145 Lakeshore Road East - James Reid Store

The James Reid store is still a fixture on Lakeshore Road.

James Reid was born in Scotland in 1817 and came to Oakville in 1832 as a young man of 15. He got into business and lost money on the Oakville Hydraulic Company. Recovering from this early setback, he purchased Alexander Proudfoot's Oakville store. The original shop was a two-storey frame building with a verandah and a covered boardwalk.

In 1851 James married Rachel Sumner, daughter of the operator of the Oakville House at the northeast corner of Navy Street and Lakeshore Road. Unfortunately, Rachel died at age 30, survived by her husband and their three children. James Reid was one of the original councillors on Oakville Town Council and became a very successful grain broker. When the volume of wheat coming to port declined in the 1860s, he sold the building to William Hixon Young and moved to Manitoba.

William Young was born at Munn's Corners in 1825 to the first proprietor of the Oakville House. When he was six years old his father died and his mother was in ill health. He was sent to live with relatives in Oakville and at 15 became an apprentice to David Duff who taught him cabinet making and the related skills of casket making and undertaking. The two men became business partners. Later, in 1848, William went into business on his own and later, when David Duff gave up this building, William Young took it over. Times were tough and William rented half the main floor to W. G. Hewson for use as a grocery store.

Mr. Young was also active in the community, holding at various times, positions as: Constable, Police Magistrate; Issuer of Marriage Licenses, License Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, Postmaster, Harbour Master, School Trustee, Councillor, Reeve and Mayor. In his church he was a Trustee, class leader, recording steward, and sabbath school superintendent.

Other uses for the building followed, including operating as the Savoy Café under ownership of Mr. Ming.

The history of this building was drawn from Mr. Young's autobiography and from "Old Oakville" by David and Suzanne Peacock, a copy of which can be purchased at the Oakville Historical Society.