An Overview of the Architectural History of Downtown Virden

Settlement of the Virden area began in 1881, but it was with the arrival of the C.P.R in 1882 that a town site sprang up about a kilometer east of the current site of Virden. Gopher Creek Post Office was established in September of 1882 and some building was begun, but a rival town site was developed the following spring after the C.P.R. established a station near its current location.  The town site was owned by the Canada North-West Land Co with the 7th Duke of Manchester as a leading director. The C.P.R. had granted that coåçmpany joint trusteeship of town sites such as Moose Jaw, Regina, Qu’Appelle and this location, which was originally named Manchester in the Duke’s honour. Upon discovering that that name was already taken, the name Verdun was selected by his wife after a Cathedral town in her homeland of Hanover.

So by the time the fledgling hamlet of Gopher Creek was reborn as Virden along what continues to be the Trans-Canada main line, its future was somewhat assured. The citizens proceeded confidently and quickly in the building of homes and business, largely of milled lumber which was readily available via the regular rail service. Virden was soon an important service centre for a rapidly-expanding agricultural community in the region, and a wide range of commercial enterprises commonly found in larger centres, including a grist mill, were established.

Photos taken in 1886 (The Virden Story P. 48-49) and 1891 (Mb Archives) show a substantial downtown business district primarily of modest frame structures.

 

These buildings served well, but when the town’s continued growth, individual business expansion, or the ever-present danger of fire, made new building necessary, builders turned first to stone and then to brick.

 

Stone embodies permanence. A news article from the Brandon Sun on September 5th 1889 outlining Virden’s growth notes that, ”A.D. Cooper, photographer, has recently completed and occupied his studio, a handsome stone building.” After commenting on the erection of several “large commodious frame buildings” it mentions that, “Mr. W.F. Scarth and Mr. Benjamin Meek will shortly complete their respective buildings. These are of stone and will be the finest business blocks in town.” Although brick soon became the standard for facing commercial buildings, a walk down the back lanes today reveals that some of the stone remains.

Many pioneer communities developed brick-making operations and Virden’s  enterprising citizens, having brought from Ontario the necessary skills, were quick to spot the required clay deposits and begin to make use of them.  In the early 1890’s Sherif and Neden started a brickyard on the site of the former Gopher Creek settlement. The bricks were first used in town in 1892 on Higgenbotham’s new Drug Store on Nelson Street.  The scale of its brick-making operations, and, eventually the quality of bricks produced, soon set it apart from rival communities. In turn, the building boom of the 1890’s helped ensure the success of the brickyards.

Soon many of the early frame buildings (the ones that had escaped the fires) were re-sided with the local product. Virtually all buildings erected in the downtown core between 1893 and 1907 were finished with Virden brick. Many of these buildings are still in use. A walk down Seventh Avenue from Wellington to Nelson and then either way from that corner takes one by many of those buildings, and although in most cases the main level storefronts have been adapted with the times, a glance upwards reveals brickwork largely unchanged. This is a definite strength of Virden’s Downtown Heritage District.

In terms of architectural materials we see the movement from the necessary era of frame dwellings, quickly-erected in the early years when businessmen needed to establish themselves to serve the rapidly growing farm population; to the era of stone which implied permanence and then brick, which in a way implied sophistication. In terms of architectural style and detailing we also evidence of changing times and perhaps, changing builders.  This is especially noticeable when we examine the brick detailing and design of the facades of business blocks.  Several buildings along Seventh Avenue and Nelson Streets loosely follow the Romanesque-Revival style featuring round-arched windows enhanced by decorative drip-mould, modest corbel tables, and quoins. The Higgenbotham Drug Store and several of its neighbours are good examples. These two buildings set side-by side show almost identical window surrounds – and were likely the work of the same bricklayer. This style was especially popular in the 1890’s.

 The other predominant style might be termed “Commercial”. The emphasis here is on the straight line, with buildings often displaying well-defined rectangular bays and tall rectangular windows. The Empire Publishing Co. (1905) building is a fine example, and several of the buildings on the east side of Seventh Avenue show elements of the same style. These buildings were built ( or perhaps refinished) after 1900.

These two styles predominate with the main exceptions such as the C.P.R. Station, the Scott Block, and The “Aud” also differing in that none of these were intended as a traditional commercial block. They were meant to stand out.

That so many of these details, especially brick details, are still there for us to see is a testament to all those involved over the century-plus they have been standing. The brickmaker and the craftsmen who assembled the buildings, the owners over the years who cared for and thus preserved them, and perhaps the community as a whole, which must have valued them