Christopher Stevenson for the Boundary Historical Society
What a sad end for a once beautiful piece of Grand Forks’ heritage.
The last heritage house standing on the block at the south end, east side of 3rd Street (what was once 2nd Street and will be referred to by the original street name) in Grand Forks is coming down. The roof is off, and a waste bin sits out front, ready to remove material, load by load. Windows have been removed, the paint is long gone and her back is broken, bearing scars from fire and neglect. Tired and sagging under the load of her own weight, this grand old lady will soon be gone, adding another vacant lot to this block where so much built heritage used to exist.
But oh, what stories….what life this house has had. From the first years when houses on this block served as brothels in the era of red light districts, to the heights of Grand Forks society where mayors, businessmen and future Stanley Cup Champion and Hockey Hall of Fame players lived, the Reburn House has been a colourful and central part of the history of our city.
Its interesting how the most dramatic, most sordid, most scandalous parts of history are the ones that stick out. And sometimes, how stories and legends stray from the truth, obscuring what was real to the point that its nearly impossible to determine truth from fiction. People do love a good story. Or in this case, a bad one. The block was Grand Forks’ red light district, during the first years of the city’s existence. That early history is what sticks; when people mention this house, most commonly its referred to as “The Blue Goose” or “The Blue Goose Brothel”. Its labelled that in the 1986 Heritage Survey, leading the reader to believe that the house was a brothel and nothing more.
The Survey lists “infamous Lavade Dolly and Maggie Hatfield” as the first known owners of the house, states that it was built “pre-1899” “by unknown builders” and became a brothel in 1903. This is probably where most people have gotten their information from, but unfortunately, the inventory entry is problematic. There’s no mention of either Dolly or Hatfield in the papers of that time. Were they business owners….madames who bought the house or did they have it built? The entry states that the house became a brothel in 1903 – but we know that the days of the redlight district were effectively ending by 1903. And the article stops with claims of it being a brothel, with no mention of its history beyond 1903.
But the house was never “The Blue Goose”. That name was actually that of a person. Anna Hamer - A “soiled dove” whose escapades made the newspapers for some years, and who would eventually be at the heart of a local scandal. Her name comes up in the pages of local newspapers as early as 1898 and then again for quite some time around 1901-2. She may have been a resident of the house on 2nd Street – though its not stated with any certainty or specificity in any sources. She’s never identified as the owner of that or any other house. Perhaps because its located on the same block as the Monte Carlo and another house of ill repute, her nickname became incorrectly applied to the house.
Hamer was apparently somewhat of a local celebrity. We first hear of “The Blue Goose” in the summer of 1898 in the pages of the Grand Forks Miner Newspaper. She was well known enough at that time to be included in a list of things by which Grand Forks was known. An article in the Aug 27 edition lists a “Blue Goose” as one of the things that Grand Forks possesses along with “electric lights, water works, elevated sidewalks, a municipal debt, fifty four voters. a Blue Goose and an annual flood” , and a month later in the social page of Sept 24, 1898: “The Blue Goose has quit the “fog pond” and gone to Cascade and there tears are of sorrow in certain quarters. “A bad penny always returns” and we look for no exception in this case.”
Evidently, as predicted, she came back, but by 1901, her luck had run out. She became entangled with the case of Simeon Galloway, a man who was charged with “ compelling his girl wife to enter a disorderly house” in Grand Forks. His wife was a minor. Hamer was his alleged accomplice.
Galloway was tried, convicted and sentenced to 23 months hard labor by the end of January 1902, which he served at the penitentiary in Nelson. His wife filed for divorce by Sept 1902, applying for “ separation because her husband is serving a sentence in a British Columbia prison for enticing young girls to this city for immoral purposes. In her complaint the wife alleges that Galloway forced her to enter a life of shame.”
Hamer was tried for the same charges. She didn’t go quite as easily or quietly as Galloway though. Convicted and awaiting sentencing, The Blue Goose escaped from custody at her house (possibly our featured house), jumped bail….and drove to Republic, where she was arrested, for evading the smallpox quarantine. The special constable guarding her – Joseph Taylor -was arrested and charged with neglect of duty. He claimed to have fallen asleep, which allowed her to escape. Taylor was subsequently found not guilty by a jury of his peers upon instruction of Judge Walkem, who advised that since as “Hamer had been out on bail, (she)was free to go anywhere as long as the bail bond was in effect, and there was no consequence in Taylor allowing her to escape.”
By 1902, Anna Hamer/Hammer, aka “The Blue Goose” was gone, she vanishes into history, and her name never appears again in local newspapers.
By 1903, the tide had turned, and the election of Martin Burrell as Mayor signalled that the city would no longer tolerate the vices that had been openly carried out for so many years. Burrell campaigned on a promise to end the vices and social evils of what he saw as a wide open city, and though he was only in office for one year, by all accounts he made good on his promises and worked to end gambling, unregulated liquor sales and “the social evil” – prostitution. Subsequent local governments would continue to lead the community in the direction that Burrell had set. The red light district would soon be gone, gambling regulated and alcohol sales limited through licencing.
But the name lingers on…..
The House as a Home
And so begins the second chapter of 7120 2nd Street.
The details for this section came from Sherri Jensen Ko, whose family owned the house for around 80 years, and who had set the record straight several times in discussions on Boundary Heritage whenever the conversation focussed on the house as a brothel, which completely ignores and misses so much of its history.
