This bungalow was built in 1910 for the 4th Duke of Sutherland and his family north of Brooks on the Sutherland Colony farm. The Duke of Sutherland came from Scotland. The Duke, a man of enormous wealth purchased from the CPR, 8,000 acres (3,240 ha) of land east of Brooks, running north from the railway tracks. The Duke arranged with the CPR to oversee the preparation of several farms after the design of the company's ready-mades. Advertisements were circulated in Scotland and England in hopes of encouraging settlers to come to the Estate. In a very short time, the Sutherland Colony was a going concern. By 1914, nearly all the farmland was in crop. The cattle herd, begun in 1917, was built up and stabilized at between 3,000 and 4,000.

The Fourth Duke of Sutherland was a farsighted man so that into the extensive plan of the Estate he pumped thousands of dollars and thus helped the early Brooks economy. He brought many settlers to Western Canada at a time when an increase in the population of the Western provinces was crucial for the development of Canada as an independent nation.

In 1929 the Sutherland Land Company put the property up for sale. It came into possession of the Eastern Irrigation District in 1935 who put it up for sale. The property was bought by a US businessman in 1935, in 1945 the Hajash family purchased it.

Today the bungalow is in its original location and owned by Sandra Hajash. It has been in the Hajash family since 1945 and has been designated a Provincial Historic Site.


Eastern Irrigation District Archives

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