Waubaushene home becomes a designated heritage site

Tay Township ON: At the June 28th Regular Council meeting, Mayor Scott Warnock presented a Heritage Designation plaque to Anita and Terry Fegarty in recognition of their circa 1928 home at 200 Cherry Street in Waubaushene.

Tay Township and its Heritage Committee acknowledge the building’s significance to the community based on its cultural heritage value and interest.

The Heritage Designation protects the heritage attributes of the structure from any significant changes unless a heritage permit is received through the Township in accordance with the Ontario Heritage Act. The designation is registered on title, which means it remains with the property even if the owners change.

While there are many properties on the Register and Inventory of heritage properties in Tay, the Cherry Street home is only the third house to receive the official designation.

For more information on heritage sites in Tay, visit tay.ca/heritage.

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Contacts:

Steve Farquharson
Director of Planning and Development
Phone: 705-534-7248 x225
Email: sfarquharson@tay.ca

Lynn Racicot
Communications and Special Projects Officer
Phone: 705-534-7248 x264
Email: lracicot@tay.ca

History of 200 Cherry Street

The original building – a community hall for the Catholic Order of Foresters – was built prior to 1915 and served as a Catholic Church from 1914 to 1916. The building was acquired from the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1928, when it was converted into a residence.

The home sits on a block of land originally owned by William Solomon, a fur trader and interpreter from Drummond Island and living in Penetanguishene (1838), followed by the Georgian Bay Lumber Company and its principals, the Dodge family (1870), and the Society of Jesus (1906).

The Jesuits purchased the block bounded by Cherry Street, Elm Street, Pine Street, and Thiffault Street as the site for their mission complex of St. John the Evangelist. Here they built a church and several other buildings, including an assembly hall for the Catholic Order of Foresters, a fraternal organization. In November, 1914, all the buildings were lost to fire except the Foresters’ hall, which served as a chapel for services until the church was rebuilt in 1916. In 1928, William Brodeur purchased the hall and two lots on Cherry Street from the Jesuits. He relocated the hall there and renovated it as a residence. The property remains in the hands of his descendants.

The building form is a 1.5-storey wood frame with a gable peak. The original building (circa 1910 and extended in 2005) has balloon-style framing with no interior load-bearing walls, consistent with its original use as a community space. As with many pre-1920 buildings in the area, it was built of 12’ x 2” pine planks for the exterior and interior walls and subfloor. Materials were likely sourced at the Waubaushene mill of the Georgian Bay Lumber Company. The strip flooring on the ground floor (mostly maple) and on the second level (red pine) is visible and original to the hall (circa 1910) and runs throughout the length of the original building. Original to 1928 are the pine front door, including a turn chime doorbell, most of the solid pine interior doors, and staircase.