Rosthern Mennonite Heritage Museum

The Rosthern Mennonite Heritage Museum is a Municipal Heritage Property situated prominently on a one-hectare corner lot in the Town of Rosthern. The property features a two-storey brick building, built as a school in 1910, with a landscaped green space around the building.

The heritage value of the Rosthern Mennonite Heritage Museum resides in its association with the Mennonite community's early commitment to the preservation of its identity through education. Originally named the German-English Academy, the school was established to provide instruction in English, to preserve the German language, and to maintain the Mennonite religion and way of life. The building served in this capacity until 1963, when a newer and larger facility was built on a neighbouring lot to accommodate the growing student population and the expansion of its curriculum to a junior college.

Heritage value also lies in the building's architecture. The Mennonite Heritage Museum is one of the most distinctive buildings in the community with its locally-made orange-red brick, fieldstone foundation, and location on a large, landscaped green space. It also reflects a mixture of Georgian and Colonial Revival elements, which are displayed in its symmetrical lines, rounded-arch first-floor windows, and balconied porch supported by four Classical columns, all of which contribute to the building's sense of authority.

The German-English Academy became the Rosthern Junior College in 1963 and, though now operating out of a different building, the school continues to provide education while maintaining its focus on the Mennonite religion and way of life. Now the Rosthern Mennonite Heritage Museum, the original building stands as a symbol to its alumnae, as well as to the local community, of the Mennonite community's early commitment to education and to the survival and identity of the Mennonite way of life.

Source:

Town of Rosthern Bylaw No. 8708.

The heritage value of the Rosthern Mennonite Heritage Museum resides in the following character-defining elements:

-those elements that reflect the mixture of Georgian and Colonial Revival architectural elements, such as the four dormers with lunettes, the symmetrically spaced windows, the four front columns;

-those elements that speak to the local construction, such as the fieldstone footing and the locally made orange-red brick;

-those elements that speak to its association with the Mennonite community, including the siting of the building on its original one-hectare, well-landscaped lot.