Even now in 2015 I am impressed by the size of the steel trusses in a building built in the 1940's.
This buggy shop must have stood very close to the building which for many years was the garage for the fire engine. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the same building. The sign says "P. DeGroot Blacksmithing." The owner must have been Paul DeGroot 1874-1929. A picture of his headstone in the Borculo Cemetery is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/ottawa/photos/tombstones/borculo/degroot84680nph.jpg To me it appears that the part of the building on the right is the old buggy shop (De Groot Blacksmith) in the picture above this, and the a newer and bigger building was built and connected to the old buggy shop. The sign on top the larger building reads "Horse Shoeing" and the sign above the door says "Moore Plows". This picture appears to have been taken from the porch of Vollink's Grocery Store. I will also conjecture that the Moore Plows building was later remodeled to become the Bussis Implement Building, which after the new Bussis Implement Building was built, this became Herb Schout's Auto Body Shop and then became the Borculo Restaurant....which no longer exists. Approximately 1945 Trying to date this by the age of the vehicles. The brown Ford station wagon is a 1965 model and the Chevy Blazer is 1964 or 1965 I think. As I took this picture through a now removed west window I see the far corner where around the year 1956 the community did a play which drew most of the community. If you can imagine a stage in that corner and the rest of the building filled with the Borculo community, that was a great Borculo moment. Perhaps someone with a better memory than mine can fill in some of details. Email me at [email protected] Even now in 2015 I am impressed by the size of the steel trusses in a building built in the 1940's.
2 Comments
james morsink
10/6/2015 07:46:58 pm
Bob, those cars in the one picture are from the early to middle 1970's . I believe it looks to be about mid to late 1970's
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Michael Bohl
9/8/2016 06:30:00 pm
Hey, Vern Bohl's favorite (okay, only) son commenting on the restaurant pics. The sign in the first pic was put up shortly after my mom & dad bought the place from the Por family. Would be maybe 1980 or 1981. Red siding is a giveaway as well.
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