It’s a long tramp

The Long Tramp as we known him today, at 2579 Portage Avenue at Aldine Street, Winnipeg. [1]

You can’t miss him. The Long Tramp is famous, as is Carman Ruttan, who at one point had his name painted across the full length of his drug store. 

Carman Ruttan’s mural is considered Winnipeg’s oldest. It changed over the years, but remains a favourite. (WFP, July 26, 1975)

It is hard to date the company’s start and its mural. Some sources say 1923, others 1936. Carman Ruttan established his business soon after graduating in 1919, [2] and “is listed in the Henderson Directory as both the resident and business operator at 2579 Portage Ave. between 1923 and 1952.” [3] Construction plans date the building to 1923. An advertisement placed by Carman Ruttan in 1938 celebrated 25 years of pharmaceutical study, which matches the 1923 date. The U of M’s newspaper, The Manitoban, confirms it, reporting on November 24, 1922 that, “Sturgeon Creek pharmacy is now in the able hands of Carman Ruttan.” [4]

While the apothecary may have been established in 1923, it seems the mural itself was added later, after the business was firmly established, which makes sense. The original artist of the Long Tramp was Leslie Charles Smith, the son of loyal customers. Smith once worked for MacDonald Aircraft before opening his own painting business. Born on October 23, 1914, the artist was about 21 at the time, which dates the mural to around 1936. [5]

Leslie Charles Smith, the artist of the original Long Tramp. [6]
 

Coincidentally, a 1947 newspaper ad announced the 21st anniversary of Ruttan’s popular remedy for poison ivy. This means it was formulated in 1936, about the time the Long Tramp appeared.

1936 was a notable year for Carman Ruttan. (WFP, July 7, 1947)

According to reporter Lorraine Arnott, Ruttan had the sign repainted every five or ten years. She recalled seeing “a large picture showing all the different tramps that had been painted there—three or four rows of them—maybe eight pictures in each row.” [7] 

“54 miles to the next drug store.” The earliest known photo of the Long Tramp, c. 1941. The small sign between the tramp and the window advertises Ex-Lax. [8]

The mural attracted a lot of attention, and so did Carman Ruttan’s drugs and remedies. His scientific knowledge—of potions, pills and poultices, tonics, tablets and tinctures, supplements and salves, elixirs and herbs—was extensive, and customers swore by the mysterious, exclusive concoctions he developed. Ruttan was a gold medallist in Pharmacy, but was also a homeopath, herbalist, and chemist who had travelled to China. He was impressed with the medicines and practices he explored there.

The pharmacy was clearly like no other. Its windows were always covered, hours were limited, and its products were unique. The business was successful and became well-known far and wide. He served distant customers by mail, and encouraged local folks to place orders that way in bad weather. 

Arnott reminisced about visiting the drugstore, a cheaper alternative than a doctor’s visit in the days before socialized medicine:

It was dark in there because it was all dark wood. There were shelves all around the room, and it always smelled good. Carman wore a white coat, like a doctor. Every time we walked in the door he’d say, “Well, I declare!”

Mom used to get a vitamin mixture from him—“beef, iron, and wine.” It looked like blood and it was awful stuff. [9]

In 1974 Winnipeg Free Press columnist Jimmy King recalled his childhood days at the drug store:

Ruttan’s apothecary shop was our meeting place, malt shop, and general hangout. Even then the colorful druggist had an international reputation and did a mail order business from all over the world. Carman Ruttan was a great jazz enthusiast and we used to discuss famous musicians and the latest recordings whenever we had a chance to chat. [10]

Early on, Ruttan advertised regularly, using small classified ads. He expressed every confidence in his medicines, and guaranteed results. He was especially proud of his poison ivy remedy and cure for stomach problems. He even offered products for horses, and could remedy the pesky affliction of—being a woman.

Ad copy from the 1930s Winnipeg Free Press (WFP) and the Winnipeg Tribune (Trib) tells of the wide range of products and services he offered: 

