The Davis house

This house was built in 1908 by Joseph Watchorn for John Davis. John came to the area with his mother, Megry Davis, in 1892 when he was four years old. We have little information about him before 1921 when we found him owning a garage located at the parking lot at the corner of Village Road and Echo Road. For several decades John Davis offered multiple services, including a gas station, repair shop and a Ford dealership, as indicated in a 1937 advertisement from the Morin-Heights Chamber of Commerce.

Advertising in "Laurentians on Parade" magazine, 1937

Mr. McCullough and one of his Clydesdale horses in front of the garage. John and Edith Davis' house is seen behind circa 1920.

Olive Boyd Kneeland (1917-2007) recounts her memories of the 1930s, "Across Echo Road was a large brick garage owned by Johny Davis. It's a parking lot now. Then came Johny and Edith Davis' house, which is still there. It had the most beautiful garden you've ever seen with stone pillars outside. The Davis dance hall was where the Vaillancourt apartments are now, down on Echo."

Elsie Seale MacDowell remembers that the Davis dance Hall was very popular among local youth. "There was always a lot of work to do on the farm, but also good times with friends, relatives visiting and going to dances at Davis Hall in the village."

This room was also where the parents of the middle school students crowded in for the Christmas concerts.