The Gonder building — a link to early settlement history in Welland
For this week’s subject, we take a look at a historic business, the history of which spanned Niagara. Linked to one of the area’s early settler families, today’s old building is the former Gonder Real Estate Exchange, founded by Hervey J. Gonder in 1906.
The Gonders descended from Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, immigrants from Germany, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands, that settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th and 18th century.
The Gonder family came to the United States circa1779, and left not long after to escape persecution from rebels during the American Revolutionary War, being branded as United Empire Loyalists. Settling on a parcel of land in Willoughby Township, on the banks of the Upper Niagara River opposite Grand Island, the Gonders constructed their homestead there, opening it up as a stopping place for immigrants and other travellers going west to get accommodations and directions.
They are considered to be one of the oldest settler families of the area and among those who played a part in the development of Willoughby.
During the War of 1812, Michael D. Gonder, Hervey’s father, served as captain of militia and Gen. Sir Gordon Drummond’s dispatch runner, in addition to having his house serve as Drummond’s headquarters. He was elected as Willoughby’s magistrate sometime around 1830, and served as a justice of the peace.
He also provided distinguished service during the Rebellion of 1837 as a lieutenant, and was later promoted to captain after the assassination of his superior. His daughter Margaret later married David Price, an interpreter with the Indian Department of the Army, and obtained a farm in Welland as a result. Her father later came to live with her family there until his death in 1886.
Hervey Gonder, one of Michael’s 14 children, was born in Willoughby in 1846, and raised on the old homestead. He received most of his education in local schools, but at around the age of 20, during the Fenian Raids of 1866-1870, he joined the local militia to fight against the Fenian Brotherhood, for which he was awarded the Queen’s medals. In 1873, he began the business of selling subscription books for the National Publishing Co. of the United States, first in Waterloo, then Brant County and other places in Ontario. He then switched to selling fruit trees for a time.
In 1876, he began handling agricultural implement sales for Massey Manufacturing Co. in Welland, a business which he maintained for 30 years, and one that gave him good connections in the farming community. In 1906, riding his reputation from his implements trade and the recognition he gained through it, he opened a Real Estate Exchange agency on Front Street, on the west side of the canal across from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
Visible in the 1907 photo from across the canal, the agency dealt with everything from farms to houses, boasting a “thorough knowledge of the Niagara District” and having “every description of vacant and improved city and country property.”
After Hervey’s death in 1916, the agency fell to his son Cromwell, having prior to 1920 relocated to 72 West Main. However, it did not last, as in 1937, the same address appeared to house a barbershop. The business is likely to have merged with the Tuckey-lee building, which itself contained a number of barbershops.
Whatever the case may be, 72 West Main is no longer an address that exists. However, other parts of the Gonder legacy survive to show the extent of the family’s impact throughout Niagara, such as the Gonder Cemetery at Willoughby Drive and Sherk Road that is the last remnant of the original farm.