• Any herb unobtainable elsewhere. (WFP, Mar. 19, 1932)
• Kill Poison ivy, Poison oak and like skin irritation in four days and enjoy complete immunity for balance of season. Treatment both internal and external. Complete. $1.00. Results guaranteed by graduate druggists. (Trib, Aug. 11, 1934)
• Definite stomach complaints—Definite results in a definite period. Take Sto-Sal—absolutely different. Results guaranteed by graduate druggists. (Trib, Aug. 11, 1934)
• Carman-Ruttan Drug Co. Manufacturers, dispenses, imports a complete line of homeopathic treatments. Phone 62 919 for delivery. (WFP, May 15, 1934)
• Age never dates a woman. Prolonged stubborn headaches, hysteria, frayed, high strung nerves, skin disturbances, profuse menstruation, embarrassing disturbance of moisture glands, irregularities of all kinds result from working conditions or menopause. Easy and quickly corrected naturally with Colloidal Remedy. Results guaranteed by Graduate Druggists. (Trib, Oct. 31, 1936)
• Kill poison ivy, poison oak, hay fever, ragweed, plant allergies, in five days. Enjoy complete immunity for balance of season. $1.00 complete internal treatment. Results guaranteed by Graduate Druggists. (Trib, June 2, 1937)
• To veterinary doctors in Manitoba. We believe we have a remedy that will check this new horse ailment. Sent on approval to the first 23 requests. Check progress at once. Effective in 5 days Carman-Ruttan, Graduate Druggists, Winnipeg. The most complete drug store in Western Canada. (WFP, Aug. 28, 1937)
• Imagine a stomach treatment so perfect that it works where other remedies fail. That’s “STOSAL”—Carman-Ruttan’s own original study. May be given to children. Harmless, yet positive in effect. Assists nature. No case too difficult. Carman-Ruttan, Graduate Druggists, Winnipeg. “The Chemists that made Poison Ivy harmless.” (Trib, Oct. 13, 1937)
• Chromic coughs, bronchitis, disorders of respiratory tract yield readily to Vitamin and Colloidal treatment. Entirely different, entirely definite in action. Effective through special study as to type with Colloidal Chemics (Ruttan). (Trib, Aug. 16, 1938)
• The pores of skin are exits, not entrances. To correct certain skin disorders, plant allergics, blood conditions permanently, it is necessary to correct the blood with Colloidal Chemics (Ruttan) internally. (Trib, Mar. 16, 1938)
• Kill Poison Ivy … Poison Oak … and like skin allergies in five days. Enjoy complete immunity. $2 complete internal treatment. Results guaranteed by graduate druggists. Allergies, sensitivities, immunity metabolism, being closely related, are responsible for entirely different remedies in hay fever, ragweed, poisoning, certain respiratory ailments, such as asthma, bronchitis, certain rheumatism and arthritic complaints, stomach disorders and hemorrhoids. (WFP, June 13, 1938)
• Carman-Ruttan, the first pharmaceutical chemists in Canada–U.S.A. to discover internal treatment for Poison Ivy. Still the first to guarantee results in all cases. The following home remedies are highly recommended because they serve a definite purpose—because they are advanced pharmacological process—because they are harmless, yet exact remedies for both cause and effect in the majority. Hay Fever Antigen, Poison Ivy Antigen, Ragweed Antigen, Allergy Antigens for both Skin and Respiratory Complaints, Skin Metaboloids, Respiratory Metaboloids for certain asthmas, Rheumatic Metaboloids and Sto-Sal Stomach Remedy gives a natural stomach balance without upsetting other secretions—contains no soda or bismuth and gives results because it assists Nature with tonic effects. Our formulae have always been different, having been developed entirely by us during a period of twenty-five years thorough and extensive pharmaceutical study. (WFP, Aug. 22, 1938)
• Carman-Ruttan Pharmaceutical Chemists, Winnipeg. Said to have the largest assortment of herbs in Canada. Anything difficult to manufacture or otherwise unobtainable pharmaceutically. We manufacture a kidney remedy of exceeding virtue. (WFP, Feb. 21, 1939)
• Why Hay Fever? Why Poison Ivy? Why Ragweed? Why sensitivities of the skin and respiration? Pharmaceutical Science has a simple positive answer. (WFP, Aug. 17, 1939)

As Carman Ruttan’s reputation grew, so did his business. He did well enough by the 1950s to move his home and business to a newer two-storey brick building on busy Madison Street at Portage Avenue. 

The building at 2579 Portage was put up for sale in December 1950. The property was soon rented to Jack Andrews, who lived and operated his own drugstore there until 1957.

The building was leased, not sold. (WFP, Dec. 20, 1950)

2579 Portage Avenue operating as Jack Andrews Drugs, c. 1955. The Long Tramp was repainted by Jack Andrews himself. [11]

According to Dexter Boyd (Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association), Jack Andrews and Carman Ruttan had a dispute, but not because they were business rivals. 

Jack Andrews became a tenant in the building and he liked the long tramp sign, which had become faded by this time. Mr. Andrews was a sign painter by trade also, so he repainted it! Pharmacists in those days would do their own signs, and Jack was quite talented at it. Eventually Andrews got into a dispute with Carman Ruttan about the tramp, because Ruttan wanted to be paid a royalty on the use of the Tramp; he saw that the Tramp was ‘working for’ Andrews. Andrews, on the other hand, had the feeling that he had brought the Tramp back to life and was already paying rent to Ruttan—he wasn’t about to pay any more. That is certainly part of the reason that Jack Andrews moved out at the beginning of October of 1957. [12]

Jack Andrews moved his operation to 2029 Portage Avenue in the Deer Lodge area. The move negated the long tramp’s claim that it was “54 miles west to the next drug store”; Jack Andrews’ business was a mere 1-1/2 miles (2.5 km) west, a four-minute drive. A subsequent move was to 3223 Portage Avenue in the Kirkfield Park/Westwood area. A different kind of herbalist business is there now: a Cannabis store.

By February of 1951 Carman Ruttan was advertising his own new location: 1675 Portage Avenue at Madison Street. 

