The Municipal Heritage Committee presented the Heritage Conservation Award for 2021 to the owners of the Walker House in Southampton.
The award is presented in recognition of heritage-minded individuals and businesses within Saugeen Shores. Nominations from the public are requested for those who are involved in conserving heritage either by protecting original buildings and surroundings or through educating others.
The Committee received nominations in late spring 2021 and used the following criteria in making our recommendation:
- Voluntarily promote the importance of preserving significant heritage structures.
- Those who show leadership in the restoration and presentation of heritage buildings, sites etc.
- Or we acknowledge individuals for long-standing service in an organization dedicated to maintaining cultural heritage, or
- We show appreciation for personal collections of local artifacts, heritage photographs, or memorabilia – which they share with the community to promote appreciation of heritage.
“Our committee is extremely dedicated to preserving heritage throughout our Municipality. There are many houses, businesses, barns, and other structures that take us back to the early days of Southampton, Port Elgin and Saugeen Township,” says Committee Chair, Bill Streeter. “There is also the cultural heritage of the people that lived, worked and gathered in these places. Maintaining these physical reminders of our history is absolutely necessary for future generations. Cultural Heritage is also important to recognize.”
Each year, the town presents an award that promotes and celebrates the valuable role that individuals and organizations play in ensuring that structures and stories from the past continue to be present in the community.
The Walker House nomination came from many sources, but most recently from within the Municipal Heritage Committee. The committee watched the Walker House transform back to its original glory.
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WALKER HOUSE HISTORY
by G. William (Bill) Streeter
On September 7, 1852, the Crown Patent for 7/10th of an acre on Lot 4, North side of High Street was awarded to James T. Conway. The original structure was built in 1857 by James and Mary Ann Hilbert, Innkeepers. The Census for 1861, for Southampton, shows James and Mary Ann Hilbert, ages 25 and 26. Jas. Hilbert listed as Innkeeper; two children ages 3 and 1. Under the Hilberts’ information, the census lists the tavern as having been built in 1857. James Hilbert died on May 25, 1866. Mary Ann (Smith) Hilbert married Alex Sinclair in 1869 and continued to run the hotel. Mary Ann owned the hotel until her death in/on January 13, 1914.
History of the Hotel’s names:
– Hilbert’s Hotel built– 1857
– It Became the Masonic Arms Hotel before 1861 – 1869
– Name changed to Central Hotel – 1870 and was still owned by Mary Ann (Smith) Sinclair.
– In 1888, it was reported in the Port Elgin Times that Mrs. Sinclair had a “foundation laid for a large addition to the Central Hotel and when finished this will be one of the most commodious hotels in the country.” Further expansions were carried in in the 1890’s.
– The Hotel was run by John Creighton from 1904 – 1911.
– Temperance House 1913 -Kugler Proprietor.
– The Estate of Mary Ann Sinclair sold the hotel to Ellen Walker in 1915 and it was then named the Walker House.
There are tidbits of information available for those times in the writings of John Weichel and one promotional piece that caught my eye (Streeter) was from the local paper in November, 1861. It reads:
Masonic Arms Hotel
James Hilbert
ACKNOWLEDGES WITH PLEASURE the hearty support he has hitherto received from the travelling community and the general public; and trusts that he will continue to give the satisfaction already experienced by his numerous friends.
Stages leave the above Hotel every morning for Goderich, Kincardine, and Owen Sound.
An experienced Hostler is always in attendance. Nov. 1861
Looking at Today (2022)
Behind the hotel stood the stable to house the visitors’ horses and their buggies or wagons. These stables stood at the back of what is now the Southampton Legion parking lot right up to the 1950’s. The milk delivery horses were housed there up into the 1940’s before delivery was switched to trucks. The dairy building remains as the Southampton Meat Market and Bluewater Hair Salon.
Harvey and Helen Mahon acquired the Walker House from Ellen Walker in the 1940’s. Ellen Walker was the aunt of Helen Mahon, who was also a descendent of the Kugler family that had operated the hotel in 1913 as the ‘Temperance House’.
About 1952, they added the Lakeview Room which was then known as the Coffee Shop. This addition created a lot of excitement in our town as it was a new and modern family restaurant spot.
The next year, 1953, on the corner across the street, the big and beautiful Government Building was built (today’s Post Office).
On the other side of Grosvenor Street, Helen and Harvey and their children Bob and Barb lived on the second floor. Bob and Barb were the same age as my younger siblings. Harvey ran the two beverage rooms at the East end and Helen ran the kitchen and the dining rooms in the middle and the Lakeview Room. In the kitchen, there always seemed to be a Kugler or two doing the cooking.
Bob and Barb Mahon took the business over from their parents and operated it until it was purchased by Mary Putman, Robert Ho and family in 2013. This ended a 100-year connection to the hotel by the Kugler, Walker, Mahon connected families.”
“The love of Southampton that Mary, Robert and their family have for our town and the Walker House, is evident in all the work that they have done to bring the Hotel up to the highest of standards, while maintaining the heritage and historic value of the property,” said Heritage Committee Chair Bill Streeter. “For me to get into the details of the massive rebuild would not do them justice. It has been eight years of constant reconstruction and upgrading. They diligently worked around everything that they could to maintain the Heritage of the building. Contractors were also committed to the careful handling of the many areas of the structure.”
“Mary and Robert succeeded over these eight plus years in keeping up with the business growth and making efficient use of the available space … all this while maintaining the charm and the history of this iconic landmark,” added Streeter. “They can be very proud of their accomplishments and their outstanding contribution to the Heritage of our community is recognized and appreciated.”
