For 140 years the hub of community life in North York was a general store, with three different names in its history, the last being Dempsey’s, at the northwest corner of Yonge and Sheppard. If you know stories about Dempsey’s we’d love for you to send them to us at info@nyhs.ca and we’ll post them on our website and in our newsletter.
It was started in 1860 by local business tycoon Joseph Shepard II on land inherited from his father Joseph 1. Joseph II already owned a sawmill and a flour mill.
The first brick building in the area, the store sold groceries, fabrics, farm implements, harnesses, buggy whips, rifles, ammunition, black and green tea, rolled oats, sugar, crackers stored in a barrel, 100-pound cheeses cut into wedges and more. Farmers could pay cash or exchange their butter, eggs and grain for merchandise.
It was a waystation on stagecoach runs and post office and where farmers left their cows’ milk to be picked up by commercial dairies.
Joseph, his wife Elizabeth and their six children had onsite living quarters: parlor, dining room, kitchen on the main floor, and six bedrooms upstairs.
The store was leased in 1888, then sold in 1904, to manager Benjamin Robert Brown who renamed it B.R. Brown, General Merchant. He ran it with his family’s help and lived nearby.
Brothers Bill and George Dempsey bought the store in 1921 and renamed it Dempsey Brothers. Their slogan: “If Dempsey’s doesn’t have it, you won’t find it anywhere.”
Subsequently, George’s sons and grandsons operated the store.
They sold the site in1989 to a developer. The North York Historical Society helped arrange for the historic store to be transported a mile north to open space near the North York Central Library which was dubbed Dempsey Park. It’s still there. A heritage plaque is at the original site.
Look forward to getting your stories about this significant place in North York history.
