JB Fletcher’s Ainsworth BC ~45 Years Apart

Presenting JB Fletcher’s, Ainsworth British Columbia, and it’s seen roughly forty five years apart. This former general store was photographed by Beautiful British Columbia Magazine back in 1978 and a comparison shot captured by us a year or so ago. It’s a timeless scene!

The store had only been closed for a few years when the original was captured but it’s since been restored and functions as a museum you can tour. Plus there’s a gift shop. It looks pretty amazing and had time not been short, we would have dropped in and checked it out. Next time…we promise!

Ainsworth, on Kootenay Lake, dates back to the 1880s and is one of the senior communities of the region and the oldest on the lake. It functioned as a mining centre early on, with the hills to the west a beehive of activity. Some of the workings were quite productive and prospectors scoured every inch of land not already staked. Busy, busy!

By the time the twentieth century rolled around mining was already on the decline but even so, there were still plenty going on up in the hills. Mining would continue, sometimes sporadically, into the modern era and lots of left overs from the old days can still be found up-slope of town.

Silver, lead and zinc, in some mix, made up the majority of the ore mined in the region. Often some gold and/or copper could be found in lesser amounts too. This is not just typical for the area, but also similar in makeup to most mining districts in the province.

The town of Ainsworth (named after its founder) sprang up on a narrow shelf down the water and was in support of the aforementioned local mines. A rather cramped space, then and today, it still came to be a dynamic little community. There were all the usual businesses crammed into downtown and its steeply angled lots. Stores of all kinds, many hotels and more. You name it, they had it.

There’s few flat spots anywhere in the area so most businesses adapted to the hillside here. Some had stilts to help level things out where as others had a floor half above and half below ground on the lower levels.

JB Fletcher’s Store sits right at the centre of the old business district and dates back to 1896. It replaced an earlier store that burned down in a great fire that same year. At the time it operated as Henry Giegerich’s Store, but that changed to the current name when John Bradley Fletcher brought the business in the late 1920s.

Fletcher had managed it for some sixteen years prior so a fully seasoned businessperson by the time he took over. With his subsequent death in 1973 (at the age of 88) and no one to pass the torch, the store closed up for good.

By all accounts “Pops” Fletcher was well loved in the community and a hard worker. He almost singlehandedly ran the business the entire time and by description seemed almost super-human in nature.

The building sat unused for a stretch, and in that state when the photographer for Beautiful BC captured it, but we understand it was left pretty much intact otherwise.

Ownership transferred to a daughter and by the late in the 1980s JB Fletcher’s Store was converted to a museum. A thorough restoration happened in recent years and it functions as the JB Fletcher Museum & Gift Shop.

The building sits on the corner of steep Sutton Street and Highway #31. This is were the action was in the old days, and with the highway still busy today, it’s still seen by many people passing by.

Ainsworth, incidentally, didn’t get road access into the 1920s and before that, travel by boat the easiest way in and out of town. Commercial boats plied Kootenay Lake (it’s huge) and Ainsworth was hardly unique in that regard. Many lake-towns relied on this service too.

The building today, as can be seen, retains the look it had back then. Little differs and old photos show that’s true even going back much further. Time has stood still here.

The porch has changed, but it’s likely the old awning was beyond saving and the lettering is a bit different too. Otherwise, there’s not much to talk about when it come to changes over those forty some years and that makes this part of the job easy.

From the museum website: “The J.B. Fletcher Store was built in 1896 and its intact interior makes it truly unique. It contains many of the original artifacts used to operate the store as well as many goods that would have been sold there. The building has been fully restored and is open to the public. It is also home to an Artisan Gift Shop with beautiful hand made wares.”

The historic Silver Ledge Hotel, until it burned down in 2010, occupied the lot directly to the left of the JB Fletcher’s. What a beauty and it’s a shame knowing the fire was deliberate.

We shot a second Then & Now this same visit from higher up and looking down past JB Fletcher’s. It’ll show a more generalized and broad view of town. Should it turn out okay, and we think it will, we’ll chat more about Ainsworth’s downtown core when it’s published. There’s lots to discuss and see.

Ainsworth today (and since the 1960s) is known as Ainsworth Hot Springs and that’s in reference to the natural springs of the area. They’re famous and always have been. Today they bring in many tourists and the resort is a popular place. The pools are just up the road from Fletcher’s and it consistently ranks as one of the best hot springs in the province. Long before Europeans arrived these warm waters were known to the local Ktunaxa First Nations.

Today Ainsworth proper is home to about twenty people, plus there’s more up in the hills around, but just outside town limits. An accurate population during the mining boom had not been found, but looking at old photos from the era, it’s clear that it was quite a bit more than today.

The Then photo comes thanks Royal BC Museum. The Beautiful BC collection there is a big archive and home to many amazing images from all over the province and shot by well known photographers of the day. They’re mostly from the ’70s and ’80s.

So many great scenes, so many possible T&Ns to consider and so little time. Stay tuned and we’ll try and put more from this collection to use.

Know more: (new tab): JB Fletcher’s Ainsworth British Columbia.

They’re saying…

”Thank you for all the engaging write ups and pictures…you two are a national treasure!” Bonnie & Gerald McDonald (kind words indeed).

More like this…
Slocan British Columbia 81 Years Apart.
Tri-Way/Kootenay Country Inn Cranbrook.
Then & Now: Foremost Alberta.

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Date of adventure: 1978 (original) and 2023 (Team BIGDoer).
Location: Ainsworth, BC.
Article references and thanks: JB Fletcher Store Museum, Beautiful British Columbia Magazine archives at the Royal BC Museum, Greg Nesteroff of KutneReader.com, Nelson & Kootenay Lake Tourism and Dale for orchestrating the fun.

JB Fletcher’s Store Ainsworth BC in 1978 and 2023.

From the 1890s it was once a general store but now a museum.

It was recently restored inside and out.