With the Grain

Before becoming the home of With the Grain’s café, 294 Woolwich Street housed several other Guelph businesses and families, the first of which was the Park Grocery, operated by Abram and Emma Waters.  Recently, Gail Benjafield, the great granddaughter of Abram and Emma, shared with us the photos below and some information on the history of her family and the building.

The Waters family lived above the store, and there was also a livery stable behind the building.  After Abram died in 1894 at the age of 42, Emma owned the building until she sold it around 1910.  Gail’s grandmother, Jennie, was the second daughter of Abram and Emma, they had six surviving daughters and one son.  The grandson of their son is Wade Davis, who is a well known ethnobotanist and writer.  Gail has also written about her family’s history for the Ontario Genealogical Society.

The top photo was taken in the 1890’s, and the bottom one was taken after the turn of the century.

About the photos Gail wrote:

“in the earlier photograph there are vines climbing on the veranda on the London Road side, and a tree behind on the right hand side. Where C.C.Borden appears in the later picture, ‘W. H. Fielding’ appears above the opened awning. Most notably a plaque above the awning says (in script) “This way to Park grocery.” That plaque is not on the brick in the latter picture, however two horse-drawn grocery carts both state “Park Grocery”.
We believe the name ‘Park’ was chosen, as there was a small park down London Road towards the cross section of Dublin Street. You will notice different outbuildings in both pictures.”

If you have any info to add about the history of this building, we’d love to hear about it.

Our wonderful and talented Bakery Manager, Andrea Locke, was interviewed at the Bakery for Guelph Tourism’s video blog!  Check it out!

Our Café will be closed from Sunday August 21st to Tuesday August 23rd for some building maintenance.  We’re going to be painting the dining room and washrooms, having some electrical work done, refinishing our kitchen floor, and doing some extreme cleaning.  The Café will be refreshed and open again on Wednesday August 24th at 7am.

The Bakery will be open regular hours during this time, so you can still enjoy delicious WtG desserts, bread, and coffee!