Description of Historic Place

This house appears as a centre gable style home today with a symmetrical facade and central entrance porch. It originally was a gable roofed schoolhouse which was moved to this site. It is located on grounds with mature trees. The registration includes the building and its lot.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the house lies in its association with the history of education in Montague.

The building has been located on this site since 1900, when it was moved from its original site at the corner of Douses Road and the road leading from Montague Bridge to Lower Montague. This site can be seen in Meacham's 1880 Atlas of PEI. The school had been built here around 1849, but it became too far away from the growing village of Montague, so the trustees decided to move it to its current location.

In 1899, carriage maker, Charles B. Fraser, conveyed a parcel of land for the school's new location. The school was hauled from the intersection to its current location and renovated into a two-room school.

It continued to serve the community as a school until 1925, when it was replaced by a new and larger facility built on the north side of the river. In August 1927, it was sold to Alexander M. Wright by the trustees. Later owners included: Elizabeth L. Stewart in 1931; George MacIntyre in 1933; and the Webster family in 1935. The current owners purchased it in 1991.

At some point in its history, the gable roofed building was changed to the centre-gable style. In recent years, vinyl siding and a steel roof have been added over the original shingle exterior.

In its history as a school, generations of children from Montague received their early education and many went on to contribute in great ways to their community and the wider world in many fields of endeavour.

Source: Culture and Heritage Division, PEI Department of Communities, Cultural Affairs and Labour, Charlottetown, PE C1A 7N8
File #: 4310-20/M35

Character-Defining Elements

The following character-defining elements illustrate the heritage value of the house:

- the sandstone foundation
- the one-and-one-half storey massing
- the centre gable style
- the symmetrical facade with central gable roofed porch
- the brick chimney
- the fenestration of the windows and doors
- the contribution of the building to its streetscape