. Peter HvidstenPeterHARDWARE STORE WILL BE MISSEDHARDWARE STORE WILL BE MISSEDStore served residents and Store served residents and community for 124 yearscommunity for 124 yearsWhen Raj Bhatia closed Port Perrys Home Hardwarestorelastmonthforawell-deservedretirement,hebrought to an end more than a century of hardware sales from that Queen St. location. It was Stewart Bruce who moved his hardware shopto Port Perry from Cannington in 1893, setting up on thesouth side of the street in the Laing & Meharry block.Three years later his son, Robert J. Bruce, constructed anattractive new two-storey building at the 175 QueenSt. address. Here he operated a successful business for the nextnine years, before selling to Arthur. J. Carnegie in 1906. This would be the first of many of the Carnegie boys op-This picture of R.J. Bruce Hardware is believed to have beenerating the local hardware business.taken in 1906, when the building was sold to Arthur J.Carnegie.Stewart Bruce Robert G. Bruce Arthur CarnegieArthur sold the business a short time later to his two brothers, William and Charles. It was during this time that William became a partner in a local Ford agency, operating from the rear of the store. In 1914, Charles withdrew from the partnership leaving William to operate the business alone until 1920 when David Carnegie became a partner. Wm. Carnegie Hardware two-storey block about 1912. The Carnegie Brothers Hardware building caught fire in December 1916, but thanks to the diligent work of the local fire brigade, they were successful in saving the block from being completely destroyed. After the fire, William Carnegie erected a new garage for a Ford dealership at the rear of their building, abutting the Sebert House hotel property. FireagainvisitedtheCarnegiesinDecember1931, totallyguttingthebuildingoccupiedbytheCarnegie Motor Sales dealership, and destroying a number of new Model T Fords cars. After the fire, the men carried on as hardware mer-chants for another five years before disaster struck again. This time, in February 1936, it was described as the worst fire in downtown Port Perry in years, and it destroyed the entire Carnegie hardware building. The fire started at Carnegie Hardware store as it looked about 1937. Please turn to page 4FOCUS - MARCH 20203'