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Dr. Winfield Fretz, a professor of sociology at Conrad Grebel College, is one Waterloo resi- dent who reveres the past. Along with other Wa- terloo residents, he is working on a project to keep Waterloo in touch with its history. Brubach h _ Pres er 01188 “%w* "'"1:, , ..7 A erves o . L' . . ur '1terr. l J, tit'),",;:,":),,::':,':,'.,),' octetld, link with ltr)"", _ ti'ii,ii'sirr:si'itti,rli.e'r . . ,;; . I" 1 'iiii'aigik7tii" the past '.r"r'e ' / ."" Cl _ By Terry James Many things are done in the name of progress. Destroying old buildings and breaking the link with our.historical heritage is one of the most destructive aspects of progress in some people's opinion. ', The focus of their efforts is an authentic stone Pennsylvania-German Mennonite farm house on the thousamracre UW campus. The 126-year- old homesteitVyrhich is one of the most authen- tic Mennonite hdmes in the area, was built by a Mennonite farmer, John E. Brubacher, in 1850. The farm house is located to the north of Col- umbia St. and overlooks Columbia Lake and the university's lower campus. When restored, this house will remind Waterloo residents of the Pennsylvania-German Mennonite lifestyle of the 1800's. Progress hits every city and Waterloo is no exception. How many people today are aware that the ultra-modern University of Waterloo campus was once the site of a dozen Mennonite farm houses? The Brubacher house restoration project began when officers of the university and members of the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario no- ticed that the campus was rapidlyheing cover- ed with academic buildings. There were a num- ber of stately farm houses on campus and all were being destroyed. Dr. Fretz recalls that a suggestion to preserve the building was made to Dr. Hagy,r president of UW at the iime, and his long-term planning com- mittee. It was decided that each of the farm houses would be studied to see which one was l waterloo chronicle '='iiijt:== This is how the John E. Brutract seen posing in from of their home 121st Year No. 28 John E. Brubacher house looked in the 1800's. Members ot the Brubacher family are Wednesday, July 14, 1976 The 126-year-old Brubacher farm house on Columbia St. in Waterloo has recently been restored to the way it looked in the 1 800's. Woodwork gutted by a fire in 1 968 has been replaced. The John E. Brubacher house, with its 20- inch thick fieldstone walls, was chosen. The house had not been occupied for more than 10 years and the university was using it for storage purposes. The Schmidt family was its last occu- pant and the home is still known as the Schmidt house. Initial planning for the renovation project be- gan about 1965. In April, 1968 the inside of the house was gutted by fire when maintenance men were burning brush nearby. The stone walls and the masonry were not damaged but the wood- work was totally destroyed. most representative of a Pennsylvania-German Mennonite home: - "It wasn't is bad as we first thought," said Wan.»- .-, Museum N Kitchener Public Li / Queen Street North t KITCHENER, Out. f . Waterloo. Ontario T'PAIW: Dr. Fretz. "After examining the remaining wood- work, we discovered that it was deteriorating very badly and we would have had to replace it anyway." In spite of the fire damage, an architect pronounced the building sound. With this assur- ance, the project began to receive pledges of funding between 1968 and 1970. "It was kind of a moratorium," said Dr. Fretz. The university donated the house, the Waterloo Regional Heritage Foundation pledged $40,001; the Ontario Regional Heritage Foundation do- nated $20,000 and the Mennonite Historical So- ciety of Ontario pledged between $5,000 and $10,000. Dr. Fretz was and still is the centre of all plan- ning for the Brubacher house renovation. He is chairman of the UW committee for the develop- ment of a Mennonite house on campus. Other members of the committee include Frank H. Epp from Conrad Grebel College, and Dr. Ken McLaughlin, history: Roy Officer, geography; Fraser Watts, architecture; and Bill Lobban, from the University of Waterloo. Dr. Fretz is also a member of the Waterloo Regional Herit- age Foundation and chairman of the Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario. "When we began the project, we really had no idea of the difference between preserving a place and restoring it," said Dr. Fretr "When you restore a place you make an effort to find every- thing original and replace everything as nearly as possible. .. ""., preserving a house simply means putting a good. roof on it and repairing the doors and win- dows to protect it from the weather. - Shortly after the fire. the first step in preserv- ing the building was taken. Insurance money was used to pay for the cost of a new roof and the windows were enclosed. Simeon Martin, an elderly Mennonite carpenter, used the wood from a nearby farm woodlot to hand-hew the timbers used for beams and reframing the in- terior. Mr. Martin lived in the house himself at one time. Very slowly the project progressed to the point where work was started in restoring the house, The grand-daughters of John E. Brubacher were consulted for this task. Although they are well 10 Cents (Continued on page 2)