Millyard’s Drug Store - Souter’s Variety

One of the many striking buildings on the main street of Coboconk, the exterior of Souter’s has changed little since it was Millyard’s Drug Store in the early twentieth century. By 1918, Harriet Eades lived there, and married Dr. Wiley Schell Millyard in 1926. Harriet operated a pharmacy in the front of the store, while patients could visit the doctor at the back of the building. Harriet was not a pharmacist, but hired qualified druggists as long as she operated the store. After Dr. Millyard died at the age of 57 in 1942, Harriet carried on operating the drug store, while she was deeply involved in village affairs.

For four decades, Harriet’s store was also home to Coboconk’s Bell Telephone switchboard—located at the back of the store—operated by Hazel Field for many years. It also once included a public library. She affixed shelves in an unused doorway, and arranged with the Victoria County Library for circulating books. The library proved so popular that it expanded to have its own room at the back of the building. When the Coboconk library building opened, the former library became a hairdressing salon.

In 1977, Harriet sold the store to Howard and Norma Souter, who renovated the interior, doing away with the variety store, while Harriet continued to live in the apartment above. The next January, Deb Angiers took a job working for the Souters, then bought the business in May 1983, and the building five years later. She operated Souter’s for three decades, as it became a popular gift shop and a favourite spot to stop for a Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream on the steps overlooking Highway 35.