Fred Payton
Prince Albert Historical Society
Historians, archivists, and those interested in Saskatchewan history, and especially those who have researched the 1885 Resistance, will be familiar with the Marr House in Saskatoon. It served as a field hospital for the Dominion troops, was designated as a Municipal Heritage property by the City of Saskatoon in 1982, and in 2016 was designated as a National Historic site.
Prince Albert and area also played a significant role in that same Resistance, but it seemed a bit of a stretch for a researcher from Saskatoon to want to come to our archives to discuss the man who had built and owned the Saskatoon home.
Francis Alexander “Sandy” Marr was born in 1856 in Woodstock, Ontario. His parents were Scottish immigrants. Sandy Marr later moved to Winnipeg, where he became known as a stonemason and brick layer.
In the early 1880s, he heard with interest about the community of Saskatoon. It was said that growth in that community would require 500 new houses. Marr wanted to be amongst the contractors who would build those houses and came to Saskatoon with that in mind. What he found were a number of tents, twenty wooden buildings, and a population numbering around seventy people.
Undeterred by what he found, Marr brought his family from Winnipeg and began building many of the houses which were eventually required to accommodate the growing settlement. In addition to houses, he was also responsible for the construction of the first school, a stone edifice which now stands on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan campus, the old city hall, and King Edward school.
The Marr family initially lived with another family, the Garrisons, while he built the family home on what was to become 11th Street. Once the first two rooms were completed, the family moved in and lived in those rooms for the first winter. Eventually, Marr added a second storey with dormer windows and a mansard roof. The main floor had hardwood floors throughout, and leaded, bevelled glass windows on the main floor. It was a traditional Victorian design and, at the time, one of the three largest houses in the community.
It was as a result of its size that the Marr house was requisitioned by the Dominion government as one of three Saskatoon houses to be used as a field hospital. (Some documentation suggests that this was a decision made by Major General Middleton, while other documentation indicates that it was the staff of the surgeon-general in Ottawa. I prefer to adhere to the former opinion.)
Originally, the plan had been to transport the injured to a hospital in Swift Current, but the river was too low for the steamers to navigate, and the distance was too far, and would take too long, to transport the wounded soldiers. The three Saskatoon homes could be reached easily by water, and the soldiers could be carried by stretcher from the river up the hill to the houses.
The nurses who attended the wounded soldiers wore, for the first time in Canada, the Red Cross arm band on their sleeves. It was also the first time in Canada that nurses were officially recognised as a component of military field forces. It is also of note that the Red Cross flag which was flown in the window of the priest’s house in Batoche was the first time that that flag had been flown in Canada.
On July 3, 1885, the field hospitals were decommissioned, and the Marr family, who had been living with the Dulmage family, were allowed to move back into their home. Misfortune came to the family in the late 1880s when the mother died, leaving a one month old son for whom the elder daughter, Mary Elizabeth, had to care. As she was just thirteen years old, she was initially assisted by Mrs. Clark, and later by Mrs. Kusch. The family continued to reside in the house until 1892, when they moved to Prince Albert.
Francis Alexander “Sandy” Marr continued in the contracting business once the family arrived in this community. He was known to have built a number of houses in this community, as well as preparing the brickwork for the provincial jail in 1923, and the brickwork for the Land Titles office on 12th Street East (now a private residence on the corner of 12th Street and 3rd Avenue East).
Marr later moved back to Woodstock, Ontario, where his son lived and where he resided until his return to Prince Albert in January 1933. Marr had two daughters living in this community. One, Mrs. W. Prest, had a son who worked for CKBI radio and television (known as Buster), and the other Mrs. Louis E. Valade. The Valades’ daughter, known as Topsy, was the first child born in Prince Albert after it became a city in 1904. She is well remembered as being the First Princess at the initial Prince Albert Winter Carnival and, in the same year, being crowned Miss Prince Albert.
Louis Valade met his wife, Mary Elizabeth Marr, at a dance in the first City Hall. Built in 1892/93, that building was also used for local gala events, including operatic performances, conventions and dances. In an interview with Topsy (baptismal name Marguerite), she recalled how the orchestra would perform from the gallery, while those in attendance would dance on the floor of the Council chambers.
Louis Valade was a tailor with a shop on River Street. Most of the children born to him and Mary would eventually find employment in the store. Later, the family moved away from men’s apparel into fruits and vegetables. The Valade house was well known in Prince Albert. Louis wanted to “get away” from the business and noise of the community, and built his house on the brow of the hill. Hardwoods from Seattle were imported for the construction of the house, which had an unusual design for a local home. There is a tower at one end of the house, topped with a cone shaped roof. The house still stands at the top of the Central Avenue viaduct
Francis Alexander Marr died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Prest on March 11, 1935. He is interred in the South Hill Cemetery. He left to mourn him his two daughters living in Prince Albert, as well as a third daughter, Mrs. A. Ayre of Winnipeg, and two sons, Gordon of Woodstock, and Billy of Detroit.
It was a pleasant surprise to discover the nearer connection which Prince Albert has to the Marr house in Saskatoon. Those of us who volunteer in the archives certainly enjoyed the visit of the Saskatoon researcher.
