‘The Spirit of Home’ focus of Heritage Day

How would you portray what “home” is? The town or city where you grew up might come to mind, or perhaps the familiar dwelling you will head to after work today.
No matter what images you drum up, the Heritage Canada Foundation wants us to rethink how closely our “homes” are linked to our sense of heritage and belonging.
Feb. 15 is Heritage Day across Canada and in conjunction with that celebration, the HCF is promoting “The Spirit of Home” to help Canadians become more aware of their inherited surroundings–both in private life and in the community in which they live.
I took a step into my community surroundings yesterday to discover what heritage was out there. And surprisingly, I learned a lot about the history of Fort Frances by embarking on a portion of a heritage tour available by pamphlet at the local museum.
Called the “Fort Frances Heritage Walking Tour,” it includes a map and detailed descriptions of more than 35 town buildings, residences, and plaque sites where history made its mark. In fact, the pamphlet has been around for a decade.
“It’s taking a moment to look at what’s around you,” museum curator Pam Hawley said of the importance of recognizing community heritage.
“And getting people to look up,” she chuckled, referring to the architecture near the top of the Rainy Lake Hotel, one of the buildings listed on the walking tour.
Built in 1929 and affectionately called “the grand old lady of Scott Street,” the Rainy Lake is the only local building with official designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.
“If you look at the top floor of that building, you’ll see Spanish Revival architecture,” Hawley noted.
Among the heritage residences on the map is that of Times publisher Jim Cumming and family, who live at 701 Victoria Ave.
A portion of the home’s history in the pamphlet reads, “This home was built in 1904 at a cost of $800 for, according to Land Titles, a Miss Hamilton and her illegitimate (the records use a more colourful term) son.”
Other former owners of the home included lawyer A.D. George and clothing merchant G. Lerman. The Cummings purchased it from Lerman’s son, Alec, in 1979.
“I went and looked up [it’s history] when I bought it,” Cumming said yesterday. “And there are a couple of things that are really neat about [its heritage].
“A.D. George had a history of frequently losing his house due to non-payment of mortgages and taxes, and was constantly bailed out by various lenders,” he noted.
“There were some prominent names of businessmen who had technically owned the home for one reason or another,” he added.
Cumming also made some interesting discoveries of heritage artifacts left behind by its former owners. Besides finding an old sleigh, irons for a cookstove, and an old ceramic whisky jug, he found a discrete hiding place where Lerman apparently had kept a valuable stash.
“In the basement he had a safe to keep money in,” said Cumming. “A piece of cement could be removed and underneath was a stainless steel paint can where he could put cash from the store.
“I don’t even think my kids are aware of it,” he added.
Another heritage home on the tour is at 320 Armit Ave. Built in 1929, it once belonged to Herman Holbeck, the owner of the Palace Hotel.
“He was a fine, old gentlemen,” said longtime local resident Harold Herrem, who bought the home from Holbeck in 1946. Although Herrem sold the home a year and a half later, he remembered its antique charm well.
“It was a beautiful house with oak doors that had bevelled plate glass in them,” Herrem recalled.
“And [Holbeck] had a neat arrangement for a doorbell,” he chuckled. “If the front doorbell rang, something on the wall in the kitchen would flop down.”
As in Cumming’s situation, Herrem discovered Holbeck had left something behind on a shelf in a clothes closet.
“I have an old hotel ledger I salvaged from the house,” he said. “It’s from 1914-16 and lists rooms at $1 a day including board.”
Another home of particular interest on the map is at 335 Nelson St., where until recently the Sisters of the Mission of St. Mary’s Parish resided. It once was the private home of William Bishop, who operated a liquor store and owned a number of properties in the area.
To get the history scoop on the other 11 homes on the heritage tour, all you curiousity-seekers out there will just have to stop by the museum and pick up a map.
It’s a great way to get to know “home.”
Meanwhile, in conjunction with the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corp., the HCF has launched nine postage stamps that give a snapshot of Canadian habitation history.
The stamps, which have been available for a couple of months, include examples of native and regional housing, settler and heritage preservation housing, multiple-unit housing, prefabricated and veterans’ housing, planned community housing, and homes of the future.