The home of Mr. Chas Kirkhoff

In the neighbourhood we have a new program starting, a plaque program. Large plaques will be placed on the houses in our neighbourhood, with the year the house was built, the name of the owner and their profession.

When I heard about the program, that NIGHT I was researching! Luckily, Henderson's Directory is online, thanks to the amazing Peel Library. What is Henderson's? It's a phenomenal resource, that lists the houses in the city (all of them) with the name of the male owner of the house. And then in the back, there is an index of each owner and their profession. It's an amazing glimpse into the time. Although it is also filled with typos, and errors and quirks. But here is what I know to date, about our home.

1. The lot first existed in 1922, but it is listed as vacant. Does that mean there was no house? Or the house not finished? Or the house finished but no one in it? Some records show the house built in 1923, so maybe the lot was just created in 1922.
2. The first owner was a name named Chas Kirkhoff, in 1923. 
3. Chas also lived in the home in 1924. 
4. From the back of Henderson's, he worked at Alta. Engraving Co. 
5. From other business sources, he was apparently the owner of Alta. Engraving Co! Which was located at 25, 9964 Jackson Block.

Jackson Block

Our plaque will read: 1923, Chas Kirkhoff, Owner, Alta Engraving Co. 

Although there was once his name was spelled Kerkhoff. And once it was Alberta Engraving Co. But I went with the most frequent spelling. 

Interestingly, Chas Kirkhoff was no longer in the house as of 1925. Or in Edmonton as of 1925. In fact, there was no record of him in Edmonton before 1923 either. And the house that was bought was definitely a family home! There were 4 bedrooms upstairs. A person on a Facebook group I belong to looked a little more. He checked the white pages for 1934 and 1947, and no Kirkhoff at all. He also checked district and rural pages up to 1929 and no mention of the name.

There was a Charles Kirkhoff who got married in 1912. Was that our Chas? 

And there is no record of a Kirkhoff in the Municipal Cemetery Database so if he died he wasn't buried here in Edmonton. 

We may never know much about Chas or his family. Alta Engraving Co, and their work. Or what happened next. 

But from now one, people will remember the name Chas Kirkhoff as the man who was the first owner of our home. 

And for him, and all the other owners after him, we are going to capture and record the history of the amazing home where we live.