123, rue Montgomery, Philipsburg
The Montgomery house at the corner of Montgomery Avenue and Phillips Street is believed to date back to the 1830’s. Hugh Montgomery, born in Belfast, bought it in the 1850’s from the Whitwells. He was established in Philipsburg as minister of the Methodist Church and later as priest of the Anglican Church. Hugh Montgomery and his wife Eliza Slack raised five children, two of whom died at a young age. Tom was the village doctor, Robert was an artist and George went to Montreal to work as a lawyer.
Sandy, the current owner, is the fourth generation to own the house ; it has passed from his grandfather, George, and then to his own father, also named George.
George Sr. built his summer home across the street (now the Macfarlane house) and George Jr. summered in the stone cottage now owned by Sandy’s sister, Phyllis. After Eliza died in the 1930’s, the house was home to Jim and Isobel Smith and later to Arthur and Marie Carr. Sandy moved into the house in 1988.
Originally, there were no fire-places. Instead, stovepipes passed from room to room. The kitchen and carriage shed were in a separate wing from the main part of the house. The horse stable stands behind the other buildings.
(Propos recueillis auprès de Sandy Montgomery)
Wooden house, log construction, built around 1850. The house was covered with modern-day siding during the twentieth century.
The map that appears in H.F. Walling’s Canada East Atlas (1884), indicates the names of M. Lessard, Charles Hawk and Butler as owners of Lot 94.
1476, chemin Saint-Armand
The first name to appear on the land register is that of Joseph Henry Albee, who will later sell his land to Joseph M. Galer on June 30, 1885.
Mr. Galer sells the farm to Jean Tremblay in 1908. Following his death in 1933, his widow sells the property she inherited from her husband to Lawrence R. Roy on September 13. Royce Chamberlin returns here after the war in which he served in England and Holland, and purchases the homestead in 1946.
The farm has been a going concern from that moment to thisday. Fire broke out and caused serious damage on two occasions : the barn burnt down some time in 1940, and Mr. Roy raised it up again. In the 70s, the house itself fell victim to a fire. And while the outer shell remained standing fire devastated the interior that required extensive renovations.
Mrs. Chamberlin is the mother of our former Mayor, Brent Chamberlin