Rowland Store
19149 Centre Street

The Rowland store was in the building on the northeast corner of Bank Street and Centre Street.  

The building was originally a store owned by J.T. Bronscomb.

Sometime later James Hopkins owned it and rented it to Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones.  Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones operated a general store in the building.

In 1890, Mr. Hopkins hired Mr. Dodds of Newmarket, to put a new roof on the building.  According to the ERA Banner, "Mr. Dodds was an expert in putting on felt and gravel roofs and did a first class job". 

In 1892, the Smith and Jones General store was the first store in the village to adopt the cash system for paying for goods.  Moving to the cash system allowed them to lower their prices.  Prior 

to the advent of the cash system, items were purchased using the barter system.  That is, a person could purchase an item by exchanging some other item for it.

For a time the store was run by J.D. Rowland who later sold it to Harry Ross.  In 1911, the building was sold to Allan Theaker and he moved his furniture and undertaking business to this location.  Mr. Wesley Theaker, who was in partnership with his father from 1907, took over the business when his father died in 1941.

From 1912-1919, the public library was in a room above the store.  For a few years, the post office was also in the store.

There used to be a community pump behind the store, in what is now the parking lot.  Everyone in town got their fresh water from this pump.  The pump was removed when the village was converted to city water.

In 1954, Harold Drewery purchased the business and continued to operate it under the name of Theaker and Drewery.  In 1962 the business was sold to Neil Lathangue. 

In 1966, Mac Lewis purchased the building and converted it to apartments upstairs with space for two stores downstairs.  Currently the Deli and Dollar Store are in these retail spaces.

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