JOHN DeMONT: Finding continuity at the corner of Coburg and Henry

For the past eight months there has been a little mystery in our neighbourhood: what was going to happen to the building that housed the Coburg Social on the corner of Halifax’s Coburg Road and Henry Street?

There was a time when I would have jumped on my bicycle — perhaps with a Harmon Killebrew Topps baseball card fastened to the wheel spokes with a clothespin — and peeled through the Halifax streets to the side door of the building, then known as Faders Drug Store. Over at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia I discovered that in 1928, the same building housed Freeman’s Pharmacy, and three years earlier a fruit-selling business owned by Allen P. Rufus, or Rufus P. Allen depending upon how you read the listing in McAlpine’s Halifax City directory.JOHN DeMONT: A Haligonian’s big night at the Oscars

So, ghosts may have still walked there when I perused the shelves for Mojos and Black Cat gum. The pharmacy changed with the times, becoming a bona fide purveyor of potions and elixirs by the time I hit junior high, then adding a lunch counter, right out of Happy Days, when I was in high school.Somewhere along the line, perhaps when I was living elsewhere, the building’s days as a drug store ended.

I liked to see them in there because it gave a sense of continuity to things. The building at the corner of Coburg and Henry hasn’t changed much in the 60 years, on and off, I have lived in that neighourhood and walked through its doors.The outcome at the corner of Coburg and Henry could have been different. Realtors had been marketing the building as a place that could be turned into a money-spinning apartment complex.

She has. The exterior of the building is still under construction. But Finlayson looked at some old archival pictures and made sure the paint mirrors the bluish shade the building wore when Faders was in its heyday.

Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

JOHN DeMONT: Carleton impresario Mike Campbell makes memorable return to Halifax venueExplore stories from Atlantic Canada.
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »

JOHN DeMONT: Carleton impresario Mike Campbell makes memorable return to Halifax venueExplore stories from Atlantic Canada.
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »

JOHN DeMONT: Carleton impresario Mike Campbell makes memorable return to Halifax venueExplore stories from Atlantic Canada.
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »

JOHN DeMONT: An honoured trust older than the country itselfExplore stories from Atlantic Canada.
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »

Sask. breast cancer patient still waiting for surgeon consultation 5 months after finding lumpLisa Vick of Weyburn, Saskatchewan found a lump in her right breast in September. She was diagonsed with breast cancer in December, but has to wait until Feb. 20 to have a consultation with a surgeon. She says the waiting is the hardest part.
Source: CBCAlerts - 🏆 37. / 63 Read more »

Quebec woman gives birth outside after finding hospital door lockedDRUMMONDVILLE, Que. — A central Quebec health authority has confirmed that a woman gave birth outside a hospital in Drummondville, Que., after the mother arrived to the building and found the main doors locked.
Source: SooToday - 🏆 8. / 85 Read more »