In 1951 Carman Ruttan moved his home and business to a more substantial glass and brick building in a busier location. (Trib, Feb. 3, 1951)

At the time, Madison Street was a major thoroughfare and the route over the St. James Bridge. [13]

Madison Street in 1935, looking north just past the Assiniboine River. [14]

Looking south across the original St. James Bridge, August, 1937. [15]

Less than 12 years later, Carman Ruttan moved back to his original building at 2579 Portage Avenue. He didn’t have a choice; his Madison Street property was expropriated. 

By 1960, the old St. James Bridge was a two-way bottleneck trying to handle over 21,400 vehicles per day. [16] Increasing traffic to Polo Park, the arena, stadium, airport, and points north only added to the congestion. The solution was a new northbound span built next to the old Madison Street bridge, which would then be southbound only. The new bridge opened on December 15, 1962. With approaches and an overpass, it had been a massive construction project.

Ruttan’s property on Madison Street had to go. It was clearly in the way. (Google maps)

Ruttan’s building was among the more than 20 businesses and 65 homes that were expropriated ahead of the bridge construction. Most were on Madison, and the two streets to the west of it: Kensington and Bradford. Specific addresses were not confirmed well ahead of time. St. James mayor Thomas Findlay told the Free Press, “What we want to do is protect the homeowners from the speculator who comes along and buys the property for a lot less than it is worth, then sells it to metro for more than it is worth.” [17]

Findlay acknowledged that some owners would profit, while others would “lose their shirts.” In the newspaper’s list of several businesses in the cross hairs, Carman Ruttan Drugs was the first mentioned.

Businesses liable to be removed for the bridge and its approaches from Madison west include: Carman Ruttan Drugs, Powers Regulator Co., Winnipeg Piano House Ltd., Mutual Acceptance Corporation Ltd., Allstate Insurance Co., Progress Painting and Decorating Co., Canada Diebold Safe Co., Monarch Factory sales and Service Ltd., Dr. A. Goldstein, Chicken Delight of Canada Ltd., Bells Frozen Foods Ltd.

From Kensington west: St. John Ambulance Council for Manitoba, Snap-on-tools of Canada Ltd., St. James Car Mart, St. James Auto Service.

The same article said, “The businesses along Portage Avenue will have to take care of themselves. The mayor said that St. James wanted to help them but most of them had their own lawyers and would do as they were advised.”

Photo from 1964, two years after the new St. James Bridge was completed. Unlike Ruttan’s building, the Viscount Gort Hotel, built in 1960, was spared, but wound up surrounded by lanes of traffic [18]

Understandably, Carman Ruttan’s ads strongly suggest he was not at all happy about having to move from Madison Street back to his old address. It was not easy to relocate his home and business, and clearing out the stockroom was a challenge in itself. He had every reason to feel disgruntled.

Free cod liver oil! Anyone? Anyone? (WFP, Aug. 9, 1962)

It seems no one was lining up for free cod liver oil. (Trib, Aug. 27, 1962)

This ad gives a glimpse of the many products in the drug store. Cod liver oil remained on the shelves. (Trib, Sept. 18, 1962)

Ruttan did not rebuild. He took a long tramp back to 2579 Portage Avenue and stayed there. (WFP, Dec. 12, 1962) 

The moving date was only 10 days away. The walls weren’t closing in, they were coming down. (Trib, Dec. 21, 1962)

Ads didn’t usually include a phone number, but a new one needed mention especially when the business relocated. (Trib, Mar. 7, 1963)

This small ad ran often in the brutal winter of 1965–66. It was oddly prescient. On March 4, one of the worst blizzards in Manitoba’s history struck. (WFP, Feb. 21, 1966)

The blizzard’s wind and heavy snow brought down the canopy of this Deer Lodge drug store at 2061 Portage Avenue east of Carman Ruttan’s. [19]

Carman Ruttan had been working for over 35 years and was 72 years old when he placed a help wanted ad:

Ruttan had employees, but no succession plan. He never retired. (WFP, Sept. 9, 1971)

Henry Carman Ruttan

Always curious and industrious, H. C. Ruttan showed great promise from the start. The University of Manitoba 1918–1919 yearbook gave this graduate profile of its gold medal winner in Pharmacy:

Carman is a member of an old Canadian family, his great grandfather having sat in the first assembly of the Confederation of Canada. Likewise Carman sat in the U.M.S.A. council as Senior Stick for Pharmacy, but his duties were not limited entirely to this office. During this year he was a member of the Y.M.C.A. Executive for Manitoba University, second vice-president of the Varsity Curling Club, a member of the Scientific Club, and always managed to be present at all social functions.

Although born in Prince Edward County, Ontario, and having spent his first happy years in the East, he received the major part of his education in Winnipeg, graduating from Kelvin in 1915. While attending Kelvin, Carman decided to enroll in Pharmacy, and consequently started working several nights a week, and he is still working. He is just as enthusiastic as ever about his profession as when he started, and let us all hope that much will be heard from him in later years. [20]

Ruttan was born on December 27, 1898 in Sophiasburgh, Prince Edward County, Ontario. He married Alberta Elizabeth Roberts in Winnipeg on November 16, 1922. The couple had two daughters, Lillian and Joanne. On March 18, 1947 he married Anna Dorothy O’Keefe in Montana.

