The remaining piece of land enclosed by the present day Station Road, High Street, St Bryde's Road and the lane leading back down to Station Road, was leased by George Emslie, a mason at Insch, at Whitsunday 1865.
Whatever happened to poor George, we do not know, but by the next year the lease is taken over by John Davidson a stone dyker residing at Banchory Ternan. As with the other entrepreneurs, John Davidson built a property on one corner of his feu which consisted of commercial premises below and accommodation above. Who was the tenant originally is unsure, in 1871 there was a George Gibb, a watchmaker staying in one of the flats and by 1881 Andrew Troup, a shoemaker employing 1 man and 2 boys was staying in the property, but for long, the shop was tenanted by John Lindsay, a general merchant. The part of the property now occupied by the baker was built some time later than the adjoining shop property and housed four tenants. John Davidson built a dwelling house on the corner near the lane to the station and in 1871 it housed 4 tenants, his ageing parents, himself, Andrew Stewart, a flesher, and James Gauld, a member of the rural police.
Other tenants following John Lindsay, who died in May 1924 at the relatively early age of 62 years, included, MacFarquhar who was a chemist. The story goes that his lease at Davidsons was coming to an end and he had thoughts of going to Gellies property in Station Road, but A S Weir, the other chemist in the village bought over that property and MacFarquhar had to leave the village altogether. James Melvin ran a newsagents shop for many years with entry on the corner door, E A McPherson (Tom) the butcher who was followed by Bob Smith and then J & G Collie who eventually moved into their present shop at the other end of the building.
At the lower end of the property on the High Street was an iron building which served as a shop for John Barron, also a butcher who ran a thriving business, killing his own cattle in the old killing house below the Burnett Arms Hotel. The nucleus of what is now the Medical Centre was built in 1956 by R H Petrie as an electrical store. This was at the time when television was being introduced to the area with transmissions being via the mast at Core Hill near Oldmeldrum. With few television sets in the area it was not unusual for people to watch the programmes on the sets in the window of the shop. When Dr W G Todd came to the village in 1967 he purchased the property from Buster, and converted it to a surgery.
A study of some of the old photos in the village hall will show small gardens in front of the door of Davidson's Buildings. These disappeared when the High Street was widened. The property underwent considerable renovations in the 1930s when the Mansard roof was fitted, giving more accommodation upstairs. It is possible that the family portrayed in the picture in the hall was the High family whose daughter Elizabeth married Willam D Moir who was for long manager at the quarries. She died in 1912 at the age of 38.