135-year-old Manitoba farmhouse tapped for national heritage contest

Hourie House at Fort la Reine Museum was chosen as a finalist for a national contest with a big cash prize.

A 135-year-old Manitoba heritage site is in the running to win tens of thousands of dollars to ensure it keeps standing for many years to come.

Hourie House at Fort la Reine Museum in Portage la Prairie, Man. was chosen as one of 12 finalists in the Next Great Save 2025 Competition.

Hosted by National Trust for Canada, the contest awards $65,000 in cash prizes to help protect historic places across the country.

Hourie House applied for the competition in an effort to fund a foundation repair of the structure.

“If you wait too long on these things, I find that you start compromising the historical integrity of the building,” explained Emma Ens-MacIver, executive director at Fort la Reine Museum.

“We want to put in a new foundation now so that we can have minimal intervention and then get some of the aesthetic work done.”

It’s understandable that the home needs a bit of TLC.

It was originally built in 1890 in High Bluff, Man., on a site gifted by the Hudson’s Bay Company to Philip and Euphemia Hourie for faithful service to the company.

Originally, the Houries lived in a log house on the property. However, a new home was built in its place after Euphemia fell through a second-storey floor.

Hourie House was declared Manitoba’s farm of the century in 1967 and was moved to the museum grounds a decade later.

Ens-MacIver said the historic site is a great example of an early Canadian farmhouse with Victorian-era features—one that housed a family with deep connections to the community.

“The matriarch of the family was a Métis midwife and healer who was very important in the Portage la Prairie area in the mid-1800s.”

The winner of the $50,000 grand prize will be chosen through online voting. It’s open now until April 17 on National Trust for Canada’s website. The public can register with an email address and can vote every day until the contest ends.

Hourie House is the only Manitoba site in the running. While Ens-MacIver hopes the community will rally around the project, she believes the contest itself is a huge win for historic sites across the country.

“These projects are just so important to bring awareness to Canadian heritage in a fun way,” she said.

“Even if we don’t win, which obviously I hope we do, just having that exposure for our project and just Canada’s heritage in general, nationwide, is really important right now.”