Thomas Leckie’s General Store

Located in the settlement named for Thomas Leckie.

The settlement was named for Thomas Leckie, a very enterprising individual. He first shows up in records in 1839 as having a license to sell liquor at his inn, the location of which is not known. In 1846, he purchased land in Leckie’s Corners and opened a general store which probably looked much like this picture.

The building was eventually moved and became a machine shed. In the same building was a Milliner named Elizabeth Waddell, seen here in one of her delicate creations:

Her sister Margaret operated a dressmaking business there as well. Thomas Leckie also had a cabinet making business in Almonte, sold farm equipment and operated a sawmill. Thomas Leckie also became
the editor of the Almonte’s first newspaper, The Examiner. He went bankrupt during the depression of 1857 and later in 1861 he and his family emigrated to the US. This foundation is all that is left of his
general store.

Leckie’s General Store changed hands many times and in the late 1800s was turned into a carriage shoprun by James Scott.