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7+ ii | The historic Blong Block as it looked in 1974, when businesses in the building included, from left, Emmerson Insurance, Frank Real Estate, The Children’s Boutique and Canadian Tire, which operated at this location from 1954 until it moved in 1975. Continued from page 9 Blong continued the same businesses that Bigelow had successfully developed, but all was destroyed in the town’s 1883 fire. Blong began construction of a new building which was destroyed again in the more devastating fire of 1884. Undeterred, he re-built the impressive red and yel- low bricked two storey structure we see today, which first opened for business in the spring of 1885. Blong maintained ownership of the building until 1915, passing ownership to his son Robert not long before he died. George Emmerson purchased the block from Robert Blong in 1954. He operated the Emmerson Motel above the stores for a number of years before selling the property to Charlie Santos. Mr. Santos experienced money problems in the 1970s and declared bankruptcy. He sold the property in 1975 to Tom and Daphne Mitchell who renovated and opened the Settlement House shops. The Mitchell’s ex- panded the building with a large addition on the north side (rear) of the building during 1978. Over the years the building has accommodated a vari- ety of stores. Some of these include William Brock, W.H. McCaw (jeweller), Greer and Kelly Law office, Dominion Store (grocery), Hillcrest Dairy, Davis’ Drug Store, Frank Real Estate, Pentland’s Jewellery, Emmerson Insurance and Canadian Tire who opened here in 1954. During their years as owners of this historic property Tom and Daphne Mitchell helped lead the revitalization of downtown Port Perry, carefully restoring the structure to its original glory, inspiring other merchants to follow suit and driving the community and its merchants into becoming a significant tourist destination. In 2007 the Mitchells decided to retire and they closed their popular Settlement House shops and leased the facility to Tweed and Hickory, the current tenant. The historic “Blong /Settlement House Block” was list- ed for sale in September at an asking price of $3,749,900. Paul Arculus Focus on Scugog + Windows & Coverings ¢ Doors « Siding * Sunrooms sey 182 North Port Plaza, Unit #7 - Reach St. at North Port Rd. 10 FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2012 ‘11.NOVEMBER.56 final indd 10 SS SHADE-O-MATIC WINDOW STORE 905-985-6665 Window Store ~and so much more www.windowstore.ca 12-10-22 9:21 AM