Description of Historic Place

The former Mount Stewart Cooperative Store is prominently located on Main Street in Mount Stewart, Prince Edward Island, next to the Confederation Trail. It is a large, symmetric, two-storey wood shingled building with an end-facing gambrel roof with large storefront multi-paned wood windows.

Heritage Value

This two-storey gambrel roofed building was constructed in 1937, built as the Consumers' Co-operative Association Store, a cooperative store to serve the residents of the village of Mount Stewart and surrounding communities.

The community of Mount Stewart embraced the spirit of cooperation, and through time established the cooperative store, a credit union which operated from the second floor of this building, a cannery, and a strawberry exchange or cooperative. The cooperative followed the principles of the Rochdale Movement, where members could buy and sell quality products and share profits with customers. In PEI, the cooperative movement was led by Prof. John T. Croteau (1910 - 2007) of St. Dunstan's University and others who spread Antigonish, Nova Scotia's Father Coady's message of cooperation as a means for large groups of people to have a say in the economic process. Mount Stewart residents were enthusiastic and donated lumber, labour, and materials to construct this building. The Mount Stewart Credit Union began operations in 1936 with $114.00 in working capital which eventually grew to over $40,000.00. The cooperative movement spread throughout the Maritimes including Prince Edward Island, where, by 1937 there were 25 credit unions operating in the province.

By 1946 Mount Stewart had a thriving group of co-operators who had built a credit union, a store, a cannery and strawberry cooperative. With increased economic prosperity in the 1950s, enthusiasm for the coop waned, particularly after some financial mismanagement, and the store eventually closed in the 1960s.

In the early 1970s, the building served as a temporary location for Ray Gallagher's nearby store which had been lost to fire, until his new store was completed.

Following a period of vacancy, Doug Deacon and Barbara MacDonald purchased the property in 1996 and undertook extensive work to rehabilitate the once condemned building as the 50-seat Trailside Cafe and Adventures, offering food, a venue for local musicians, and bike and canoe rentals opening in August 1997. The area was selected for its rich cultural and natural heritage. The upper storey was converted to overnight accommodation 1998. The venue offered entertainment by numerous local, regional, Canadian, and international acts, and drew guests from throughout Canada, the US and international locales. The owners received an Architectural Preservation Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation for its efforts in breathing new life into this building.

Ownership changed in 2011 when Pat and Meaghan Deighan purchased the property and continued the operation of the successful live music and restaurant venue known as Trailside Music Café and Inn. By 2016, they were hosting 200 live shows a year during its 6-month season. Seating capacity was increased to 75 and changes were made to the interior including the stage and sound system. In 2019 the music venue business moved to Charlottetown, now known as Trailside Music Hall, and the building was sold.

The property is now operated as the Bao Shack at Trailside offering traditional and popular Taiwanese dishes, as well as tourism accommodation.

For its importance to the community of Mount Stewart, its associations with the cooperative history of the province, as well as its connection to the tourism, hospitality, and musical entertainment industries, the former Mount Stewart Cooperative building continues to be a valued part of the streetscape of its community.

Source: Heritage Places files, Dept of Fisheries, Tourism, Sport & Culture, Charlottetown, PE
File #: 4310-20/M54

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the former Mount Stewart Cooperative Store is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the scale and massing of the building
- the wood shingle and board and batten cladding
- the pitch and slope of the gambrel roofline
- the size and placement of the multi-paned storefront windows
- the size and placement of multi-paned windows on the upper level
- the centred front entrance door
- the shed dormers on the north and south elevations
- the corner boards
- the eave bracketing
- the single storey addition on the south elevation

Further contributing heritage character-defining elements:

- the "1937" wood sign in the peak of the gambrel end roof on the front elevation of the building
- the location of the building on the main thoroughfare in the community of Mount Stewart