Ruttan died at age 74 on December 1, 1973, five months after his wife’s death on June 28. They are buried in the St. James Cemetery.

Carman Ruttan’s obituary. He and his wife Anna both died in 1973. (WFP, Dec. 3, 1973)

Ruttan would have been disappointed to learn that China did not take the store’s contents as his will specified. Instead, the University of Manitoba, his second choice, accepted the estate’s herb collection.

It is unfortunate that Ruttan’s formulas were lost when he died. It would be interesting to explore what the University of Manitoba still has. (WFP, July 26, 1975)

Bob Buchanan’s “The Murals of Winnipeg” website provides the most thorough history of the Long Tramp.

Following Ruttan’s death, the drug store was purchased from his estate by Donald Jacks, and used as the national headquarters for his chain of tax preparation offices (U & R Taxes). Mr. Jacks had lived in Brandon as a boy, and always watched for the Long Tramp when the family drove home from Winnipeg. Don’s son Al recalled the building and its mural, telling Buchanan:

When we first bought the building we were approached by the media and asked if we were going to paint over it. No way! It’s a historic landmark!

I was given the task of cleaning out the building. I found all kinds of old recipes, and racks and racks of bottles with stuff in them that didn’t have names on them, only numbers—he must have used some kind of code system to keep his works a secret.

We had Harry Schimke, my wife Evelyn’s father, repaint the Tramp. He was a masonry serviceman that did bricklaying, but was also an artist and was willing to try his hand at repainting the tramp. We repainted it right away soon after taking possession of the building in about 1977. [21]

The result is essentially the mural we see today. No longer a drug store, and with others nearby, the sign reads “54 miles to Portage” instead.

The building changed hands in 1992, when Brian Webb bought it from U & R Taxes. In 1994 he had the Long Tramp registered as a trademark. That same year, the mural was restored. When stucco was applied to the building, the mural was carefully masked off and saved. [22]

The mural being restored in 1994. (L-R): Mike LaBelle, Alfred Widmer, Stef Johnson. Photo by Joe Bryska, Winnipeg Free Press (posted on the Murals of Winnipeg website). [23]

With his science long lost, the fascination with the Long Tramp mural may well be Ruttan’s remaining legacy. The next time you drive by the building, give a salute to the Long Tramp and the ingenious pharmacist behind it. 

Sources

1. Bob Buchanan (1953–2023), “2579 Portage Avenue,” The Murals of Winnipeg. http://www.themuralsofwinnipeg.com/Mpages/SingleMuralPage.php?action=gotomural&muralid=1 
2. Manfred Jager, “Famous Portage Avenue landmark to continue his 75-year-old tramp,” Winnipeg Free Press Community Review, October 5, 1994. 
3. Fred Morris, “Aldine Street best-known for famous mural,” Winnipeg Free Press Community Review, October 5, 2022. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/correspondents/2022/10/05/aldine-street-best-known-for-famous-mural 
4. “Pharmacy Grads. Out in Wide, Wide World,” The Manitoban, November 24, 1922.
5. Bob Buchanan 
6. Bob Buchanan 
7. Lorraine Arnott, “Herbalist’s mural is a city landmark,” The Senior Paper, April 2012. https://theseniorpaper.com/online/2023/02/herbalists-mural-is-a-city-landmark/
8. Bob Buchanan 
9. Lorraine Arnott 
10. Jimmy King, “Night Beat,” Winnipeg Free Press, August 17, 1974, p. 13
11. Bob Buchanan 
12. Bob Buchanan 
13. H.M. Gousha Company. “Street Map of The City of Winnipeg Manitoba, 1961” in Manitoba Historical Maps, Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/3922733505 
14. John Dobbin, “Viscount Gort, Polo Park and St. James Bridge History,” Observations, Reservations, Conversations blog. https://johndobbin.blogspot.com/2019/08/viscount-gort-polo-park-and-st-james.html 
15. “Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. James Bridges (Century Street, Winnipeg),” Manitoba Historical Society. https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/stjamesbridge.shtml 
16. “Historic Sites of Manitoba”
17. “Evict 65 For Bridge,” Winnipeg Free Press, October 9, 1961, p. 3
18. John Dobbin 
19. Ken Kristjanson, “March 4th 1966 Blizzard,” Memories from the Lake, March 4, 2022. https://www.memoriesfromthelake.net/blizzard?lightbox=dataItem-l0pjcx3r1 
20. University of Manitoba, Ontario History, https://www.ontariohistory.org/university-manitoba-1919.htm 
21. Al Jacks, quoted by Bob Buchanan 
22. Bob Buchanan 
23. Manfred Jager

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Don’t fence me in

When perusing archived issues of the Pilot Mound Sentinel, certain patterns become evident (aside from Ron Tuckwell teasing Pete Fraser). Another theme is the preponderance of want ads reporting stray animals, whether lost or found.

Typically, whoever came across a stray would advertise it, and the owner was expected to retrieve the animal and pay for the ad. A single ad insertion cost 50 cents, or it could run three times for $1.00. Three times was often the case; animals could be lost for several weeks before owners tracked them down.

A few runaways headed for the Fraser farm. 

