Fred Payton starts off the tour in front of the John and Olive Diefenbaker Museum (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Homes and Heritage

Historical society hopes newest tour will catch on

Aug 24, 2019 | 5:05 PM

The West Hill is the focus of the Prince Albert Historical Societies newest walking tour.

On Saturday afternoon the public was invited to take in a walking tour of the neighborhood. A group of around 20 people came out to take it in. Leading the tour was Fred Payton, a volunteer and board member for the historical society. Payton explained the tour involves older properties in the neighborhood built between 1909-14. He added over the years some important local figures have called the area home.

“People like not only John Diefenbaker, but Dave Stewart, the Davis family, W.F. Turgeon, the Agnew Family,” he said.

The home of former P.A. mayor Dave Stewart was the third on the tour (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

The Agnew house, which was built in 1883 is the oldest dwelling in P.A. and the former home of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker was recently recognized as a national historic site.

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Along with having a number of their original characteristics, Payton said many homes in the area are occupied by people whose families have owned houses in the area for generations.

“Not just children who’ve taken over their parents’ homes, but grand-children who’ve come back and bought their great grand parents house,” he said.

Payton has lived in the West Hill neighborhood for nearly his entire life and this helped him in putting together the walking tour. Along with his personal knowledge and the research he did in the archives, he was able to talk to other longtime residents and get their stories. In total it took him two months of work to prepare the tour.

The home of former mayor and Diefenbaker campaign manager Dick Spencer was also a stop on the tour (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

The Saturday walk is the first time the tour has been offered to the general public since the 1980s, Payton said he attended this previous walk and remembers it in a positive light.

“My wife and I went on it and we really enjoyed it and I have, through the years, thought we should resurrect that walking tour,” he said.

Looking to the future Payton hopes there will be enough interest from the public to make the tour a regular event. He said currently the historical society is hoping to offer the tour a few times a year, while making sure the information is available for future generations.

“We’ll keep the script in the archives at the museum so that people in the future will be able to look back and see some of the interesting stories that have existed in the city,” he said.

Around 20 people came to take in the walking tour Saturday afternoon (Michael Joel-Hansen/paNOW Staff)

Editor’s note: This story was amended Aug.27. The initial report stated one of the houses shown was owned by Jim Scarrow when in fact it was owned by Dick Spencer.

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn