T. W. Foster General Merchants

& Kirkland Lake Gold Camps second post office

Kirkland Lake Gold Camps second Post Office, Teck-Hughes mine property. Note: The umbrella on the horse drawn wagon reads "Mail - Kirkland Lake". Also note the Louis D. Roberge General Merchants to the right.

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Repository: Museum of Northern History

Credit: From the holdings of John Weatherburn

 

T. W. Foster and W. H. Wilson opened a hardware store in the new bustling town of Golden City (now Porcupine). Brother T. W. Foster was elected on April 18, 1912 to become the first Worshipful Master of the Masonic Lodge in Porcupine. Two years after a devastating fire that swept through Porcupine in 1911, W. H. Wilson moved the store to Timmins and he later became Timmins' first mayor. At that time, the foster family moved to the new gold camp located in Kirkland Lake.

 

On the Teck-Hughes mine property, T. W. Foster and Reuben "Yacht" Campbell opened a general merchandise store, initially with wooden walls and a tent roof and later in a nearby two story building. Wilf applied to and was appointed as Kirkland Lake's first postmaster on February 16, 1914iv. The mail was delivered using a horse drawn wagon. On February 25,  1914, T. W. Foster was also appointed Kirkland Lake's first Police Magistratev.

 

Later, after Foster and Campbell dissolved their partnership, Wilf continued the store and re-located it to a more central location at the southwest corner of Government Rd. and Goodfish Rd. (now called Prospect Ave). The Korman building would be built on this site in 1936 and was the location of the United Cigar Store for many years...<More>