Heritage in the Hat: The oldest house
By Medicine Hat News on December 29, 2018.
“Which is the oldest house in Medicine Hat?” When asked that question, I had to admit that I didn’t know but would try to find out. Not to make the task too difficult, the house should be extant (surviving), the term used in conservation work. The town began next to the rail line and expanded outward into the downtown area and north River Flats. However, early houses located in that vicinity were sitting on valuable real estate and soon replaced by warehouses, hotels and commercial blocks. The most obvious benchmark is John and Jessie Ewart’s house on First Street, next to the Esplanade. This brick home narrowly missed being demolished and is now a Provincial Historic Resource. It was built in 1887 by H. C. Yuill using the first locally manufactured brick and the gingerbread ornamentation shows late Victorian influence. When the Richard C. Porter frame house was built in 1894 further west, the News reported only two houses existed between it and St. John’s: the Ewart house and the Mountain log house, now demolished. So, any house built after 1887 is out of the running. Prior to the arrival of the railroad in 1883, sawn lumber would have been difficult to obtain but logs could be hauled from the Cypress Hills and squared by hand. Louis Sands obtained timber rights in the Cypress Hills and set up his sawmill there in 1883. Former NWMP Ben McCord, who made the brick for the Ewart house, had a two storey log homestead on the east side of Seven Persons Creek, just north of the tracks. According to local historian Don Lefever, it was still there in the 1930s, but now long gone. W. T. Finlay opened the first lumber yard in 1884, thus facilitating wood frame construction. James Hargrave built his first house in 1883 but it was replaced by a masonry structure in about 1906. Hargrave’s neighbour to the west on Riverside was former NWMP Bob McCutcheon who was in the area before the railroad. Will Hargrave’s memoirs state that McCutcheon was operating the livery stable where the courthouse stands and only later took up the homestead west of the Hargrave property. One theory is that it is possibly a NWMP building relocated from Police Point although the arched lintels suggest masonry. This house might be a contender and a more formal evaluation would be able to date it precisely. The log structure known as the Woolfrey farmhouse, relocated to Echo Dale from the airport area, is certainly a candidate, possibly dating to early 1880s. It was built of squared pine logs likely from the Cypress Hills, for Harry Scatcherd, a business partner of William Cousins, on a homestead registered in 1888. It was purchased in 1901 by Albert Hughes, druggist, and called the “Race Course Ranch,” a place where cowboys and Indigenous tribesmen raced and traded horses. This was outside of town in those days but definitely a very early house. The old log structure behind the William Cousins house has been dated to 1883-1887 due the square head nails but may have been cobbled together from two earlier buildings given the differing styles of logs. Cousins was one of the earliest settlers (1883) and lived in a modest log residence but we don’t know if this building is it. It was on the property when Cousins purchased the lots in 1890 but he didn’t build his grand two storey house until 1896. Mystery! The hunt for the oldest house continues and suggestions are gratefully received! Malcolm Sissons is the Chair of the City’s Heritage Resources Committee. 10-9
