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Henry Becker Store and House - Digital Archive
The Digital Archive and complementary Interactive Heritage Register Map are initiatives to provide historical information regarding properties included on the Township’s Heritage Register. The Digital Archive only includes properties which have consented to include their heritage property on this archive.
We recognize that when the first Euro‐Canadian settlers arrived in what is now Puslinch Township, the Anishinaabe ancestors of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation had long established hunt camps in the area. Through written and verbal accounts we understand that the Anishinaabe interacted with the settlers in a friendly and cooperative manner. It is acknowledged that the development of the Township encroached upon their traditional way of life resulting in their displacement.
Henry Becker Store and House
Biographical Info
The Henry Becker Store was constructed by stonemason Angus McPherson around 1874. The stone store replaced the pre-existing log store on the property. The stone building had a main entrance with two display windows on either side. In the 1960s, Douglas Mast and his wife Lois McCaig purchased the property, now vacant and in disrepair. The Henry Becker Store was renovated, with a new roof, a north side addition, and a new entrance, the east entrance closed off. The now commercial residence is of a unique stone Ontario House style. The Henry Becker House has an interesting blend of pointed stonework and a rubblestone band below the central gable and Gothic window.
German-born shoemaker Henry Becker and his wife Elizabeth appear on Lot 26 as early as 1861, according to the Puslinch census. Becker originally operated a shop on the lower west floor.
The property is historically associated with Prussian immigration, as well as general commerce in Crieff and Puslinch.
Categories: Decade Built – 1870s, Decade Plaqued – 2000s, Gothic Style, Historical Association – Prussian/Prussia, Materials – Stone, One-and-a-half storeys, Ontario House Style