June 1, 1944. A collie? Pete was probably tempted to keep it.

April 18 1946. A collar, but no tag? Not smart.

Buzz: “A Faithful Friend and A Bad Enemy.” There’s a story there somewhere.

A collection of such ads over the years tells us that it wasn’t just dogs roaming the countryside.

Compilation from 1918. Three calves showed up at the Fraser farm. Maybe Collie was herding them.

Most ads were placed by those who found, rather than lost, strays. Perhaps the owners took a while to notice their animals were missing, or thought they’d return on their own. Many of these ads ran for weeks. 

The situation in 1919 proved no better.

Livestock were escaping, and included pigs, cows, steers and bulls. J. Jillett from Snowflake was looking for four missing calves, but these ones didn’t head for the Fraser farm.

The Sentinel was making good money from want ads. In 1921 cows and pigs were on the loose again, and owners were looking for their wayward calves.

In June of 1922 Gordon Fraser would have been distressed to find one of his mares missing.

It seemed the animals were outsmarting their owners. Fencing seems inadequate. In 1914 Robert Frost wrote, “Good fences make good neighbours.” (Mending Wall). They also keep the damn pigs and cows in.

Fencing Time indeed! James Winram recognized a sales opportunity in this May 17, 1923 Sentinel advertisement. Cheap fences would not do the job.

The Pilot Mound Council certainly took note. Keep your animals controlled and quit driving across sidewalks:

May 24, 1923, Sentinel. The long arm of the law addresses chaos in the streets.

Editor Tuckwell warns marauding chickens to cut it out.

Winram continued to advertise fencing. His ad below made no mention of wandering livestock. Instead, farmers were told that “Decaying Buildings and disreputable Fences” would degrade a farm’s value.

Sentinel, June 11, 1925. Owners of stampeding chickens, take note.

Maybe Winram had Pete Fraser’s chickenwire fence in mind. It was no showpiece, but to be fair, telephone poles were the nearest thing to a tree on this farm.

Murray and Jessie pose with Collie while Spot wanders to the hen house to keep those birds in check.

1925–29. One wonders about the missing horse that “has a lump on side of head.”

The pigs were staying put, but horses and cows were on the move, along with one fox terrier.

It’s as though Roy Rogers was spurring them on. 

Roy Rogers Sings Don’t Fence Me In | Hollywood Canteen | Warner Archive (3:26)

There were dozens of agricultural publications that farmers could consult for information and advice. In a thesis entitled “Agricultural Periodicals Published in Canada 1836–1960,” Dorothy Mary Duke identifies 68 general agriculture journals, and another 143 addressing more specific topics like General Biology, Plant Sciences, Animal Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Food and Nutrition, Dairy Industry, and Social Sciences.

Down east, settlers had ready supplies of timber for fencing, and publications like The Canada Farmer gave specific instructions on how to build a fence. The first step was to choose the right species of wood. Cedar was preferred, with black ash a close second, but chestnut, hickory, oak, elm and bass-wood could be considered. It was assumed that fences would be “in the worm, or zig-zag style,” with proper corners that would not breached by livestock or damaged by wind. Illustrations showed how to split a log, and a series of figures showed varieties of rail fences.

“Fencing,” in The Canada Farmer, Vol. II, No. 7, April 1, 1865, pp. 1–2

The publication presented a cheap fence for use on the Western prairies, where winds could be fierce.

As Pilot Mound farmers discovered, “Many cattle are taught breachiness by the insufficiency of fences.”

“Persevere” and “Succeed” were fitting mottos for the Farmer’s Advocate. With a Winnipeg office, it often included content from the prairies, where challenges differed from those in Ontario.

Founded in 1866, The Farmer’s Advocate and Home Magazine was published by the William Weld Company Limited in London, Ontario, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Like The Canada Farmer, an annual subscription cost $1.00, but the Advocate included content for the entire family, not just for the farmer himself. Its masthead stated it “Is impartial and independent of all cliques or parties, handsomely illustrated with original engravings, and furnishes the most profitable, practical and reliable information for farmers, dairymen, gardeners and stockmen, of any publication in Canada.” 

Farm publications included several pages of advertisements.

The Farmer’s Advocate and Home Magazine, April 1, 1902, p. 283

Among the products advertised was this fence machine, “The Greatest Invention of the Age,” available in Winnipeg.

The Farmer’s Advocate and Home Magazine, 1892

The Farmer’s Advocate and Home Magazine, April 17, 1913, p. 732

Wire fences you could just roll out would have appealed to those like Pete Fraser with nary a tree on the farm. Wire fences were more expensive than rail fences, but were quick to install and required little maintenance.

In 1874, The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculture also addressed the subject of fencing, among other things. While it purported to be less than “a treatise on the Principles and Practice of Agriculture,” it came close to that in its 500+ pages. Its title page stated it would provide:

The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculture, 1874, excerpt from the title page

An important topic included “Fences,” of course. Over ten pages were devoted to the subject, and included an important reminder about rail fences:

The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculture, 1874, p. 289

Pilot Mound farmers would do well to heed this piece of advice.

