Born at Oswego, New York on 16 February 1850, he came to Winnipeg in 1875 and worked as a building contractor, being responsible for many buildings around Manitoba. In June 1903, he joined with a number of other contractors in forming the Manitoba Construction Company and he was its Vice-President. Around 1906, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia and supervised shipments from the Diamond Coal Company on behalf of the Canadian Northern Railway.
He and wife Amelia Graham (1852-1904) had four children: Florence Helen Rourke (1885-1956, wife of Jeremiah Donald Gunn), Mabel Montague Rourke (1887-1890), Harold Sanford Rourke (1888-1979), and Lorena Marguerite Rourke (1890-1967). The family lived on Kennedy Street, Winnipeg. An avid curler, he was a member of the Granite Curling Club (President, 1902-1904) and served on the council for the Manitoba Curling Association. In 1897 during the Klondike Gold Rush, he went to Yukon on behalf of a group of American capitalists.
He died of influenza at Brule Mines, Alberta in November 1918 and was buried in the St. James Cemetery.
Some of his construction work in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
Stony Mountain Penitentiary (expansion)
RM of Rockwood
1885
269 Main Street, Winnipeg
1889-1891
Destroyed by fire (8 February 1899)
First Street, Brandon
1890
Destroyed by fire (November 1910)
Bank of Ottawa Building
363 Main Street, Winnipeg
1894
Demolished (?)
See also:
Manitoba Business: Kelly Brothers / Manitoba Construction Company / Kelly Brothers and Mitchell / Thomas Kelly and Sons
Birth registrations [Mable Montague Rourke, Florence Helen Rourke, Harold Sanford Rourke], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registration [Mabel Montagne Rourke], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Off to the Klondyke,” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 October 1897, page 1.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“Funeral of Mrs. W. H. Rourke,” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 August 1904, page 3.
“Col. Rourke dead,” Manitoba Free Press, 14 November 1918, page 2.
“Col. Rourke, one of Winnipeg's celebrated curlers of early days, succumbs to influenza,” Manitoba Free Press, 15 November 1918, page 15.
“Col. W. H. Rourke is buried in St. James,” Winnipeg Tribune, 19 November 1918, page 12.
Death registrations [Florence Helen Gunn, Harold Sanford Rourke], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
Harold Sanford Rourke, FindAGrave.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 2 June 2024
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