In 1873, the Brandenberger Block was built for William Brandenberger as seen in the image below which highlights the original building on Wellington Street Stratford. 

It began as simply a grocery store and a hotel, located where Blowes Travel currently resides. This first section of the block consisted of a three storey building, which still stands tall today with a lot of its original features, like the store front windows, still intact. 

Throughout the years this section of the block housed a variety of tenants (1876-1891), ranging from stove dealers, to ladies clothing stores to shoe stores and more! Next, the Brandenberger Block added their second bay, which is now where Blowes Stationery & Office Supply resides. 

William Brandenberger's wife Caroline added this block, turning it into a hotel named the German House upstairs with a grocery store at the base level of the building. Caroline continued the successful business of hotel-keeper, grocer and landlord all throughout the 1870's, while her husband and his brother Albert were horse-traders (there was even a stable behind the hotel!). Throughout the years there were many new tenants within the store front, ranging from a pork dealer, to multiple different grocery stores, to a CNR city ticket office, until it eventually was taken over by the first generation of Blowes owners and became Stan Blowes Books and Gifts and Travel. 

The final bay of the Brandenberger Block was added in the mid 1880's with a produce dealer opening up in the retail portion, and Caroline Brandenberger and her family continuing to reside upstairs. Throughout the years, the retail portion of this bay has ranged from a tin shop, to a shoe shop, to a grocery store, to a book shop, and then eventually the first Blowes store opened in 1949 called Stan Blowes Book and Gift Shop. Currently, this is where Blowes Cards & Gifts is located.   Source: Blowes History Site   http://www.blowescardsandgifts.ca/

John Luke Poett, Stratford vet with NWMP 

Plaque (cast 1979) reads:

Brandenberger Block: (Left 1881- Right 1870). Erected by W. M. Brandenberger included amongst the people and businesses here was John Luke Poett, first veterinary surgeon of the North West Mounted Police.

The mounted police force, enacted by legislation in 1873 to police the Northwest Territories, "marched" west from Toronto in June 1874, by train, accompanied by 244 horses under the care of John Luke Poett, a veterinary surgeon from Stratford. Poett, an 1860 Edinburgh graduate, had practised in Ontario since 1869, first in London, Ont., then in Stratford. One of the first veterinary surgeons in the Territories and the first graduate veterinary surgeon of the force, Poett served under a commission (1874-77 and 1884-95), latterly as a staff sergeant. 

 John Luke Poett. Vet in the Saddle. 

This is the story of John Luke Poett, the first Veterinary Surgeon of the NWMP. He located his last private office in this building in the photo below of Wellington S in Stratford. Source: Stratford and District Historical Society. 

Book  Source: Vet in the Saddle.