In discussing “How Capital May be Invested on the Farm to Bear Good Interest,” the experts again wrote of the importance of fences:

1874, The Canadian Farmer’s Manual of Agriculture, p. 18

Fence or no fence, some runaways refused to be penned. In 1906 an ad in the Sentinel would not have helped newly-arrived settler William Davey find his lost collie. The dog was clearly not happy about moving to Manitoba. When this dog strayed, it really strayed.

The Sentinel, June 28, 1906. (Many Pilot Mounders were from the same area of Ontario. Pete Fraser attended teachers’ college in Meaford.)

Whether the dog was sent back to Manitoba is not recorded. Imagine its disappointment if that was the case.

But not every collie wanted to run away…

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The Ontario house

 

The Reid house in 1942, near Paisley, Ontario. Peter Reid came to Canada in the 1850s, and married Christena Taylor in 1860. She arrived in Canada in 1851 or 1852, and had known Peter back in Scotland.

Naturally, settlers needing to build houses looked to their homelands for inspiration.

Since a great many of the early settlers in Ontario were from the United Kingdom, it is not surprising that their buildings often contain details found in English Gothic and medieval architecture. Many elements of stone buildings in England are translated into wood on cottages and smaller residences in Ontario Gothic Revival buildings. The overall effect is eclectic and usually ornate. The Gothic Cottage is probably the most pervasive Ontario residential style prior to 1950. [1]

The Reid home is one such gem that exemplifies the distinct “Ontario cottage” (aka “Ontario house”) architectural style:

The Ontario cottage is a style of house that was commonly built in 19th century Ontario, Canada. The Ontario cottage became popular in the 1820s and remained a common style until the end of that century. They were mainly built in rural and small town areas, less so in larger cities. This was the period in which European settlers first populated the interior of the province, and throughout it Ontario cottages are some of the oldest houses.

An Ontario cottage is essentially a regency-style structure, with symmetrical, rectangular plans. The style was efficient and easy to build for settlers with limited resources. The typical cottage had one-and-a-half storeys and large windows, made possible by relatively cheap mass-produced glass. The most distinctive feature of the Ontario cottage was the single gable above the door in the centre of the building. By the second half of the 19th century Gothic had become the most popular architectural style in Canada. Many Ontario cottages built during this era incorporate Gothic ornamentation, most often added to the gable. [2]

The Clendenning Bayview Farm home in Blenheim, Ontario. Built in 1877, it features a fine example of a Gothic bargeboard. These decorative elements added character and helped strengthen the gable.

In her book The Architecture of a Provincial Society: Houses of Bruce County, Ontario 1850–1900, Ruth Cathcart includes a current photo of the Reid house with her text:

The Donald Reid House c. 1875

Elderslie Township Concession 5 Lots 12 & 13 

Here is the quintessential Ontario Gothic farmhouse, standing in an open field and framed by huge old poplar trees twice its size. The total effect of the house in its site is one of severe restraint. However, white-painted brickwork around the openings, the corners and the beltcourse adds a note of cheerfulness to the utterly simple design of the structure.

Peter Reid (1829–1896), a pioneer blacksmith, married Christena Taylor (1839–1925) in Paisley in 1860. The original blacksmith shop on the property is still intact and in use. This farm has been in the Reid family through the generations represented by Donald Reid, Wilfred Reid, and now Scot Reid.

This enduring family history and the vernacular architectural design of the house combine to tell a story of the character of rural Ontario. It is a story of the steadiness, resolve and optimism of the first settlers, and their descendants’ respect for tradition and family. [3]

The Donald Reid House today [3]

As Cathcart notes, the house is a quintessential Ontario Gothic farmhouse. Its style harkens back to designs featured in The Canada Farmer.

Published by George Brown (of the Globe) between 1864 and 1876, The Canada Farmer was a comprehensive resource for all things rural and agricultural. In addition to architecture, an issue might include in-depth articles and advice on entomology, botany, forestry, zoology, ecology, animal husbandry, farm equipment and practices, crop choices and management, pertinent advertisements, and more. [4] The twice-monthly journal was well worth the $1.00 annual subscription. The publication’s impact was profound, and it was the “first time that the influence of printed media truly infiltrated Canada’s rural landscape.” [5] Eagerly received, it reached a circulation of 20,000 within its first eight months.

The aim of The Canada Farmer’s editors and authors was to spread what they perceived as good taste and architectural ideas to those in rural areas beyond the reach of architects. [6]

James Avon Smith, Jr. (1832–1918), ca. 1890 [7]

James Avon Smith, Jr. left Scotland and came to Canada with his father in 1848, followed by the rest of the family members a few years later. Smith was an established, prolific Toronto artist and architect when he began contributing to The Canada Farmer. In the 1870s he partnered with John Gemmell, one of his students. They worked together for 40 years, designing ecclesiastical, residential, and commercial works, mostly in Toronto. [8] The team favoured Gothic architecture over other styles.

