A photograph of the impressive two-storey Tindales Store at 118 Princes Way, Drouin.
The store stood on a block of land on the western side of Memorial Park.
Frederick Tindale arrived in Drouin around 1887 and started his business in premises on the other side of the road, in the vicinity of what is today 139 Princes Way.
His business, delivering supplies to customers within a 20-mile radius of Drouin, grew so rapidly that he needed a bigger store.
It appears the impressive two-storey brick building was erected by Commercial Hotel owner William Dawes.
The Buln Buln Shire rates shows the value of the property doubled from the 1890/91 records to the 1891/92 rates.
William Squire Tong has been credited with building the business, but a newspaper article from 1891 refers to Mr Dawes and Tindale asking for gravel to placed on the footpath in front of the new brick building.
Mr Tong purchased the property and another three allotments on the same section in 1892 from William Dawes, who had been declared bankrupt.
In 1905, the building was described as a brick shop and dwelling, part two-storey, containing nine rooms, a shop, shed and stable used as a general store. Next to it was a brick shop and wood dwelling, four rooms, bakehouse, shed and stables. The Coffee Palace was a weatherboard with eight rooms, kitchen and stables. This information was gathered from probate papers of Mr Tong.
During his 13 years in the town, Mr Tindale held the positions of president and secretary of the mechanics institute committee and is credited with reducing the institute's debt by his hard work. He was also a member of the cricket, racing and football clubs, an ANA member and supplied the cricket club with the Tindale/Flemming trophy.
In 1900, he sold the business to McNeil & Co from Warragul and moved to Kyabram to run another store. John Blacker managed the store for McNeil's until June 1906 when he purchased the store from his employers.
On January 24, 1913, a fire destroyed not only Mr Blacker's store but also Roe's bakery, the Coffee Palace and the house occupied by Mr Bosanko and his family.
The coach building business of William Sunley was saved by the hard work of a bucket brigade. At the time, Drouin had no permanent water supply other than wells. When a fire started, it was difficult to control by using buckets.
Photograph and information courtesy of the Drouin History Group. The group meets on the third Thursday of the month at the Drouin Library at 7.30pm.