Southside Heritage Tours

567 Huron Terrace

Known as the Alexander Gordon House, it is built in the style of early Ontario Cottage ca. 1875. It is constructed of local buff brick and has a central gable roof with a semi-circular window in the center of the gable.  This house is constructed three bricks thick on the main floor and two bricks of thickness on the upper floor. The veranda was added to the house in 1991. Alexander Gordon, the original owner of this house, was in the fishing industry and was a town councilor. Gordon Street was named for him in honour of his contributions to the town.  

549 Huron Terrace

Built ca. 1922 this Classical Revival house is constructed with local round stone and a frame top. It is an asymmetrical house and has a medium pitched gable roof with sash windows. The covered porch on the front has the same local round beach stones. This house was unique in its use of materials for construction at that time. It was built for John A. MacKenzie, an insurance agent in the town.

521 Huron Terrace

This buff brick Italianate style house was built ca. 1873. It is in a square plan with a medium pitch roof. The front door is offset and there is a wrap around verandah. There is a partial foundation which is stone. This house has recently had a large addition added to the back. This house was built for the family of William Morrison, who was a fisherman and carpenter.

515 Huron Terrace

This Regency style house was built ca. 1873. It was also built by William Morrison. It is a square plan house with a low hip roof. There is a central gable dormer and overhang. The window in the dormer is semi-circular and gothic in style. The front door has sidelights and has a covered portico with a shed roof which is supported by pillars. 

504/505 Huron Terrace

This Regency style house was built ca. 1874.  It is a sister house to 515 Huron Terrace.  It is a square plan house with a low hip roof. It has two front bay windows symmetrically places on either side of the central door.  There is a upper gable dormer and overhang. This gable window is semi-circular and Gothic in style. It originally had decorative metal cresting.  At the turn of the century an addition on the south side was added which functioned as an art studio for the spinster daughter.  The original owners had an apple orchard on the property which was larger at that time. Thomas and Elizabeth Batman were the original owners.  Their daughter Susan, the artist, remained in the home until the 1940s. 

251 St. Albert Street

The Benny Ruttle House, named after its most locally famous inhabitant, is built in the Carpenter style, and was constructed ca. 1875. It is a one and half story board and batten sided house. It has a centre gable roof with a double shed dormer at the rear of the house. There is an addition on the house which may have been a woodshed and is now incorporated into the house. This house was built by James Burke, a carpenter, for his family. This is a good representation of the socioeconomic home of the area for that time.

250 St. Albert Street

This house, built in the Classical Revival style, was known as Albert Hall. This L-shaped, buff brick house was built ca. 1875. It has two storeys with an offset gable roof and  has segmented windows and an enclosed porch with the main entrance in the porch. It was built for the Graham family who were in the fishing industry.

457 Penetangore Row

This buff brick house was built ca. 1868. It is built in the Classical Revival – Vernacular style. It is an L shape two storey with red brick quoins and hood moulds. There is an offset high pitch gable roof with an enclosed porch which was added at a later date. This house was built for Alexander McDonald, a shoemaker and labourer, but was soon after sold to the Graham family who were in the fishing industry. 

St. Albert Street footpath

At this point in the tour, you will cross to the west side of the street and walk down the St. Albert Street footpath (part of the "pink" trail) to the beach. When you get to the bottom, turn right and follow the path. This is the former railway bed, as you head to “Station Beach” where the railway station and associated buildings were located.

Railway

The railway arrived in Kincardine in 1874; by 1884 there were ten trains daily in and out. The trains arrived on a track south of the cemetery to Kincardine Ave. The line then travelled along the sandy beach until it reached the mouth of the Penetangore River. Grand Trunk Railway built the brick station pictured above to replace a wooden structure. Canadian National Railway took it over in 1923.

By 1947 the station operated from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., six days a week. There were regular passenger trains to Toronto and other destinations, as well as freight service, primarily for the Malcolm and Coombs furniture factories and the Circle Bar Knitting Co. At one time there was a “Saturday Hog Special” that left at noon on Saturday for the Stock Yards in Toronto.

There were many structures on this site, including tool sheds, bunkhouses, coal sheds and a turn table, used to turn engines around so they could go in the opposite direction. This was operated by hand unless there was a problem with snow or sand, in which cases horses were used.

Snow was often a challenge and large plows were operated by the trains with assistance from men hired to help shovel.

The railway ceased passenger operation in 1970 and freight in 1983. The brick station, which was slated to be re-purposed, burned in 1979 and a smaller replica was built to house public washrooms at the public park now called “Station Beach”.

Ontario Peoples Salt Works

This was one of three salt works in Kincardine which exported much of their product to the meat packing plants of Chicago. In 1875 salt was at its prime with all three salt blocks running, 130,000 barrels of salt produced, and 90,000 barrels being exported. It was felt that salt was the single most important factor that made Kincardine more than a name on the map. Brine was pumped from wells and then evaporated in large “pans” using first wood and then coal as fuel.