Gothic architecture’s popularity would inevitably impact Canadian popular taste, but also because most of the colony’s earliest architects were trained in England. Like in England, Gothic was used most notably in church architecture and in prominent secular buildings like the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. […] Gothic was believed in the nineteenth century to be the most adaptable of architectural styles. Understood then as a counterpoint to classical architecture, Gothic was seen to have fewer precise rules. [9]

One of Smith & Gemmell’s best known designs, the elaborate (and very Gothic) Knox College, Toronto, 1873–75. [10] 

While his city commissions were substantial and elaborate, Smith was equally at ease promoting simpler designs for The Canada Farmer readers. He was not trying to drum up business (his name is rarely mentioned); rather, he wished to promote attractive, efficient, and neat design. He considered the needs of rural folks to be unique and deserving of attention. 

Smith’s modest farmhouse designs were neither new, nor revolutionary (and he did tend to borrow ideas from existing pattern books). Nevertheless, the Ontario cottage style became very popular, largely due to his “Rural Architecture” column in The Canada Farmer journal. Smith’s building designs, complete with illustrations and floor plans, were accessible to a receptive rural audience. That was new. 

In an early column in 1864, Smith profiled “a small gothic cottage” concept:

The architect specified red brick with white quoin corners, built on a raised terrace.

Outdoor plumbing, of course, was the norm when this plan was published on February 1, 1864.

Smith explained his simple, functional design:

This building can be constructed with stone, brick, or timber. It is a dwelling suitable for a small family, the main building having a hall six feet wide running through the centre and entering the kitchen; on the left side of this hall is a large living room or parlour, 11 x 19, and store room, 14 x 7; on the right are two bedrooms, one 13 x 14 and the other 11 x 14; in the rear addition is a large kitchen, a pantry and bed-room. […] The window-sills and the drips over the front door and windows, could be of dry pine, painted and sanded, but stone would be better. A small gable is raised over the front door, surmounted with a turned pinnacle, and having a simple piece of tracery fastened to the under side of the cornice, and in the centre of this gable is a small trefoil window to give light and ventilation to the garret. […] The cost of a cottage of the above description would not exceed $1,000. […] Size of main building, 36 x 28. Kitchen extension, 21 x 22. [11]

In other issues of The Canada Farmer, Smith presented additional rural designs, including a “Suburban Villa or Farm House,” (May 16, 1864), “A Two-Story Farm-House,” (April 15, 1865), and “A Neat Country Church” (January 15, 1866) that was as basic as could be.

Smith’s November 15, 1864 column presented a 1-1/2 storey design he called “A Cheap Farm House.” Intended for a large family, it included a cellar for food storage. The article gave dimensions, material and construction details, but said they were “general specifications.” A timber version would cost between $600 and $800 (less than $15,000 in 2002). Tips for reducing costs included postponing the kitchen construction, and substituting materials for cheaper ones. The extra cost for adding shutters, a verandah, fencing, and landscaping was encouraged. Kitchens were sometimes built away from the main structure to reduce fire risk, and to isolate cooking smells and summer heat.

Five bedrooms and a parlour for $800 if built of timber—a good deal.

As Smith concluded:

It is rather by attention to the aggregate of inexpensive details, than by large outlay on one particular object, that the comfort and attractiveness of a country house are secured. We are persuaded that a little more regard for what many consider trifles unworthy of notice, would yield a large return of real enjoyment and satisfaction. [12]

In his August 15, 1865 column Smith returned to the cottage, presenting “A Cheap Country Dwelling House”—a 1-1/2 storey version that resembled his earlier design from November 1864. This one featured four bedrooms.

It is designed so as to be built with either brick, stone. or wood. The exterior, as will be seen, presents a neat and graceful appearance. The front is broken by raising a small gable over the front door, and is ornamented with a pinnacle, and arched barge board. The front door entrance is protected from the weather by a projecting hood board supported on ornamental cut brackets, and covered with shingles cut in patterns. The front and end windows are furnished with moulded drips, with return ends. 

The plan is in the form of an inverted T. The main building is 31 feet long by 21 feet wide, with a rear addition for the kitchen, 15 feet by 16 feet. The main building is divided as follows. At the entrance, a small vestibule adds to the comfort of the rooms, by keeping out the cold, when the front door is opened. To the right of the entrance is the sitting or dining room, 14 by 20 feet, with a pantry in connection, under the stairs, and to the left of the entrance a large airy bedroom, 20 by 12 feet. There will be a cellar under the dining-room, with an entrance to it under the stairs. […] The kitchen is entered from the dining room, and has an outside entrance in the side, as shown in the side elevation. Upstairs there are three bed-rooms, a lumber-room, and wardrobe. The lowest part of the bed-room ceiling is five feet, and the highest 8 feet, but any height can be got by increasing the dimensions. The bed-rooms can be heated by passing the stove pipes up through the floor and into a flue coming two feet under the attic ceiling. This arrangement saves the expense of carrying the flues up from the foundations. A house of this sort, if built where the materials can be obtained at reasonable prices, could be finished for about four hundred dollars.

Smith knew his audience; he was Scottish himself. 

