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"Charmed With Its Loveliness" ~ Late Century: 1860s - 1890s 211 boots and shoes, groceries, flour and feed, hardware, coal, oil, patent medicines and small wares." He also set down strict policies to ensure the continued success of his business with "interest at 8 percent per annum charged on overdue accounts." Even with transportation and communication advantages stimulating urban growth in areas such as Brantford, Mount Pleasant was not without its links to the outside world. The Brantford, Norfolk and Port Burwell Railway (BN&PBR), helped sustain commercial activities such as Devlin's store in the village. First incorporated as the Norfolk Railway Company in 1869, the name was changed to the BN&BPR in 1874 with authorization to construct a 50-mile line from Port Burwell north-east to Brantford via Tillsonburg, which opened for traffic in 1878. An 1879 advertisement for the line touted it as the "The New Short Route," and the quickest for shippers, who could "order all goods from the east" including Montreal, Quebec, Liverpool, Glasgow, London, New York and Boston. Passengers could make connections at Brantford with the Grand Trunk and the Great Western Railway. The line ran from the station in Brantford, then crossed the "back street" (Pleasant Ridge Road) about a mile north of the village, en route to Burford and Tillsonburg. At secondary stops such as Mount Pleasant the "trains stopped only when signalled or to let off passengers." Villagers could catch the train as it passed through eastbound at 9:00 in the morning and westbound at 5:50 in the evening. Besides this rail access to the outside world, the "Mohawk" post office endured in Mount Pleasant and served as the communication centre for the village. In 1871 William Eadie took over as postmaster from William Lloyd Jones as well as assuming the duties at the store attached to the post office. Four years later in 1875 Thomas Racey assumed the duties of postmaster for one year. The local dairyman Crossley Heaton took on the post for seven years and then passed it on to J. R. Ellis in 1882. But as Mount Pleasant residents soon realised, the written communication of the post, so vital for business and family connections, was soon to be surpassed by a new revolution in communication. And Mount Pleasant would play a key role in allowing this revolution to come to fruition.