Ontario Peoples Salt Works & Kincardine Railway

Historical photo showing an alternative view of the Ontario Peoples Salt Works and the Kincardine Railway Station.

Coombe Furniture Factory

James Watson and Frank Coombe founded the Watson and Coombe Furniture Company in 1903. Watson eventually sold his interest to Coombe and the company was then known as F.E. Coombe. Harold Magwood became president after Coombe’s death in 1929 and the company stayed in business until 1972.

During peak times there were more than 75 employees at the company. The wood for the furniture came from many sources, including elm, cherry and oak from Ontario, walnut from the U.S. and mahogany from Africa.

In addition to wood, Italian marble was used for the tops of small tables. They eventually switched to using Portuguese marble because it was more durable for sea travel and arrived in Kincardine intact.

The furniture made at the Coombe factory was world renowned. It was used to furnish the Canadian Government House in England, the MPP chairs in Parliament and the Queen’s suite when she visited Charlottetown.

Today Rotary Park is situated where the factory once stood on Huron Terrace, across from the harbour.

Coombe Furniture Factory & Kincardine Railway Station

Historical photo showing the Coombe Furniture Factory and the Kincardine Railway Station on the shore of Lake Huron.

595 Queen Street

This house was built in 1929 in the Edwardian style. It is a two and half storey duplex of symmetrical proportions. There is a hip roof with two hipped dormers and a chimney at the back. The veranda is supported by a brick base with pilasters and has straight stairs leading to the main entrances. This house was built for the family of William Watson, a butcher.

589 Queen Street

This is another lovely Edwardian style house, constructed ca. 1928. It is of red brick and is a two and half storey with an offset door. A hip roof and hipped dormers are at the front with a chimney at the back. The windows are flat with cement headers. The covered verandah spans the front façade and is supported with brick bases and pilasters tapering as your eye moves up to the roof. This house was also built for the Watson family.

581 Queen Street

The Watson Family built a third Edwardian style house ca. 1907.  This house is an asymmetrical, two storey red brick with a frontispiece. It has a hip roof and deep eaves with cresting on the roof. There are large windows with transoms. The windows are segmental and have hood molds and a dichromatic keystone. The quoins on the front corners of the house have the same dichromatic colour as the keystones. There are two tall chimneys. The covered verandah is supported by red brick bases projecting out from the house with white pilasters that taper as they meet the roof. This verandah forms the base for the open balcony above.  

578 Queen Street

This one and half storey buff brick house was built in 1890. It is of the Regency Cottage style with Classical Revival influences. It has a hip roof and plain frieze. It has a three bay façade with two front windows; with the offset entrance it has an asymmetrical appearance. There is a gable dormer on the front with smaller vergeboard, a pendant and a semicircular window in the gable area. This house was built for the family of Robert McKay, a carpenter.

575 Queen Street

This 1877 house is in the Georgian Revival style. It is of buff brick which has been stuccoed and is an asymmetrical one and a half storey. It has a hipped gable roof and two gable dormers with overhang which have been covered in siding. The central door has sidelights and is situated under a pediment open porch. The door and windows are probably replacements and there has been an addition to the rear of the house which has changed the style of roof at the back to a shed style. This house was built for Rev. John Stewart who was the first minister of Knox Presbyterian Church in Kincardine.  

570 Queen Street

This Regency style one and half storey buff brick house was built ca. 1874. It has a low pitch truncated roof with a front gable dormer and a one storey bay window on the side. There is a belvedere area on the top without cresting. The front dormer has a gothic window opening but the window has been replaced with a flat window. There are hood mouldings on the windows with keystones and labels. The front is a three bay symmetrical facade with a full length verandah supported by pillars. The eaves are deep with cornice brackets. Shortly after this house was built it was sold to Christopher Hemsworth who was a provincial railway station agent. 

562 Queen Street

This 1929 house is an example of the Arts and Crafts style of the time. It is a two storey, asymmetrical, stucco house with a hipped roof and a large hipped dormer with a grouping of two flat windows in the dormer. There is a wing on the front south side which is incorporated into the house and a one storey wing on the rear with a hip roof. The main door is offset on the front with a step covered with a hood on brackets. The windows are large paned sash situated in groupings. The main floor has a ribbon of windows on the front and a larger one on the south side. Ernest Sparling and family had this house built. Ernest ran an automobile garage selling Ford vehicles. This family was important in the area as the popularity of the automobile industry grew.

283 Gordon Street

This one and half storey house with a hipped gable roof has an informal and asymmetrical style. Built ca. 1930, it has grouped casement windows and a raised centre section. There is no ornamentation on this buff brick house which was built by Fred Buckingham, a carpenter.

288 Gordon Street

Built ca. 1925, this white frame one and a half storey house was built in the Arts and Crafts style. This house was built by Fred Buckingham for Alice Buckingham, the original owner. It has flat sash windows which are multi paned. The verandah roof is supported by pillars on a frame base which forms an enclosed railing system for the porch. The shutters were a later addition.

