Memorable Manitobans: Hugh McCowan (1841-1908)

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Hugh McCowan
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Architect.

Born at Wardville, Ontario on 27 January 1841, he studied architecture and sanitary engineering at Flint, Michigan before coming to Winnipeg in 1879 and working in the contracting trade for about ten years. He gradually moved into supervision of construction and drawing of plans, after 1905 in partnership with Robert Edgar Davies. He was a member of the Masons and Baptist Church. He died unmarried at St. Boniface on 8 April 1908 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.

Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:

Building

Location

Year

Status

Odd Fellows Hall

72 Princess Street, Winnipeg

1883-1884

 

Baptist Church

Pilot Mound

1888

Closed (1911)

Winnipeg Collegiate Institute

Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg

1891

 

Gretna School No. 336

Gretna

1893

 

Kay Building

245 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg

1893

 

Maple Leaf School No. 83

Morden

1893

 

Stovel Building

245 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg

1893

 

Calvary Temple / First Baptist Church

400 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg

1893-1894

 

Christie-Broughall Block

536 Main Street / 207 James Avenue, Winnipeg

1895

Demolished (1990)

Cypress River School No. 342

Cypress River

1896

 

First Scandinavian Mission Church

268 Ellen Street, Winnipeg

1897

 

Robert Strang Residence

82 Carlton Street, Winnipeg

1900

 

Brandon College

270 Eighteenth Street, Brandon

1901

 

Martin School No. 870

Kelvin Avenue, Winnipeg

1901

Demolished (circa 1917)

Emerson Baptist Church

Third Street, Emerson

1905

 

Henderson Block

Princess Street, Winnipeg

?

 

Winnipeg General Hospital, Jubilee Wing

Winnipeg

?

 

Free Press Building

McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg

?

 

Sources:

1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.

Death registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Hugh M’Cowan dies after short illness,” Manitoba Free Press, 9 April 1908, page 7.

Winnipeg Building Index.

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.

We thank Nathan Kramer, Robert Hill, and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 16 October 2024

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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