610 Park Avenue
Irinda Watson House

Tax Photo - circa 1930s

Recent Photo

Irinda Watson must have watched in horror as her home was destroyed during the Great Fire of 1898. A widow, she had lost her husband William to a mining accident just two years previously. William had worked in the Ontario mine for 13 years and was considered one of the most experienced men of the company. While he was stoping (that’s where you built the timber framing to shore up the mine tunnels), a large slab of ore slipped from the hanging wall and struck him full in the back. Dr. Wilson diagnosed a broken back. He was carefully transported home, where he died the next day.

Irinda and William purchased the property in 1893 for $710 and lived here with their four children, William jr., Frank, Milton and June. After the fire, Irinda had this home constructed in the popular pyramid style. However, the family struggled, and by 1900 two sons, William and Milton, were unemployed and Irinda was taking in boarders to earn money. In 1905, late paying for the bills for the new home, Irinda was served with a lien by the Summit Lumber Company.