McKenzie House
SE 25-13-19W,
Rapid City area

Designation Date: July 3, 1990
Designation Authority: The R.M. of Saskatchewan
Present Owner: privately owned

Even before the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway into the province, settlement of western Manitoba by eastern Canadian immigrants had started tentatively in the 1870s. One of these hardy souls, Kenneth McKenzie, arrived in the Minnedosa area in 1871 from Gloucester, Ontario and immediately commenced clearing his land and farming. His wife and their two children joined him in 1879 and for several years they lived in a small log house. That building was replaced by this house, built for the McKenzies in 1891–1892 by stone mason T.D. Taylor of Minnedosa, using fieldstone that had been collected as they cleared their land. The house is an excellent example of the mason's trade, but is also a good representative of the architectural heritage of southern Ontario, in which this kind of house (on an L-shaped plan and distinguished by the steep Gothic-inspired dormer window) was common. Mr. Mackenzie became active in local politics, serving as a councillor for the Rural Municipality of Saskatchewan from its formation in 1887 until 1900.