downtown Bathurst and was well known for its use of a pneumatic tube cash system that was among the last to be used in Canada. Rather than having a cash register at every counter, all transactions were handled by a central cashier who took payments and returned change through a tube system that connected to all the departments on all three floors. Kent's department store closed in September, 1990 after being in business for 106 years. The main building was subsequently torn down, but one of the warehouses continued to be used by the Bathurst Farmers Market. Other business interests W.J. Kent & Company founded or owned many other Bathurst area businesses in addition to the department store. They included the Gloucester Hotel, Carleton Hotel, Kent Motel, Gloucester Dry Cleaning and Laundry, Bathurst Laundromat, Kent Sales, Northern Storage, Bathurst Propane, Miramichi Propane, Bathurst Ready Mix, Kent Farms, Kent Trailer Park, Capital Lanes Bowling Alley, Kent Lodge Resort, Chaleur Beach Picnic Site and Trailer Park, Kent Shoes, Bay-View Trailer Park, Bay-View Drive-In Theater, and Kent Theater. Witness to the Great Fire of 1892 Kent was visiting St. John's, Newfoundland when he bore witness to the Great Fire of 1892. He authored a book about the event titled, A Directory Containing Names and Present Addresses of Professional Men, Merchants and Shopkeepers, Burnt out by the General Conflagration of July 8th, 1892; A Full Account of the Great Fire, the Customs' Tariff and Other Matter of General Information. Published in 1892, Kent's book came to be recognized as the definitive account of the disaster. Legacy Kent had seven children with his wife Christina Dutch Kent, but three of his four sons died at young ages. Morley Kent was killed in action over Belgium in 1918 while with the Royal Flying Corps in World War I. His oldest son, J. Harold Kent, survived combat duty in France during the war. He married Marjorie Young, the daughter of Frederick T. B. Young, and had two children. Harold, who managed the department store and who founded its catalogue business, was W.J. Kent's heir apparent until he died unexpectedly of pneumonia in 1928. George Kent, who then was being groomed to lead the business, died in 1942. Upon W.J. Kent's death in 1943, he was survived by his three daughters (Margaret, Adelaide, and Elizabeth) but management of all of Kent's business interests fell to his youngest son,