
Dave Baxter
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Winnipeg Sun
A historic Manitoba house with ties to Louis Riel’s provisional government is no more, after a massive fire tore through the home on Thursday, now leaving one local historian to wonder if more should be done to protect historic homes in this province.
“The loss is one more example of our inability to preserve and protect artifacts of local history,” RM of St. Andrews-based historian and Heritage Advisor for the St. Andrews Heritage Centre Rob Sarginson said on Friday.
According to the St. Andrews Fire Department, more than 30 firefighters from the St. Andrews, Clandeboye and West St. Paul fire departments responded to a house fire on Thursday morning around 8:30 a.m., on River Road, a road situated along the Red River in the RM of St. Andrews, north of Winnipeg.
The blaze was burning at 548 River Road, a home known as Firth House, and also commonly referred to as Hay House. The home was designated as a Provincial Heritage Site in Manitoba in 1987.
According to the province, construction of the home began in 1861 by Thomas Firth, a Hudson Bay Company (HBC) labourer who retired to the Parish of St. Andrews, where a community of former HBC employees formed a wealthy enclave within the Red River Settlement.
In 1911, the house was purchased by businessman Edward Henry George Gunter (E.H.G.G) Hay, who was a member of Louis Riel’s provisional government, and served in the first Legislative Assembly in Manitoba. Family members and descendants of Hay continuously occupied the site until 1975.
Firth House was also one of only a few stone structures that remain from Manitoba’s pioneering Red River Settlement, and an illustration of the large dwellings that once dotted the banks of the Red River between Winnipeg and Selkirk, where former HBC employees established their enclave, according to the province.
The Firth House remained privately owned since being declared a historic site in 1987.
Sarginson called the home “a gem among the other heritage jewels along River Road in St Andrews,” but said many were concerned that it had fallen into disrepair in recent years.
“Fires happen, but when neighbours warn the municipality that a building is under threat, officials should be able to take steps to protect it,” he said.
“Vandalism is only one cause of the destruction of historical houses. Most often their demise is due to neglect. Governments that value the impact of heritage tourism, and citizens who want to conserve and restore heritage buildings should be able to apply special measures to intervene when a significant building is under threat.
“You can’t recreate 160 year old houses,” Sarginson added. “You can only preserve them, once gone; they have no more stories to tell.”
Officials say they home was completely destroyed by the fire, but was empty at the time it went up in flames, and no one was injured, but have not released any further information about the cause of the fire. St. Andrews Fire Department Chief Ken Peacock did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.