28 — Historical Guidebook of the Evangeline Region

Arsenault & Gaudet Limited, the general store in Wellington, around 1910. The store was built in 1899 by Joseph-Félix Arsenault af- ter the death of his father and business partner, Senator Joseph-Octave Arsenault. The store was taken over by Fideéle T. Arsenault and Emmanuel Gaudet in 1906. Arsenault & Gaudet Limited served the area until 1972. For a long time, it was one of the largest rural stores on the Island. The building was demolished in 1980. The Wellington Cornet Band, directed by Arséne Poirier, is playing in front of the store. (Jean-Paul Arsenault Collection)

Senator Joseph-Octave Arsenault (1828-1897). The first Acadian mer- chant in the Evangeline Region, Joseph-Octave Arsenault, opened a store in Abram’s Village in 1865 and another one in Wel- lington in 1874. He sat in the provincial Legislature for 28 years before being appointed to the Senate in 1895. Thus far, he is the only Acadian Senator from the Island. (Musée acadien Collection)

Small businesses

The Evangeline Region has seen the growth of a number of small and medium-sized businesses, the first and most im- portant of which were the mills in Egmont Bay and Welling- ton. The McNally family saw mill and flour mill, established in the 1840s, operated for a century in Egmont Bay. Built around 1845, the mills in Wellington were acquired in 1859 by John Barlow, who expanded his operation to include a carding mill, a flour mill and a saw mill.

Shipyards once dotted the coastline of Prince Edward Island since shipbuilding constituted a major industry for most of the 19th century. There were at least two ship- yards on Egmont Bay between 1850 and 1880. One was located in Maximeville and belonged to Angus McMillan, a major Island shipbuilder with a base of operations in nearby Summerside. The other shipyard, which was owned by N.J. Brown, was in the village of Egmont Bay.

In 1865, Joseph-Octave Arsenault opened a store in Abram’s Village, the first in the Evangeline Region. In 1874, after the railway was built, he opened a second store in Wel- lington which dominated the local trade for many years. The store was called Arsenault & Gaudet Limited from 1906 to 1972. In the