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St. Andrews had three custom houses. The first dates to June, 1821, when St. Andrews was designated a Free Port - no longer a sub-port of Saint John. The second custom house was located in the Treadwell House, sometime in the 1830's and remained there until about 1867.In that year local lawyer and judge B. R. Stevenson erected a large building near the corner of Water and Princess Royal Streets. Although details are not certain, it seems as though the new Custom House and the telegraph office were located on the ground floor, and the "Reform Club" hall upstairs. The building came to be known as Stevenson's Hall. Mr. Stevenson seems to have kept his law offices in the downtown section of Water Street.
A perusal of the old newspapers shows that many important meetings took place in Stevenson's Hall over the years. When the roof collapsed several decades ago in a storm, workers discovered trunks of documents in the attic, which proved to be those of B. R. Stevenson. The microfilming of these documents formed the basis for the Charlotte County Archives, now located in the old Jail at Frederick and Parr Streets.