Edward Hanlan Berry had come west in 1899 to work in
the harvest fields. He was only in the area a short time and returned
to Ontario where he apprenticed as a jeweller, worked as a barber, and
married his wife Bertha.
In 1905, Mr. Berry came back with his bride to settle in Reston and
operate a jewellery store. They lived and worked at first in what later
became Gary's M. and M. Store. He soon built what is still known as the
"Berry Block". It was just north of the Manitoba Hardware. The Berrys
lived there and for about twenty years the jewellery business and watch
repairing was carried on there.
After the fire which destroyed Manitoba Hardware, he became a partner
in the new company and in 1924, he purchased the business and it became
E. H. Berry's Hardware and Lumber. He combined this as years went on
with his jewellery business, the selling of fuel, a machinery business,
and a farm at Woodnorth. Mr. Berry even drove as far as Cannington
Manor in Saskatchewan to sell his jewellery. He sold wedding licences
too and, long after the jewellery part of the business closed down, he
was still selling wedding rings.
His stock was excellent. In one advertisement, we can read of clothes
dryers at $2.85 — not the kind we favour today however! Horse blankets
were $12.50 a pair. E. H. Berry moved with the times however and in
1929, he was selling electrical equipment to a town just getting
electricity. In 1948, he was offering electrical appliances to the
rural people who were having hydro installed. In 1925, he installed one
of the first radios that the townspeople ever heard. They had the first
gas bowser at Manitoba Hardware and in the thirties were selling White
Rose gas.
Adapted from Trails Along the Pipestone, page 531
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