Visiting Us
93 Main Street North (now Callander IDA Pharmacy)
This location was the Callander Post office from 1903 to 1959, with George Bailey as postmaster 1903-1937 followed by his daughter Mrs. Jeannie Tate as postmistress 1937-1959. This was his store as well as the post office.
The first post office in Callander was the Wisa Wasa post office on the south shore of Callander Bay, which opened 1 February 1881. The “Callender” post office opened in June 1881 in George Morrison’s store, originally on the site of the Lucky 13 across the street, and later in George Morrison’s new store which is now the RBC. The town name was corrected to “Callander” in 1919, although the train stop had been correctly named all along.
In 1959, the post office moved to a new building, the current library on Catherine Street, and in 1979 moved to its current location.
Before it became the post office, this was David and Henrietta Darling’s home. He operated a saw mill and was the son of Thomas Darling, who ran the Booth operation at Wisa Wasa on the south shore of Callander Bay.
After the post office closed in 1959, the building became Mac’s Sport Shop. Mac Alkins started this after retiring as the town policeman.
After this, it was Toscana Hairdressing run by sisters Eileen and Thelma Moffatt.
In 1976, Steve Clement bought the property and it became the IDA pharmacy and drug store which it still is today. The pharmacy was in the small section to the side. The conversion to the current building was done without closing the business for a single day. The new part was added at the back, and the business moved into it until the front was rebuilt as well. Steve tells that he found remnants of a bakery on the site. They may have been moved from elsewhere, or perhaps it was the site of a bakery.
The location may have been a drug store even before it was David Darling’s home. In the 1891 Ontario census, A.B. Shannon was listed with occupation druggist. His son, another A.B. Shannon, lived near this corner in addition to running the Shannondale Dairy, on the site of the current St. Theresa’s School.
