Horses to Horizontal Directional Drilling in One Post

This former Reston business selling BA gas and Ford vehicles looks so stylish with Art Deco details over the windows and door. It was located on the west side Main Street/Fourth Avenue around the site of the Dennis County Cafe today. Did you notice the cars peeking through the showroom windows? Thanks to the Olenicks for the photo that piqued my curiosity today! 

Archibald McMurchy Sr and his wife Mary (Morrison) moved to Reston from Elgin County, Ontario with a family of 6 sons and 3 daughters.  They took up farmland in the Crescent district, south of Sinclair, in 1901.  Their sons Colin (1879-1962) and Archie  Jr.(1875-1957) McMurchy operated a livery stable and carried out a draying business in Reston starting about 1907. “Draying” is the horse era equivalent of trucking today, to delivered coal, wood, ice, mail and other needed goods.  Their livery barn was along Fourth Avenue and may be the one in the street scene below (just right of the Harris Boarding house and post office, a three storey white building) from  Peel's Prairie Provinces website.  A fire in 1915 that destroyed several buildings on that side of Main Street including the post office, included McMurchy Brothers Livery.  They moved their business to a barn belonging to Colin Campbell facing Railway Avenue east of Main Street about where the lumberyard storage is today.  

By the mid teens, the future was looking bright for motorized vehicles over horses and the McMurchy brothers were keen to stay ahead of the trend.  They got out of the livery and draying business by selling this barn to Chester Bonniman in 1926.  

Trails Along the Pipestone (1981) says by 1918, the McMurchy Brothers  were selling Overlands and Maxwell cars, both of which have examples in the Manitoba Antique Auto Museum in Elkhorn.  In 1922, the brothers were awarded the Ford agency and in 1925 they sold 40 cars. The story now catches up to the picture at the top of this post.   

Arthur Bushby was hired to build the new dealership building and by the end of 1927, they were moved in and selling British American gas and Ford cars.  The history book tells they sold 125 cars in 1928 and were able to hire a young Sherman Dayton as mechanic and add stucco detail to the building. Prosperous days indeed until the lean days of the 1930's and as you may have guessed, another devastating fire. 

In 1938, a fire (which may have started from an electrical short from the bus plugged in) destroyed the dealership and bus depot that had been added inside.  They rebuilt and it was again burnt in 1950.  Colin and his son Elmer were partners by this time and rebuilt again with a little restaurant referred to as a “Snack Bar” on the south side of the dealership.  The dealership was sold to Walter Winch in 1953 and Lew and Helen Traill ran the Snack Bar.  Fire once again hit the business in 1956.  Mr. Winch rebuilt the garage but not at this spot.    

Max White and Robbie Robertson built Waddy's Auto Service further north up Fourth Avenue after a slough was filled in and ten foot willow trees removed.  It opened in 1957, selling BA products (taken over by Gulf starting in 1958), Case Implements, New Holland Haying Equipment and Mercury cars and trucks. 

The building was sold to Ken and Marj Jago in 1969 who operated it as K and M Auto.  Today, Dallas and Kerri Coulter own the building and rent it to Cros-Man to support their Horizontal Directional Drilling operation.  Horses to HDD in one post - delivered!

From Google Street View 2020