Photograph courtesy Biggar Museum & Gallery 100 Block,Main Street showing A.W. Mooney Co. Hardward store.

Photograph courtesy Biggar Museum & Gallery Interior view of A.W. Mooney Hardware c.1909-1910

In 1909, A.W. Mooney came to Biggar, which town was just being started, and which had less than one hundred inhabitants. Later he added other lines to his hardware store and today has one of the most modern department stores to be found in any town of like size in the province. His original store was twenty-four by thirty six feet and in 1921 he erected another building fifty by one hundred feet, with two stories and a basement. He immediately engaged in the hardware business and prospered from the start.Mooney occupied the entire building until 1943 when he purchased the Miller Block and moved his business into the new location at 215 Main Street (Pharmasave). [1] Darulson and Stubbs both of Hamilton, Ontario, purchased the former Mooney Block with plans to establish a Dry Cleaning Plant and Restaurant. [2] W.W.Miller went bankrupt and the Royal Bank sold the Miller store worth over $60,000 to Mooney for $10,000 in 1930. June 21, 22, 23 of 1951 saw the official opening of A.W. Mooney Ltd. A hardware store operated in the Miller Block under the Mooney name until March of 1990.

Newspaper ad The Independent January 24, 1918, page 8

See also A.W. Mooney , Mooney Hardware Memories Mooney and King articles

Historical Photographs:

"Interior of A.W. Mooney Hardware. Robert Brown left, Walker Mitchell right.". Image No. NA-2870-16. Glenbow Museum Where the World Meets the West - Archives Photographs. 1909-1910. http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx&BU=&TN=IMAGEBAN&SN=AUTO10266&SE=1518&RN=4&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=0&XP=&RF=WebResults&EF=&DF=WebResultsDetails&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=WPEngMsg.ini&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=37257&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&BG=&FG=&QS=ArchivesPhotosSearch&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1. Retrieved 2010-01-25.


"Bennett buggy, Biggar, Saskatchewan. Outside Mooney hardware store.". Image No: NA-2256-1. Glenbow Museum Where the World Meets the West - Archives Photographs. 1933. http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/search/archivesPhotosResults.aspx&BU=&TN=IMAGEBAN&SN=AUTO11468&SE=1532&RN=61&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=0&XP=&RF=WebResults&EF=&DF=WebResultsDetails&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=WPEngMsg.ini&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=26989&NR=0&NB=7&SV=0&BG=&FG=&QS=ArchivesPhotosSearch&OEX=ISO-
8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1. Retrieved 2010-01-25.

Sources

1 The Independent Biggar, Sask., April 1, 1943, page 3 and September 9, 1943, page. 1