Four hundred dollars was a good price for a smart and attractive design. Not mentioned in the text was another reason his design was so popular. It was cheap because “property tax laws in Upper Canada were based on the number of stories in a house. The gothic 1-1/2 storey cottage allowed for two levels at a cheaper tax rate, with a window in the gothic gable above the entrance door. As the century advanced the pitch of the roofs increased to allow for more living space and stay within the tax limits.” [13] 

The basic design was not unfamiliar, and was simple enough for local contractors and masons to recreate and modify. The plans could be readily personalized without needing an architect. Creative variations abound, but the identifying features of a Gothic revival cottage always harken back to James Avon Smith’s 1865 concept.

Features of the style: [14]

• A steeply pitched roof and gables with decorative bargeboard (gingerbread trim under the eaves). The steep pitched roof helped shed snow, too.
• Gable at the centre of the symmetrical front façade and/or over arched windows
• A window over the front entrance
• Transoms aside or above the front door
• Porches (if any) with elaborate Victorian details (turned posts, arches, brackets)

Variations on a theme in Ontario. [15]

While especially popular in Ontario, Smith’s versatile 1865 design for a basic farmhouse can be found across Canada, in rural and urban sites. Barbara Raue has published an album (entitled Chatsworth and Grey Bruce Ontario in Colour Photos, Saving Our History One Photo at a Time) that includes fine examples of Gothic Revival homes in Ontario. The cover features a familiar-looking home in Williamsford, east of Paisley:

A fine and familiar-looking example that would make James Avon Smith smile. [16]

But, of course, we have a favourite:

An early photo of the Reid homestead. L-R: Donald, Neil, Annie and mother Christena. [17]

An early but undated photo from Annie Reid’s own album. L-R: Donald, mother Christena, and Kate. A guess is that the baby is Kate’s daughter Christena (b. 1908).
  

The Reid barn/blacksmith shop was enormous. Also from Annie’s album, this photo suggests the toddler is Kate’s daughter.

The Reid farm in 1942

Annie (née Reid) and Pete Fraser (at right) make a final trip east, 1954. That is likely Annie’s brother Donald Reid at left, the youngest son of Peter and Christena Reid, who bought the home from his mother. The property remains well cared-for in the Reid family.

Sources (retrieved Dec. 3, 2024)

1. Shannon Kyles, “Gothic Revival Cottage,” Ontario Architecture. http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/gothicrevival.html
2. “Ontario cottage,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_cottage 
3. Ruth Cathcart, The Architecture of a Provincial Society: Houses of Bruce County, Ontario 1850–1900. Wiarton: The Red House Press, 1999, p. 61 
4. For an example of the April 15, 1869 issue, see: “Record of the Week: The Canada Farmer,” blog post in The Archivist’s Pencil, Sept. 28, 2018, http://archives-archtoronto.blogspot.com/2018/09/record-of-week-canada-farmer.html. Full digital issues are online at Canadiana by CRKN, https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04206
5. Dr. Jessica Mace, “Beautifying the Countryside: Rural and Vernacular Gothic in Late Nineteenth-Century Ontario,” Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada, Dalhousie University, Vol. 38, Issue 1, 2013, pp. 29-36, https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/items/ed7169de-a9f0-48dd-8408-55886a1e9cfd
6. Dr. Jessica Mace, “ ‘A Cheap Farm House,’ c. 1864–onward,” in Smarthistory, September 2, 2002, https://smarthistory.org/a-cheap-farm-house-1864-onward/
7. James Smith, digital image #10010417 ca 1890, Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, Archives of Ontario Visual Database, copyright Queen’s Printer for Ontario, in Janice Hamilton, “James Avon Smith, Toronto Architect,” Writing Up the Ancestors, June 21 2017, https://www.writinguptheancestors.ca/2017/06/james-avon-smith-toronto-architect_21.html 
8. “James Avon Smith,” Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800–1950, http://www.dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/1313 
9. Dr. Jessica Mace, “ ‘A Cheap Farm House,’ c. 1864–onward,” in Smarthistory, September 2, 2002, https://smarthistory.org/a-cheap-farm-house-1864-onward/
10. “Knox College, Toronto, Can.” Postcard, Toronto Public Library, Digital Archive, https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/380978/knox-college-toronto-can?ctx=06f708dc165402409ee3b0d034e1f6d7859dae27&idxKnox Co=11
11. “Farm Architecture,” The Canada Farmer, Vol. 1, No. 2, February 1, 1864, pp. 20–21, https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04206_2/2 
12. “A Cheap Farmhouse,” The Canada Farmer, Vol. 1, No. 22, November 15, 1864, pp. 340–341, https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_04206_21/5
13. “The Gothic Revival and the ‘Ontario House’,” Ontario Architectural Style Guide, University of Waterloo, January 2009, p. 9, https://www.therealtydeal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Heritage-Resource-Centre-Achitectural-Styles-Guide.pdf 
14. Steven Fudge, “The History Of The Ontario Gothic Revival Cottage,” April 21, 2017, https://urbaneer.com/blog/ontario_gothic_revival_cottage.
15. “Gothic Cottage,” album, Ontario Architecture, http://www.ontarioarchitecture.com/gothicottage.htm 
16. Barbara Raue, Chatsworth and Grey Bruce Ontario in Colour Photos, 2018, http://barbararaue.ca  
17. Mary McKay, Far Spread the Sparks from Cantire, c1993, p. 208

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