Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
This postcard depicts an early view of Mississaga Street looking east from West Street, circa 1920.
Visible signs on the left are R.J. Cairns at 16 Mississaga St. E. and J.T. Heath Shoe Co. at 18 Mississaga St. E. The Cairns family continued in the grocery business in Orillia until the late 1980s.
On the right is E. A. Wood, dry goods and ladies ready to wear.
A 1923 directory tells us that with a population of less than 8,000 people, Mississaga Street had seven butchers, four men’s wear shops, five ladies wear stores, nine shoe stores, nine barbers, five druggists, 13 grocers, three hardware stores, three hotels and eight tobacco proprietors.
