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Buildings Associated With Temple Lodge No. 33 Members
DUNCAN & CHRISTMAS HERITAGE MALL
149 Canada Avenue, Duncan, B.C.
The Duncan & Christmas Heritage Mall is located at 149 Canada Avenue, Duncan, B.C., immediately adjacent to the Masonic Temple building at 163 Canada Avenue.
In the 1920s and early 1930s this building was used by W.B. Kenneth Duncan (1881-1952) and his business partner, Herbert Dickie, as their business premises for their insurance and financial services partnership, Dickie & Duncan Ltd.
The Dickie & Duncan partnership was dissolved in 1936 and Wilfred Christmas entered into partnership with Kenneth Duncan under the name Duncan & Christmas Ltd. Kenneth Duncan and Wilfred Christmas remained business partners until Wilfred Christmas' death in 1950.
The current name of the building is derived from W.B. Kenneth Duncan's business partnership, Duncan & Christmas Ltd.
We think this photo in Fig. 2 may be an early photo of the building that is now the Duncan & Christmas Heritage Mall, but, at this point, treat that as being unconfirmed. We are doing more reearch into whether this photo is, in fact, an early photo of the Duncan & Christmas Heritage Mall building.
Lewis Truesdale of Kibler & Truesdale was a Charter Member of Temple Lodge, No. 33. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in North Cowichan. We believe Lewis Truesdale is the man on the right of the photo in Fig. 2. If so, it is the only photo of Lewis Truesdale which we currently know of.
W.B. Kenneth Duncan was deeply involved in the creation of the City of Duncan in 1911-12. The City of Duncan is named for W.B. Kenneth Duncan's family, who settled here in the 1860s. Kenneth Duncan was elected the first Mayor of Duncan in 1912. The Duncan City Council elected in 1912 also included Temple Lodge members James McLead Campbell and Ormond Towers Smythe.
W.B. Kenneth Duncan is buried in the St. Peter's Quamichan Anglican Cemetery.
Fig. 4 shows a Heritage Duncan sign which has been placed on front of the Duncan & Christmas Heritage Mall. This sign is one of a series of Heritage Duncan signs which have been placed on significant heritage buildings in Duncan to commemorate their importance in local history.
This Heritage Duncan sign on the Duncan & Christmas Heritage Mall reads:
"Duncan & Christmas Ltd. - Kenneth Duncan (son of pioneer William Chalmers Duncan) was the first Mayor of the City of Duncan. A successful businessman, he had a partnership with Mr. Dickie, which ended in June 1936.
The June 25, 1936 edition of the Cowichan Leader newspaper announced: "The name of the firm Dickie & Duncan Ltd. has been changed to Duncan & Christmas Ltd. Otherwise, the business remanins unchanged.
Wilfred Christmas was the son of Reverend F.G. Christmas, a pioneer Anglican clergyman who was known locally as 'Father Christmas'. Wilfred had been a partner in a menswear store called Powel & Christmas.
Kenneth Duncan and Wilfred Christmas remained business partners until the death of Christmas in 1950."
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