This building was constructed in 1895 or 1896 by the Kamloops Mining and Drilling Co. - the main floor for commercial use and boarders’ rooms above. It was a 3 storey building with a false front and a large portico and verandah across the front of the lower floor. The false front and the portico and verandah are now gone, as well as gables over the third storey windows, increasing the stark appearance of the building. It does, however, still possess the two original bow windows on the second floor.
Those bow windows, however, were once on the ground floor, not the second. No, they weren't relocated, the earth was! When the Kamloops Mining and Development Company building was constructed, it was surrounded by a complete block of two and three storey wood framed buildings, all of which are now gone. As well, in 1895 the Columbia Avenue grade was much higher, meaning that the present ground floor was originally below the grade.
Many commercial enterprises have occupied this space, including a cigar manufacturing shop in the early years and the name of the building has changed as many times. Today, the building is divided into a number of apartments.
History
In 1895, the Kamloops Mining & Development (KMD) Company was incorporated by Harold E. Forster, Charles C. Woodhouse, and Fred M. Wells, of Kamloops, and Harry Symons, Q.C. of Calgary. It held the usual powers of a mining company, and had capital of $30,000 in $100 shares. Its headquarters were in Kamloops. Harold Ernest Forster was a miner and rancher. Charles C. Woodhouse, Jr. was an engineer and mining assayer. Fred M. Wells was a mine examiner and Harry Symons was an attorney from Calgary.
In February, 1896 a newspaper article indicated that KMD had “headquarters and a well- equipped assay office” in Rossland but it was unclear as to the location.
In 1897, Mrs. McCue of Kaslo purchased the property based on the 1898 Tax Assessment Roll. In July, 1897, it was announced that KMD would move its offices and headquarters to Rossland. We know from the 1899 Tax Assessment Roll that KMD purchased the land and erected a building worth $1000. The fire insurance map of 1897 show a 2 ½ storey building with a bridge leading to an underground vault at the back of building, on the hill.
From 1902 -1916, Harold E. Forster is listed as the owner of the building. In 1916, Andrew M. Johnson of Pasco, Washington purchased the building. In that year, he married Marguerite K. Gray. Mr. Johnson moved to Rossland and opened a cigar manufacturing plant in the building. In the following years, the Tax Assessment Rolls show joint ownership with Andrew Johnson and Marguerite Gray- Johnson but by 1924, it was solely in the name of Marguerite K. Gray-Johnson.
In 1948, Mrs. Margaret Babcock acquired the building and made some substantial improvements which were reflected in the $1,500 assessment of the building in the 1949 Tax Assessment Roll. It appears that the building served as a rooming house for a number of years and was later converted into separate apartments when boarding houses were no longer considered fashionable.
From Heritage Rossland
Kamloops Mining and Development Company
Description of Historic Place
The Kamloops Mining & Development Company is a three storey, gable-roofed building located on the western edge of the commercial district of Columbia Avenue in Rossland, B.C. The building sits on the north side of the street and is distinguished by its projecting bays on the second and third storeys and the evidence of former commercial space on the ground floor.
Heritage Value
The Kamloops Mining & Development Company building is recognized for its historic and social values to the community of Rossland.
Constructed in 1895 for the Kamloops Mining & Development Company (KMD), the heritage site is a reminder of the important administrative, economic, and executive position that Rossland held at the end of the nineteenth century. Its location near the US border and its seemingly unending richness of ore-laden geology made Rossland the ideal place for the headquarters of the KMD; the company transferred its business to Rossland from Kamloops in 1895, and its headquarters in 1897. The early presence of this international mining company (which also had contemporary offices in Republic, Washington) is a testament to the high value of the mining assays in Rossland at that time.
The heritage site is valued for its historic and social role as an early "supporting business" for the mining activity on Red Mountain - providing local assessment work and professional mining expertise for claim owners and those interested in investment in hard rock mining. One of the uses of this building as the 'assay office', the place where ore was scientifically analyzed for its precious metal content, reflects the importance of educated professionals such as mining engineers in ensuring that mines could be established, grow and prosper in the boom town. The heritage site is also significant as the place of business of Charles C. Woodhouse, a mining engineer and assayer from Washington State, who was celebrated as the 'best known mining engineer on the Coast'. Woodhouse was also one of the founding members of the KMD.
Further heritage value lies in the physical location of the heritage site at the western end of Columbia Avenue as once part of a contiguous grouping of commercial buildings of Rossland's main street and commercial downtown during the boom town era. It is valued as one of only two of Rossland's oldest surviving buildings (along with the Lemon Block) which mark Rossland's earliest commercial development on the western edge of town.
The heritage site is valued for its design which does not fit the typical false-fronted style of most other commercial buildings from this era. Its gable roof and decorative windows on the upper two stories are distinctive features which set this place apart from its contemporaries both in the past and now.
Since the 1930s, the upper storey offices have been used as apartments. In recent decades, the ground floor commercial space was converted to residential use. This evolution reflects the typical adaptation Rossland's built environment has made to changes in the local economy over time.
Character-Defining Elements
The elements that define the character of the Kamloops Mining & Development Company building include its:
- Original location on western edge of commercial district of Columbia Avenue
- Evidence of commercial use in its ground floor storefront
- Dual commercial and residential use for most of its history
- Sitting on a whole city lot
- Original infrastructure related to its original assay use, such as an underground vault behind the building
- Unique Victorian commercial design with a three-storey, gable-roofed form with ground level storefront
- Protruding square bay on the third storey and bay windows on its second storey
- Victorian proportioned (vertical/narrow) window openings where they survive
- Evidence of the building's evolution over time to accommodate changes to the grade of Columbia Avenue
From Historic Places Canada