Sketch of Simmons Block, Colborne

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Cobourg Daily Star, Saturday, July 20, 2002

Simmons Block, King Street East, Colborne
Sketch and text by Barry King

"David Lewis Simmons was one of the so-called Late Loyalists who came to Upper Canada after 1790. He was encouraged by then-land agent Joseph Keeler, the father of the founder of Colborne , J.A. Keeler, to make his home in Cramahe Township. In [the book] “How Firm a Foundation”, Eileen Argyris relates that Joseph had come from Rutland, Vermont as early as 1789 and had returned to the United States to bring 40 new settler families to the area.

The firm of Dudley and Simmons, bricklayers, is mentioned in the “Canada Directory” of 1859. By 1878, David L. Simmons is recorded, in the “Atlas of Northumberland and Durham [Counties]”, as a lumber dealer and builder. When fire destroyed a wooden structure on King Street in the village, David took the opportunity to construct, in 1882, this large Colborne commercial building with upstairs apartments on the site. One of the mainstays of Colborne businesses, the south-facing Simmons Block continues to dominate the newly renovated downtown district."

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