For 73 years, Nettleton’s Jewelry Store operated out of a storefront in Collingwood’s iconic town hall.
In 1914, lines of elaborate glass-top cases lined the store’s interior, offering the best of Nettleton’s wares to residents and visitors alike. Today, part of the original Nettleton store is an administrative office for Town of Collingwood staff.
The large stone archways on the south-west corner of the building framed Nettleton’s storefront windows and entrance.
The history of Nettleton’s Jewellers predates its arrival in the town hall building by five years. In 1884, Frank H. Nettleton started his jewelry business in what would become its first of three locations on the east side of Hurontario Street.
After five years at the south-east corner of Hurontario and Huron Streets, Frank H. moved his business into the town hall where it would stay for two generations of the Nettleton family.
In 2004, a hand painted wooden sign for Frank H. Nettleton’s store was donated to the Collingwood Museum.
The name of the business’s founder is painted in black on the white clock face beneath the number 12. The store’s specialty items (diamonds, jewelry, and watches) appear in large black letters around the decorative clock face.
A photograph that accompanies an Enterprise Bulletin article about Nettleton’s captures this sign extending from the side of town hall out and over the street. The sign measures 76 cm wide and 82 cm high, and weighs 35.5 lbs.
Frank H. Nettleton'ss son, Frank A. Nettelton, took an optometry course in Chicago as jewelry and optometry services went hand in hand in these days.
Like his son, Frank H. was also a registered optometrist and performed watch, clock and jewelry repairs. In 1943, Frank A. took over his father’s business and would eventually move the store to its third and final location on Hurontario Street two decades later.
In the 1960s, additional space was required in the town hall for municipal staff and services.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Frank A. purchased the brick building at 127 Hurontario Street, then known as the D.G. Cooper building. The summer of 1962 was spent renovating the space for the store’s grand reopening later that year. Nettleton’s third and final location at 127 Hurontario Street is the current location of Blue Mountain Music.
The new store consisted of a compact diamond room, optometry room, and a specialized watch repair department.
While the store boasted many modern features, the old cherry wood display cases are reported to have made the move, providing “an ideal setting for the gleaming crystal, silver and china arranged in them.” At some point, the business’s name was updated from Nettlelton’s Jewelry to Nettletons Jewellery.
On July 21, 1972, after 88 years of service in Collingwood, Nettletons Jewellery was assumed by P. D. Murphy of Murphy's Jewellers Co.. Nettleton’s staff, Mrs. Nellie Potts and Mrs. Elsie Taylor, stayed on with the new firm.
In 1973, one of the very large display cases procured for the store was donated to the Collingwood Museum. Today, this beautiful showcase is used to share the stories of Collingwood’s past and present to community members and visitors alike. This impressive case measures 306 cm in length and bears a dedicatory plaque that reads: “Donated by Mrs. F.A. Nettleton”. The case was manufactured by the Cobban Manufacturing Company Limited in Toronto.
Throughout its operation, Nettleton’s Jewelry served the needs of its individual customers and the community as a whole. In times of celebration or need, Nettleton’s could be depended on to have a selection of products, ranging from the practical to the special.
Nettleton’s was also there in times of sorrow. At the end of the First World War, Nettleton’s Jewelry engraved commemorative medals on behalf of the Township of Nottawasaga for soldiers and nursing sisters who served overseas.
Commemorative medals were also engraved for the families of those who did not return. A series of handwritten lists compiled by Nettleton’s staff in the Collingwood Museum’s collection detail the names of recipients, as well as the inscriptions the medals bore.
This commemorative medal was presented to Alexander McBride’s parents by the Township of Nottawasaga and bears the following engraving: “Presented to Mr. and Mrs. McBride for A. McBride by the Township of Nottawasaga for Gallant Service in the Great War 1914 - 18.” This medal is believed to have been engraved at Nettleton’s during its tenure in the town hall and is cared for by the Collingwood Museum.
Alexander “Sandy” McBride lost his life in Belgium on November 6, 1917. His name is recorded on the Menin Gate Memorial in the Ypres, Belgium, alongside the names of 55,000 soldiers whose bodies were never recovered. Sandy joined the 177th Overseas Battalion out of Collingwood on April 11, 1916. His name is recorded on the cenotaph located in front of the Collingwood Museum at 45 St. Paul Street.
For up-to-date information about events and exhibits happening at the Collingwood Museum, please visit www.collingwood.ca/museum. As well, if you have a story to share about Nettleton’s Jewelry, please reach out to Collingwood Museum Staff.
