Painting of Upper Lansdowne Store and Post Office by Wallace Ahrens 1982
The General Store and Post Office has had a variety of buildings and uses over the years.
The store has been extensively altered and rebuilt and it is not known if any of the original building is still intact.
The store was built by Martin McLaughlin around 1917/1918 on land owned by him which he had acquired from James Crittenden in 1917.
In 1920 Martin McLaughlin sold the store to Mr J H Hanington.
In a newspaper article appearing in the Northern Champion on 3 November 1920 “the unveiling of a war trophy gun took place at Hannington’s store; the trophy is a German gun captured in France by the 13th Battalion”.
At one time a lean to type of structure was attached to the main store and was used as a Post Office.
In 1946 a new store was constructed on the hall side of the old store. This building is understood to be the present building. The date the old store was demolished is not known.
1940’s Mail Delivery
During this time our mail was brought from Lansdowne to Central Lansdowne Post Office (by Joe Cicolini) and then on to Upper Lansdowne Post Office, at the shop owned/run by Mr Roy Lavender. From there it was delivered by a young schoolboy, Les Atkins with horse and sulky.
Les had to miss school every Monday and Wednesday morning until 12.30 by which time he had his mail delivery run finished. Saturday mornings saw him miss out on sports and other activities as he had to do the same mail run on Saturday mornings as well.
His brother Ernie took over the run on pushbike after Les left school.
The following is a list of past owners/managers and is open to correction as it has been difficult obtaining accurate information.
Martin McLaughlin – 1917 to 1920
Mr J Hanington – 1920s and 1930s
Mr Martin McLaughlin (son of above) – worked for Mr Hannington, collecting orders etc
Mr Jock Laidlaw
Mr Roy Lavender
Mr Ken Hills 1958 to 1961
Mr Shand
Mr Edmonds
Mr Kusack
Mrs P Buellens and Warren Thompson (1980’s)
The DeWright family
The McKean family is the last known operator of the general store
Nancy and Ted Lewis – café
The building was then converted into a residence.
Compiled by Gloria Crittenden – May 2024