Michie & Company
Michie & Company, grocers and wine merchant, opened its doors on this site, at 5 King Street West, in 1835. York, as Toronto was first known, had been settled only 42 years earlier. Prior to that, the shore of Lake Ontario had been the hunting and fishing grounds of the Mississauga First Nations.
George Michie (pronounced "Mickey") initially sold "iron mongery," stovepipes, linens, dry goods, food stuffs, building materials, fine wine from France, and spirits from nearby Gooderham & Worts Distillery. His business thrived as the intersection of Yonge and King Streets evolved into the commercial centre of the rapidly growing city. By 1861, streetcar tracks were laid on both streets, providing patrons with easy access during and after work.
Michie's original plain, Georgian-style, three-storey brick store was improved in 1893 with a more elaborate red-brick-and-sandstone structure. It was soon dwarfed by its neighbours: the 12-storey Dominion Bank (1914), the Canadian Pacific Railway Building (18 storeys, 1913) and the Royal Bank Building (20 storeys, 1915).
In 1915, the liquor attracted the attention of police enforcing the Ontario Temperance Act (similar to America's Prohibition Act of 1919). But the storm passed. Michie's business lasted until 1947, when the shop was sold to Robert Simpson Company. The Nags Head Tavern occupied this shop front for many years, followed by Friedberg & Company, a currency-exchange service. The building was demolished in 2001 to make way for the foundation to the residential tower.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Toronto Plaques. Full page here.