That story…. is that of Sherri’s Great Grandmother Elizabeth (nee Christie) Reburn and her family. It begins in Sturgeon Falls Ontario, with an accident that killed Henry Reburn in 1903, leaving his wife Elizabeth and their 5 young children behind. Following her husband’s death – sometime around 1904-5 - Elizabeth loaded up her children and made her way across the country. Family folklore has it that they came by wagon caravan, but its possible that they came by rail and partially by wagon. They may have chosen to come here because doctors told Elizabeth that daughter Maudie’s health issues could be improved through a change in climate. Sherri’s grandmother was the youngest – born in 1903 and 2 months old when Henry died.
And soon after they got here, the Reburns moved into 7120 2nd Street. Where they would stay for almost 8 decades.
By that time the sordid times had past, and the houses on the block were homes to families and ‘ordinary’ citizens.
Across the street lived George Massie, a tailor with somewhere between 5-7 children. June Downie had the house beside them, and beside that was the old hospital. Sherri’s Grandmother talked about a red light district, but to her recollection it was back by the bridge area in the same vicinity but over a block, and her mother said the same thing. It would have been in the past though, regardless.
Over the decades, the house saw a lot of life. Elizabeth married Jim Murray, and together they raised 5 children there. Elizabeth was a pious, religious woman who tolerated no shenanigans. Card games were NOT to be played on Sundays. Jim had to leave the house and go out back if he wanted to drink any alcohol.
There was a period when the house may have been registered possibly as a boarding house, as they took in boarders to help support the family.
In time, the family joined the upper levels of Grand Forks’ society.
Daughter Jeannette (Sherri’s grandmother) married Dr. William Smith a local dentist, and they would reside in both the house beside Don Manly’s house and Judge Brown’s house on Central Avenue (both of which exist today). Jeannette was involved in setting up museum and library, and was actively involved in community organizations.
Elizabeth’s oldest son Almer Reburn left for other parts early on….Vancouver, Calgary, and only came home to be buried at Evergreen Cemetery.
The family counted people like Archer Davis as friends. Davis was the son of prominent businessman Jefferson Davis, and was mayor as his father had been.
The house was connected to a legendary hockey player as well. Elizabeth’s oldest daughter Annie married Duncan “Mickey” MacKay – who would go on to a storied career as a professional hockey player, two time Stanley Cup winner (Vancouver Millionaires in 1915 and Boston Bruins in 1929) and NHL Hall of Fame member. The wedding took place in 1916 at the house on 2nd Street, and Annie and Mickey lived there for a time, boarding with Elizabeth and Jim until he got picked up by the Vancouver Millionaires in Vancouver. Mickey and Annie stayed at the house whenever they came back to town. Annie would return to board at 7120 3rd Street when Mickey died. Family information has Annie as the first woman postmaster in BC, a position she held right here in Grand Forks.
Daughter Isabelle Maud “Aunt Maudie” married Glenn Manly, son of WKC Manly. Their wedding took place at the house on 2nd Street, and a photo of the wedding party shows the youthful joy of that day. They also lived at the house all of their days, except for a short move to Greenwood. The Manly family were pretty much Grand Forks royalty. John Manly was the City’s first mayor, brother Lloyd was alderman and then mayor, WKC Manly was a prominent businessperson, and his son Don went on to become mayor as well. Don claimed to be recorded as the first official baby (non-first nations) born in Grand Forks.
Uncle Glenn and aunt Maudie were both born the year that Grand Forks incorporated as a City – 1897. They never had children, and with the exception of a couple of years remained in the home and took care of the home and her mother Elizabeth in her last years. She passed away in the year of BC’s Centennial, 1958, at which time it became their house. It would be their home for the rest of their lives. They co-owned and operated the Miller Manly Hardware store, and Glenn was undertaker as well. He died in 1972. Aunt Maudie stayed in the house until her death in 1981.
A funny story came out about Uncle Glen and Aunt Maudie during my conversation with Sherri. Apparently Glenn won the Winnipeg Hotel in a card game in the 1930s. He won it, and they owned it for a few months, until Maudie realized that she didn’t want him owning a hotel, and basically told him to go lose it in another card game – which he did.
When Maudie died in 1981, with no children to pass the house onto, it was left to aunt Anne and Jeannette Reburn-Smith. The house was cleared out, and sold in by 1982(3?).
And with that, the third and final chapter of the house began. From the time it left the family’s hands in 1982-83, the house went through a number of owners. People bought it with the intentions of caring for it, fixing it up, but ultimately its condition worsened.
Anne lived across the street until her death in 1986. One person bought it and said they were going to restore it. It didn’t happen. The original layout was split up into small one and two room suites that were rented out. Several fires occurred, the scars of which can still be seen on the back corner and upstairs in the roof section of the rear addition.
Sherri Jensen Ko remembers her family’s home as a warm, wonderful place. She recalls that the interior was beautiful, walls covered in flowered, patterned wallpaper, natural wood and painted moldings…..there was a pantry off the kitchen, which still had the old sink and stove in place. The bathroom was downstairs, housing the original clawfoot tub. A formal parlor and living room on the main floor. Bedrooms upstairs and on the main floor. Kitchen at the back.
I had the opportunity to tour what’s left of the Reburn House last week, and little remains of what was once surely a magnificent piece of local heritage. The skeletal remains of full dimension lumber construction hanging on against 125 years of life. The roof was open, and water fell everywhere. The walls had been stripped to studs, and nothing remained of the fine woodwork and fittings that must have once existed. The only trace of its past grandeur that remains is in the staircase – the newel posts, bannisters and woodwork – in stark contrast to the terrible condition of everything around it - that hopefully will be saved from the landfill and restored.
And so we arrive at the end. Not much left to see, really. Just the ruins of an old house. Memories for those who knew it during its history.
And a wonderfully rich story.
