By Tyler Marr

Block House, Nisbet Church to be dismantled this month

Jun 6, 2018 | 8:00 AM

Two historic buildings are set to be removed from Kinsmen Park by the end of the month.

The Nisbet Church and Block House came under the spotlight over the past seven months after the Prince Albert Historical Society asked for the city’s assistance in salvaging what is left of the rapidly-deteriorating 145-year-old structures. An engineering study showed restoration would come with a price tag of around $750,000, and both buildings are currently closed to the public and fenced off due to structural concerns. 

The city, in partnership with the historical society, confirmed the buildings will be dismantled in June. The work will be completed by Darryl Sande, of Pipestone Creek Contracting, prior to National Aboriginal Day events June 21. The buildings’ fates were sealed in March after city council earmarked $10,000 to gradually take down the oldest buildings in the city and store the materials. Every attempt will be made to save the historically-relevant parts of the buildings, such as the gun ports in the blockhouse, as they tell of the building’s use in 1885.

The news has come as a disappointment to some. In November of 2017, The Prince Albert Seniors Advocacy Group, headed by Dr. John Fryters, said they believed not enough was done to preserve the structures.

“The church is one of the last links to the past,” Fryters previously told paNOW.

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While Historical Society President Connie Gerwing said she will be disappointed to see the buildings go, she noted there was really no alternative after hundreds of years of neglect.

“They are at the point of being dangerous the way they are. They are not really of any value now,” she said. “They are out of context and there is not a strong historical story to tell where they are now.”

She said the roofs of both buildings are near the point of collapse and the lower thirds of both buildings have almost entirely rotted out. Because the buildings are not in their original location, they ineligible for heritage property designation. Gerwing said after they are disassembled, numbered, and stored, the society hopes to eventually see them rebuilt along the riverbank, though that project would come with a hefty cost.

“If that doesn’t work we may come up with some other ideas. We are not sure,” she said. “At this point, we are happy they are being taken down and whatever is in them will be salvaged and hopeful they won’t deteriorate any more.”

Founding History

In 1872, Reverend James Nisbet set up a missionary in the heart of the prairies and named it after Queen Victoria’s deceased husband, Prince Albert. He built the Nisbet Church, which was used as the city’s first church and also served as a schoolhouse for the area. In 1881 the Blockhouse was constructed as a stable for Prince Albert’s first lawyer William Maclise by Archie Ballantine. It was used as a stable until 1885 when it was transformed into a blockhouse to protect Prince Albert.

The buildings were moved from the riverbank to their current locations in 1932 and ’33 to be used as the Heritage Museum. They functioned as a museum from 1932 until the 1950s and again from the early 1970s until 1977.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr