Postcard Memories is a series of historic views, stories and photos of Bradford West Gwillimbury, a trip down memory lane on a Saturday morning.
In the early 1920s, Percy Reynolds started his business as a drover (someone who drives cattle).
He would collect animals from surrounding farms and drive them to the yards at the railway tracks in Tottenham.
In 1924, Percy and Russell Copeland shared a truck for two years, even though they each had their own set of customers.
Percy married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Lewis in 1931 and the couple had a butcher shop in the house that Percy had built on the east side of Highway 27.
Percy would kill the animals across the street at Noble's Bush, then sell the meat and deliver it to customers.
In 1936, Percy relocated to Rennick's Harness Shop and would deliver his animals to the stockyards and then return home with a variety of items for the community such as coal, roofing and processed meats.
On Saturday nights, the butcher shop would stay open until midnight for community members to gather, shop and socialize. Lizzie would have a meal of sandwiches ready for the gathering.
The Reynolds had twin boys named Walter and Wallace who started travelling with their father in 1950. They worked side by side for five years until Percy was unfortunately killed in an accident, after his truck was hit at a railway crossing in Toronto.
The twins carried on with the business from their homes in Bond Head and Lizzie remained living at the home attached to the butcher shop until her death in 1969.
Walter and Wallace had a trucking business, which was still in business as of 2004.
Water passed away in Alliston in 2014 at the age of 79 and Wallace passed away in 2011 at the age of 76.
-from the Governor Simcoe Slept Here book
