McKeen Corner Store

In 1875 a small country store, formerly the shoe maker's shop of Alban Lawrence, stood at the corner of the Keswick Ridge Road and McKeen Drive. In 1878 it housed the lower Keswick Ridge Post Office. Mr.VanBuskirk was its storekeeper and postman. The one and one-half storey store with a low pitched roof had a rough board platform protected by a veraanda roof extending across the front where the customers would gather. The door of the store is centrally located. There are large wooden shuttered windows containing nine small panes of glass each on both sides of the door. The exterior is finished with yellow clapboards.

In the early 1900's "The Store" was a typical little country store. It had one room on the ground floor with counters along one side and end. Shelves were on the walls behind the counters. On the counters were glass cases containing penny candies and other assorted good.

To the left of the door was the post office. This was a nicely constructed cabinet of compartments open in the back with doors in front hinged at the top. People's names were attached to the top of the doors. The cabinet contained the mail of the McKeens Corner and Lower Keswick Ridge families.

An upright stove in the middle of the ground floor served to warm the store in the winter and warm the regulars who gathered to talk and smoke around it. The upstairs was sometimes used at Christmas time for Christmas trimmings and toys. On the back of the store was a lean-to shed. Here feed, kerosene, molasses, flour and sugar were stored. This shed has been removed.

The McKeens Corner Store bearing the date 1790 on its gable stood empty for several years. Today it falls under the stewardship of the Keswick Ridge Historical Society and has been relocated to a small lot alongside the Keswick Ridge Superior School site. Also in need of significant repair,the Society intends to raise funds for its restoration and is currently considering suitable uses for it in order to restore its status as an important fixture of this community, for many years to come.

A committee, headed by Ken Moore, has been formed to evaluate the costs and effort to have a proper foundation built under the store. The roof is also in need of repair if the building is to be preserved. For more information contact Ken Moore at 363-2480 or kmoore@nbnet.nb.ca.