5 Alexandra St is located in a part of Saint John, New Brunswick historically part of Portland Parish until 1889 and now officially part of the North End of the city. Five houses were built at the same time on the same street – 1, 3, 5, 7, and 25 Alexandra St. with the exact same floor plan. Yes, the numbering is weird and I am not sure why. Additionally, three duplexes were also built. The houses were built in 1910 by the Fenton Land and Building Company which had Theodore Estabrooks from the Red Rose Tea Company as President. We see that the Fenton Land and Building Company was created in 1910 and Alexandra St was the first development by the Company.
Murray and Gregory completed the art glass and supplied the lumber – some of the lumber in no 5 still shows their stamp. See this blog for an excellent overview [much better than I could ever provide] of 1 Alexandra. The blog, in fact, inspired us to buy 5 Alexandra.
This 1875 map shows the Hilyard home at 222 Douglas Ave just around the corner from where modern day Alexandra St. is. Could the unnamed street to the left of numbers 1 and 2 be what is now Alexandra St.?
In March 1910 Alexandra was called Campbell St and was described as a private road.
In April 1910 it appears Campbell St was on its way to being graded.
In Nov 1910 there is a reference to Alexandra or Campbell St in the newspaper.
This same month, McCaskill is noted as buying 5 Alexandra mistakenly called 3 Alexandra.
In 1910 Campbell was renamed Alexandra. Alexandra was christened and ready to be occupied. In various newspaper articles it is called Alexander St., Alexandria St., and Alexander Row.
5 Alexandra Street was occupied in 1911. Since then she has gone through four sets of owners as of 2020 with one family owning her for roughly 95 years. We – the fourth set of owners – are deeply grateful for the owners prior to us – third set – who removed carpet, fixed walls, completely redid the dangerous electrical, and have been stalwart stewards of the house. I hope to be able to share some of their photos detailing the heavy work they undertook in order to preserve 5 Alexandra. We bought the home without ever having seen it in person, and our leap of faith was rewarded in no small part due to the work of the previous owners.
We see a fun article requesting a light at the end of Alexandra and Edward St in 1911.
The pics below are care of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick taken by Isaac Erb. They are commonly published on many sites and in many books. In the first pic you can see 5 Alexandra St. – it is the third house down from the top. The second pic is a mirror image and shows 5 Alexandra St. as the middle of the five identical houses.
Our home is the only house of 1, 3, 5, 7, and 25 that has a driveway that goes from Alexandra connecting to the common lane. It is a bit ironic considering we do not drive. The image below also comes from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick and shows what would have been the beginning of a development. Edward Street has never been developed and is just public space now that allows cars into the back common lane.
You might wonder why Alexandra is a Street and yet nearby Brunswick Place is a Place not a Street. I wondered the same thing too. For many years there was a CPR bridge that connected the end of Alexandra to Chesley. The bridge is gone but the foundations remain. This would have made Alexandra like Bentley Street – a street that connected Douglas Avenue to Chesley. See pic below of remaining train bridge foundations. See the overview of the area found on page 70 of the City of Saint John’s Survey Plan ca. 1920 – you can clearly see the train bridge identified.
Finally, a 1914 newspaper write-up of the Fenton Land and Company successes.
Our home was owned/inhabited by the following persons:
- 1910 – in December Reverend John James McCaskill bought 5 Alexandra from the Fenton Land and Building Co.
- 1911 – the McCaskill family moves in after the census is taken
- 1913 – Alexandrina Haggard Clarke moves in with the McCaskill family
- 1916 – the house is unoccupied – Reverend McCaskill was serving overseas and his wife returned to Maine
- 1917 – DW Robb was renting the home and noted as a mechanical engineer working at T. McAvity & Sons Shell Factory
- 1918-1921 Horace Brown was renting the home and working on Germain St as a master tailor
- 1919 – in December Florence Elkin Munro, wife of Fred Munro, bought the home from Rev. McCaskill
- 1922 – George Margetts, manager of the Famous Laskey Film Service Ltd was noted as renting the home in the directory but in other documentation, i.e. the birth of his daughter Shirley in 1915, was noted at 7 Alexandra – further investigation required
- 1923 – Fred Munro moves into his deceased wife’s home the same year he married Maud Pearl Gaskin
- 2014 – the Munro family (Fred’s youngest daughter Nancy) sold the home
- 2020 – in October we bought the home
A reminder that I frequently update older blogs – sometimes with new images and new information I feel is more supportive of the text.