First shop in Montrose,
Corner of Montrose Road and Leith Road Montrose, C.1900
It was a white painted brick shop/dwelling (now car park). James Walker who was born in Ireland c1838, selected these 45 acres in 1889, and in 1890 a further 94 acres. He owned all the land bordered by Montrose, Leith, Swansea & Cambridge Roads.
In 1891, he dug clay from the site of the now Montrose Fire Station at 877-879 Mt Dandenong Road to make bricks to build the first shop in Montrose.
The bricks were made on his own property using clay from a kaolin deposit discovered by his son. The Walker family operated a small brickworks using an old style pugmill to mix the clay.
George and Jessie Richards took over the shop around 1921 and ran a Milk Bar until the shop closed in the late 1960s and was demolished in 1971