551 Queen Street

This two storey Gothic and Classical Revival house of buff brick was built ca. 1874. It has a pitch gable roof with a decorative verge board with finial. The segmental windows have brick hoods. The frieze following the front roofline and the pilasters on the corners are brick. There is a one storey bay at the front with three segmental windows and a covered porch. There is an opening off the porch which has a brick wing with a gable roof. On the south side is a frame shed type building with a shed roof. This house was built by two sisters originally from London, ON.

543 & 545 Queen Street

Under constructiondo you have notes to share about this property? Contact  clerk@kincardine.ca 

Do you have notes to share about this property? Contact  clerk@kincardine.ca 

484 Queen Street

Built in 1873 in the Gothic Revival style, this is an L shaped, two storey three bay façade house. It is of buff brick and has a medium pitch centre gable roof with a semicircular window in the gable at the front, and another semi-circular window on the south side facing the side street. There are two gable dormers on the north side with segmental openings matching the rest of the window openings in the house. There are brick hood moulds above the windows and a chimney at the back. This house was owned for many years by the Burnside and Cottrill families who both played an important part in the fuel and heating industry of the town. They originally sold wood and then coal, when it came in on the rail. This coal was for domestic use, as industrial coal came by ship.

Elgin Market Square

The site of the present Elgin Market Public School used to be a market square. When the Town of Kincardine was originally planned, there were two market squares: Durham Market at the north side, at the site of what is now Victoria Park, and Elgin Market on the south side. Local farmers would bring their produce to be sold at the market. This was eventually the site of junior and senior schools for pupils from the south side.

Elgin Market School

There were originally two school buildings on the Elgin Market site. The brick building housed students up to Grade 3. Older students referred to the younger ones as “chickens” and called their building the “Chickie School”. The school continued to be used until 1974.

378 Kincardine Avenue

This Regency buff brick house was built ca. 1880. It is a one storey house with a three bay façade. The low pitch hip roof has a gable dormer with a plain cornice and frieze. There are deep eaves. The window in the dormer has a gothic semi-circular shape while the segmental windows on the main floor have hood moulds over them. This house was built for David Small, a tailor in the town.

394 Princes Street South

This Classic Revival Vernacular style house was built ca. 1902. It is a stucco and round stone two storey house with a one storey wing on the south side. There has been an entranceway added more recently. It has a high pitch gable roof with plain cornice, an off centre entrance and flat windows. Cement headers accent the windows. There is a separate barn constructed of the same materials at the rear of the house. This house was built for the family of Harry Wannamaker, a labourer.

463 Princes Street South

This buff brick Gothic Revival style house was built for the Christopher Barker family ca. 1872. It is a one and half storey, semi-detached house and has a five bay façade. There are two semi-circular windows in the centre gable with brick mould hoods and segmental windows. On the main floor, the centre window has been bricked in. There is a medium pitched centre gable roof with plain cornice and frieze. There was originally a transom above the doors. The verandah is full length and has been added at a later time. Barker was a merchant in the town.

513 Kincardine Avenue

This stately house known as Lynden Hall is in the Second Empire style. It is a square, two storey buff brick house with a rear one storey wing.   It has a dichromatic mansard roof with half dormers built into the eaves of the roof, a dentil cornice, and a long and generous entrance: all a trademark of the builder – A.J. Evans, a well known local architect. Under the dormer windows are cornice brackets, similar to the cornice brackets under the roof but smaller.  

The center tower has a semi-circular window in the upper floor and a belvedere with a mansard roof which originally had iron cresting. Under the cornice on the tower there is a dentil in the brick design of the tower adding to the impressive ornateness of the building. 

The windows on the main floor are segmental. The frontispiece has a double door with a semi-circular window above. A covered porch which surrounds the center block of the house has columns which are round with square capital. 

This home was built for James Rutherford; however, it was soon sold to W.H. Carpenter who was a partner in the Carpenter and McCallum Combined Steam and Water Mill company built on the site of Kincardine’s first mill. Carpenter was also believed to be a steamship captain.  

Brick Works

Across from Lynden Hall is the site of the original brick works, which no longer exists. 

In 1875 John Riggin arrived from New Brunswick to join his father’s brick and tile business, located on the south side of the South Line (now known as Kincardine Ave.), east of Lynden Hall. John Riggin was considered to be “an unusually well read man in the scientific information of the time” and soon built up a large brick and tile manufacturing enterprise. In the background of this sketch can be seen the large hill of clay which was turned into bricks, using a brick pressing machine which was transported by train to Kincardine from Parkhill, ON. The facility produced millions of bricks, which were used in many local building projects, including businesses, houses, churches, schools and the Town Hall. The tile was used extensively by local farmers to drain the land.

In time, the clay bank was depleted and work moved across the road. The Wright family also had a brickyard east of Lynden Hall from 1903 to 1920, which was sold and run by Thomas McCue until 1927.