Some sad news from home last weekend. A major fire broke out in Sackville, taking out the block that stretched from the parking lot by the post office all the way to the corner across from Town Hall.Congrats to the Sackville Fire Department for their efforts in minimizing the damage and saving the surrounding buildings.
Until last week, the Dixon Block housed 32 students, a Sounds Fantastic, the taxi stand, and a wine kit store. (Ducky's and Joey's are ok!) In recent years, much of the space has either been vacant, or turned over on a regular basis as people shopped out by the highway, or in Amherst and Moncton.
The town has changed quite a bit since I left - the old school on Salem Street burned down, Allison Gardens is gone, and now the downtown landscape has changed. Wouldn't it be nice to come out of the Royal Bank someday soon and see a a building with new businesses and some new housing right across the street. Hopefully this sad event will turn into a positive situation and help to rebuild our downtown.
(and if you have an old couch/bed/tv and live somewhere near Sackville, there are a number of students who have lost most of everything they own -- check out Project Rebuild to help)
Also great info, links and photos online here.
posted by Steven Drover at 8/15/2006 11:33:00 p.m.
3 Comments:
was this one building, or several?
It was the Dixon building which was the one on the corner. In past years it would have been the Kookie Kutter, the lebanese food place and the Pirate seafood place (both very briefly), before that it was the downtown Tim Horton's and the Corner Drug Store.
On York St, it goes as far up as what used to be the Planning Commission.
From the town's tourism brochure:
Fondly remembered by locals as the Corner Drug Store and Turner's Grocery, this commercial building stands as one of the signature four corners of downtown Sackville. It is one of only a few remaining wooden commercial buildings in Sackville surviving vitrually intact since 1867. The building has a delightful history of commerce: Edward C. Palmer, noted on the Walling map as a Merchant Tailor, lived here and general stores were operated by R.M. Dixon, Albion Gray and David Dickson. Amasa Dixon purchased the building in 1882. Architectural details date from a major renovation and expansion in 1896 when the whole building was elevated to three stories. The third floor was a large hall, used for political meetings, as a band room for the Sackville Citizens Band, and by the Oddfellows. Dr. Charles Gass purchased the drug store business in 1923 and the store operated as the "Corner Drug" until 1992. Some of our citizens remember as childres, being taken for a treat at the soda fountain there.
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