The research team of Deloraine-Winchester Historical Society has been working on a series of storyboards to be installed throughout the town of Deloraine. Three storyboards were installed last summer and hopefully nine more will be added to the collection by the end of this year.
Research Lead, Jan McClelland says there have been a number of surprises along the way, one being the beautiful presbyterian church, which is now the Prairie Skills Building, was actually designed by a store clerk who lived in Deloraine.
Lachlan C. McIntosh was born in Kirkmichael, Banffshire, Scotland 8 Dec 1854, shares McClelland. And it's not known when he came to Canada, but he arrived in Deloraine in 1892 according to the Deloraine Times in 1910.
"He was a bachelor and had actually no family at all in Manitoba," she explains. "He worked for several years as a clerk in Falconer's Hardware store. We don't know if he had any formal training in architecture, but he certainly had an aptitude for it as he designed not only the Presbyterian Church (today's Prairie Skills Centre) but also the Deloraine stone school which was built in 1894."
The 1894 stone school in Deloraine was destroyed by fire 1901.
However, McIntosh also designed two rural schools; Grove School 1907-1966 (which then became a farm building) and Otter School 1908-1966 (same fate), both constructed of concrete blocks.
Sometime after 1901 L.C. McIntosh left the retail sector to farm in the area. He died 10 Feb 1910 at the age of 55.
McClelland is now curious if these buildings are still standing. The search continues!
Another surprise McClelland has realized is how often these small settlement towns were devastated by fire, and in that how many businesses and actual buildings moved, even if that was right across the street. But this has challenged McCllelland to find the true series of events when the history books might conflict with the archived newspapers of the day.
"It's led to a lot of rewriting of Deloraine's early history, and that's one of the reasons that this is taking so long," explains McClelland, "because you read here in this source that it was this way, and then you'll be reading the newspaper - and you might not even be looking for that - but you'll come across a little tidbit that doesn't jive with that. So, then you have to pull on that thread, right? And I've unraveled a few balls! But it takes time to do that."
Please listen to more with Jan McClelland below!