The Morrison Residence
11223 66th Street
Constructed: 1914-15
Demolished: 2022
Donald R. Morrison, an independent carpenter, purchased a lot along what was then-called Wentworth Street in 1912. It was near the heart of the new “Highlands” subdivision. The papers claimed the area was the “acme of beauty” — reality was different. Thick brush, cut only by spindly dirt roads, was everywhere. Aided by his wife Norma, a Royal Mail Canada clerk, and daughters Elizabeth, Mina, and Edith, Donald cleared the plot. For two years the family lived in a shack, but with timbers felled and timbers laid, the Morrisons built a home — they remained there until 1921.
After the Morrisons moved to another property nearby, a series of labouring and student renters took over their old home. Among them were: J.N. Gilchrist, an engineer; Robert T. Stewart, a workman with Edmonton Cold Storage; William A. Chandler, a roadmaster with Canadian National Railways; and a widow, Mrs. McMaster. Of these new tenants, the most noteworthy was James — or “Jim” — MacDonald, a “perky scholar” who gained notoriety as the University of Alberta’s second-ever blind graduate
James spent much of his childhood in Brantford, Ontario. “[W]hen the Great War broke out,” the Edmonton Journal remembered, “he… had become greatly interested in collecting the pictures of soldiers that were being put into cans of tobacco. One day in the barn he found a can which seemed never to have been open. Eager to get the picture and unable to get the lid off, he tapped it against the cement floor. The can contained detonator caps.” The resulting explosion cost James his vision and most of his right arm — neither stopped him from pursuing higher education in his twenties. “I dislike the use of the word ‘handicap’ in reference to blindness,” he later told a reporter. “I consider it merely an inconvenience and I feel that it does not prevent one filling some niche in society and filling it very efficiently as well.”
In October 1927 James was admitted into Alberta’s premier university where he sought a degree in arts, giving special attention to English, history, and political economy. “Having acquired the knowledge of how to operate a typewriter, despite his lack of sight,” the Journal wrote, “MacDonald used a machine to write replies to the questions read to him from the university examination papers.”
James successfully completed his program and graduated in May 1932. It was reported that “[w]hen young MacDonald received his degree of bachelor of arts from the chancellor, Hon. A.C. Rutherford, plaudits echoed from the assemblage.” Evergreen & Gold, the University of Alberta’s yearbook, later described him:
“Jim entered the troubled arena of Varsity life five years ago, equipped with ability, optimism, courage and little else. He has run a splendid race, not without his fair share of dust and heat, and this year the laurel crown of high achievement is fittingly his. Jim’s interests are as varied as his talents, and in the distribution of the latter the gods have been kind. He is a splendid musician, cribbage player par excellence, presiding genius of many a mid— night bull session, devastator of feminine hearts, a good sport and a gentleman. Scotland has produced many sons of whom she may well be proud.”
Locally, MacDonald became a well-known singer, and hosted programs on radio station C.J.C.A. He later studied at the Knox College of Theology in Toronto and devoted much of his time to teaching sightless people.
In regards to its tenants more broadly, however, the Morrisons’ uncharacteristically asymmetrical abode spoke to larger trends within the broader Highlands-Bellevue neighbourhoods. In particular, it signals the inability of their developer, the Magrath-Holgate Company, to truly create the communities they envisioned. Both neighbourhoods vied for Edmonton’s professionals, with the Highlands targeting Edmonton’s most affluent families, and Bellevue aiming for a solidly upper-middle class character. The former attempted to achieve this with a number of stipulated caveats — a $2,500 minimum spent on every home built; twenty-five foot setbacks; one house per lot; etc. — while the former used its riverfront properties and proximity to the East End (Borden) Park as major selling-points.
The 1913 real-estate crash changed everything and development in Highlands-Bellevue slowed to a crawl. Banks foreclosed on dozens of properties, lots sat empty, and those unable to pay back-taxes had their deeds forfeited to the City. Magrath-Holgate quickly dropped the restrictions they hoped to impose on the Highlands and marketing for both it and Bellevue turned towards targeting lower and working-class renters. In turn, the area became home to people like the Morrisons, Chandlers, and MacDonalds; contractors and clerks, meatpackers and miners, students and service workers.
Tenants continued to come and go over the following decades — wear followed in tandem. By the time I took a look around it in late-2019, the old Morrison home was an odd mix of disparate styles. A ‘40s formica counter here, a ‘70s shag rug there. Mid-century wallpaper in the living room, classic mouldings in the stairwell. It screamed bad, piecemeal renovation, but the property oozed an innate charm all the same. It didn’t last.
Despite a concerted effort from its realtor to save the aging relic, the home was sold for redevelopment and, in early 2022, the Morrison Residence was levelled. A modern house now stands on its site.
Sources:
“The Highlands: Edmonton’s Beauty Spot,” Edmonton Journal, March 18, 1911.
“Highlands Become Popular For Up To Date Houses,” Edmonton Journal, March 18, 1911.
Henderson’s Edmonton City Directory, (1913) s.v. “Morrison,” pg. 284,
http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/2962.8/reader.html#255
“Weddings: Bennett-Morrison,” Edmonton Journal, September 26, 1917.
“Donald R. Morrison,” Edmonton Bulletin, April 1, 1932.
“Sightless Student Receives Degree, Is Given Ovation,” Edmonton Journal, May 14, 1932.
Evergreen & Gold (Edmonton: University of Alberta, 1932) pg. 54,
https://archive.org/details/P009022_12/page/n61/mode/2up?view=theater&q=MacDonald.
“Wins Arts Degree Despite Blindness,” Edmonton Journal, November 19, 1934.
Ken Tingley, My Heart Is In The Highlands: The Building of a Historic Edmonton Community (Edmonton: Highlands Historical Society, 2012), pg. 22, 23, 24, 48.
