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Herbert Bell Rugh
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Born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa on 16 May 1879, son of George S. Rugh (1856-1923), in 1898 he served with US forces in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, after which he trained at the Armor Institute of Technology in Chicago. He practiced as an architect in Chicago for four year before coming to Winnipeg in early 1904. He and his wife, Mae Lillian White (?-?) of Cedar Rapids, had a child in late 1906. They became members of the Winnipeg elite for, when Mrs. Rugh held an open house in May 1907, her visitors included such prominent Winnipeg families as Bawlf, Patterson, Pitblado, and Stovel.
In late 1911, he joined his architectural practice to the Montreal firm of Ross and MacFarlane, with him as manager of the firm’s Winnipeg office, located on the ninth floor of the Union Bank Building. In November 1912, his wife successfully petitioned the federal parliament for a divorce, citing her husband’s adultery.
A few months after the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He went overseas from June 1915 to May 1919, serving as Captain of the 44th Battalion, as well as company commander and quartermaster. He served at La Coulette, Lens, Passchendaele, Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Ypres. His letters and sketches sent home were published locally. He was the only man of his battalion to return from the war unscathed, everyone else having been “killed or maimed.”
Returning home to Iowa in 1920, he married Alice Slocum (1893-1929) of Cedar Rapids with whom he had two children, George Rugh (c1922-1929) and Alice Rugh (c1924-1929). In July 1924, he was killed in an automobile accident a few miles east of Dubuque, Iowa. His widow took employment as an insurance agent. She and their two children were found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning in November 1929, shortly after the stock market crash.
Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
Shepard House (Clarence Day Shepard)
10 Avonherst, Winnipeg
1905
185 Spence Street, Winnipeg
1905
412 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1906
90 Gertie Street, Winnipeg
1906
Destroyed by fire (2023)
Pulford Block (A. H. Pulford)
Donald Street, Winnipeg
1906
110-120 Princess Avenue, Winnipeg
1907
11 Harvard Avenue, Winnipeg
1906
424 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1906
Melrose Apartments
100 Bole Street, Winnipeg
1906
Demolished (?)
27 Harvard Avenue, Winnipeg
1906
Parker House (Matthew A. Parker)
100 Harvard Avenue, Winnipeg
1907
83 Kingsway, Winnipeg
1908
Reid House (J. Y. Reid)
329 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1908
McNeil House (L. McNeil)
Gertrude Avenue, Winnipeg
1908
Stephens House (Mrs. F. E. Stephens)
Yale Avenue, Winnipeg
1908
144 Kingsway, Winnipeg
1908
Young Women’s Christian Association Building
cor Ellice Avenue & Vaughan Street, Winnipeg
1908
Osler House (Hugh F. Osler)
485 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1909
Robinson House (George F. Robinson)
47 Harvard Avenue, Winnipeg
1909
169-173 Osborne Street, Winnipeg
1909
12 Ruskin Row, Winnipeg
1910
703 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1911
Winnipeg Isolation Hospital
Winnipeg
1911
Inglis Building (alterations, supervision)
291 Garry Street, Winnipeg
1914
Classified ad, Manitoba Free Press, 28 July 1904, page 14.
“Syndicate to build a home,” Manitoba Free Press, 29 November 1905, page 11.
“The New Pulford Block,” Manitoba Free Press, 19 March 1906, page 3.
“Winnipeg’s progress has been substantial,” Manitoba Free Press, 21 November 1908, page 29.
Classified ad, Manitoba Free Press, 21 November 1912, page 18.
Divorce notice, Manitoba Free Press, 30 November 1912, page 2.
CEF attestation papers, Library and Archives Canada.
Rugh military record, Manitoba Free Press, 3 April 1920, page 6.
Obituary, Manitoba Free Press, 14 July 1924, page 6
“Three are victims of carbon monoxide gas: woman and two children die at Cedar Rapids; widow of former Winnipeg soldier,” Manitoba Free Press, 19 November 1929, page 1.
Crescentwood, A History by R. R. Rostecki, Winnipeg: Crescentwood Home Owners Association, 1993.
Linwood [Cedar Rapids] Cemetery Transcription, www.us-data.org/ia/linn/cemeteries/linnwoodcem.txt
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 March 2024
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