McKenzie the Grocer

William J. McKenzie, Grocer

Irish and Scottish Origins

You may wonder why the Dominion Street grocery store is now referred to as The McKenzie Sharland Municipal Historic Site. City records indicate the first grocer on the corner of Washington Avenue and Dominion Street was William J. McKenzie who, along with his wife, Margaret, built and started this business in 1912.

William James McKenzie and Margaret Ross were both born in Ireland in 1849. By their surnames, one can assume that their ancestors migrated from Scotland some time in the prior two centuries (the “Plantation of Ulster”). Their early years were probably very hard as this was during the potato famine which began in 1845 and lasted six years.  

Why did William and Margaret leave Ireland? We can only wonder. The potato famine, a catastrophic event in Ireland's history had killed over a million men, women and children and caused another million to flee the country. Large families on small farms meant that some children had to move on and find employment elsewhere, often by emigration. The mills and shipyards of nearby Belfast and Glasgow in Scotland were attracting rural labour to the tenement housing surrounding them and the industrial revolution was picking up steam.

As young adults, William, a labourer, and Margaret, a dressmaker, migrated to Scotland where they married on February 17, 1874, in Springburn, North Glasgow.  They then moved to Dennistoun in the east end of Glasgow, “a respectable working class area for families” and had three sons: Joseph, Samuel and William Junior.  

Emigration to Canada

William Junior would have been just an infant when William and Margaret decided to emigrate to Canada in 1882. The family may have gone directly to Manitoba which was wide open for settlement at this time.  Their fourth son, Robert, was born in “urban” Winnipeg in 1886.  

In the 1891 census of Manitoba, the McKenzie family was living in Lower Springfield South, Lisgar, Manitoba. William was listed as a farmer and son Joseph, aged 16, was a farm labourer. In 1901, Joseph had left home, William Jr was farming and Samuel was working as a teamster. By 1906, all four boys had moved on and William and Margaret, aged 56, were living by themselves on a farm in Selkirk with 3 horses, 3 milk cows, 4 other cattle and 2 hogs.

Move to Medicine Hat

At around 60 years of age, William and Margaret sold their farm and moved to Medicine Hat.  On February 5, 1912, they purchased a lot for $300 from H. C. Yuill and in May, a building permit was issued for a 1 1/2 storey frame residence (24'x26') with a stove. 

In August, plans dramatically changed, however, and a second building permit was issued, listing an “alteration”. Architect William T. Williams, was hired.  Williams, who had just designed Elm Street School two blocks away, was noted for designing many significant buildings between 1905 to 1915 in Medicine Hat, including factories, hotels, schools and businesses in addition to the impressive Town Hall. 

A two-storey store with a rear single storey addition was configured and Sackrider and Turner were hired to build the new grocery on Dominion Street. Total cost? $1500. For William McKenzie? A new career as a grocer had begun.

The Grocery Years

In the early part of the last century, before vehicles became more common, neighbourhood groceries dotted the landscape. The 1914 Henderson lists 39 “Retail Grocers” in addition to General Stores. The McKenzie Grocery certainly would have served the River Flats neighbourhood for several blocks in each direction, easy walking distance when picking up supplies was almost a daily affair. Regular customers purchased on account and settled their bill periodically. 

There was a chute opening on the left side of the storefront at ground level that allowed goods to be delivered to the dirt walled basement. A young deliveryman named Len Sharland brought inventory from the Dominion Grocers warehouse, located on a rail spur near the CPR yard.

The dirt street now known as Dominion was originally “E Street”. The neighbourhood included Elm Street School, Washington Avenue Methodist Church and Knox Presbyterian Church, which the McKenzies likely attended. There was a boardwalk immediately in front of the store and houses clustered around in all directions. 

Shortly after the opening of the grocery, the Great War began and its impact was certainly felt in the neighbourhood as many young men signed up. Margaret McKenzie passed away in 1921 and a few years later, in 1924, William died. The address is listed as “vacant” in the 1925 Henderson but by 1926, it had been acquired by Len Sharland and a new chapter for the grocery began.