The Home of one of Canada’s Fathers of Confederation

By newsroom
The Home of one of Canada’s Fathers of Confederation
The headline to the 1967 article about the demolition of Alexander Galt’s Sherbrooke Home (Photo : Record archives)

By Taylor McClure, Special to The Record – Looking back to the Dominion Day supplement published by what was then The Sherbrooke Daily Record in the lead-up to Canada’s centennial in 1967, The Record recently came across an article that discussed the demolition of the home of Sir Alexander T. Galt. As one of the Fathers of Confederation and one of Canada’s most important nation builders, it came as surprise to many when Alexander Galt’s former home in Sherbrooke was torn down in September 1966. Located on Moore Street, historians and politicians alike were fighting for two years to have the Galt Home preserved. They almost won their battle when the Quebec Historic Sites and Monuments Commission designated the Galt Home as a historical site and agreed to provide financial aid towards the cause of preserving it if needed. Under this plan, the Quebec government would offer to pay for half of the $65,000 project while the Federal government contributed the other half. By the end of the fight, however, the Federal government was the only party living up to its promises, and the project was left in their hands alone. According to the report from the time, the building suffered from extensive damage after having been moved to a new site. That, added to the financial disagreements between the Provincial and Federal government, led Ottawa to decide that the Galt home would be demolished. See full story in the Friday, June 21 edition of The Record.

Share this article