As a 20-year-old Irish apprentice shopkeeper, Timothy Eaton sailed from Ireland to settle with other family members in southern Ontario, Canada.

In 1865, with the help of his brothers, Robert and James, Timothy Eaton set up a bakery business in the town of Kirkton, Ontario, which went under after only a few months.

Starting in 1884, Eaton introduced Canada to the wonders of the mail-order catalogue, reaching thousands of small towns and rural communities with an array of products previously unattainable.

More than clothing, furniture, or the latest in kitchen gadgetry, the catalogue offered such practical items as milking machines, in addition to just about every other contraption or new invention desirable.

The Toronto statue is now housed by the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Winnipeg statue sits in the city's arena, Canada Life Centre (formerly MTS Centre and Bell MTS Place), in almost exactly the same spot where it stood in the now demolished Eaton's store (albeit one storey higher).

Museum-goers in Toronto and hockey fans in Winnipeg continue to rub Timothy Eaton's toe for luck.

Brian Rhodes portrays Eaton in "Invention Convention" (July 31, 2012), episode 9 of season 5 of the Canadian television period drama Murdoch Mysteries.