André Bourque House

In a village that saw a steady influx of workers at the turn of the 20th century, the André Bourque House is the prototype of the homes built by this new class. It is one of the first (if not the first) small houses with the gable end facing the road so they fit onto a tiny lot since workers, unlike farmers, do not need much land.

One of the first Acadians from the villages more to the south to be lured by the commercial potential of the new Coin-des-Léger, near Moncton, André Bourque, bought a plot of land from the Légers near the northern boundary of their lot, which adjoined the land owned by Marcel Surette, on which he built this small worker’s house circa 1885. He moved there with his family, which already consisted of five children. Ten years later, he sold the house to Amand Surette, Marcel’s son, a recent widower who moved his children there, near his parents, so they could look after the children while he was away at work in the Beaumont quarries. The house was home to the widower’s children for more than a decade during which time he was away most of the time working as teamster. In 1910, the last child left home, but, nine years later, after his son-in-law died in the United States, Amand welcomed back his eldest daughter and her six children. After his own death circa 1930, his daughter and her children continued to live in the house.