The Quebec countryside still bears some remnants of the days when the majority of rural families made their living from farming. Here are 10 buildings that bear witness to that bygone era of self-sufficiency that you might spot on your country walks.
1. The Barn Cowshed: Pitched Roof
Barn by Philippe A. Bouchard in Luceville, 1949. National Archives in Quebec (E6, S7, SS1, P71009). Photo: Maurice Saint Pierre.
Gable roof barns, also known as gable roof barns, are common. The latter allow different functions to be combined in the same building: shelter for animals and storage of their food and farming equipment. They are the most commonly used model until the beginning of the 20th century.
These barn-type stables are recognizable to the elders by their rectangular shape and stone foundation. When everything is level to begin with, we’ll quickly add another floor. The ground floor houses the animals: cows, horses, pigs, etc. The floor above, also called the hayloft, allows the storage of fodder and grain necessary to feed the livestock during the cold season, and also helps to insulate the building.
The interior and exterior walls of barns are traditionally whitewashed. This helps disinfect indoor wooden walls. Whitewashing protects exterior walls from the elements. Doors usually have a contrasting color: oxblood red.
2. The Barn Cowshed: Pitched Roof
Modern barn shed owned by Gérard Gosselin in Saint-Anselme, Dorchester County, 1952. Quebec National Archives (E6, S7, SS1, P94186). Photo: Omer Beaudoin.
The roof of gable barn sheds is constructed with two slopes on each side. Construction began in Quebec around the second half of the 19th century, at the time of the boom in milk production.
With the same wall height, this type of roof allows more storage space. The use of trusses instead of rafters in the roof construction provides more space for mechanization of hay unloading.
Interest in this type of barn house was sparked by various agricultural manuals, particularly those published by the Quebec government. They promoted this type of construction especially for modern farms that would meet current health standards.
3rd round barns
Farm buildings (round barn) typical of the Eastern Townships, c. 1967. National Archives, Montreal (P97, S1, D7494-7494). Photo: Armor Landry
According to legend, this type of architecture is used to keep the devil away from the stable, who likes to hide in corners. In reality, it is practical reasons related to the interior layout of the building that led to this choice.
In Quebec, round barns only exist in Estrie. This is explained by the proximity of the border with the United States, where this type of barn appeared towards the end of the 19th century.
The rarity of this architecture is partly due to a more complex construction and the fact that extension work would require more work than with the rectangular barns.
Round barns, on the other hand, have the advantage that more animals can be housed in the same area than in a conventional barn. They are also more economical to build and maintain. More than thirty were built from 1890 to the 1910s. Interest in this special design quickly waned. They are now almost impossible to find in the landscape.
4. Polygonal Barns
Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, L’Islet, octagonal barn, 1960. Quebec National Archives (E6, S8, SS1, SSS67, D6093, PD5). Photo: Jean-Paul Morisset.
Although rather rare in rural Quebec, polygonal barn stalls are particularly observed in Estrie and Chaudière-Appalaches. These are the two regions with the most construction.
They were founded in the United States in the second half of the 18th century. A hundred years later, polygonal barns seem to have made their debut in Quebec. They have an even number of sides, usually 8, sometimes 12. They are easier to build than round barns.
5. Silos
Silo and barn at Armand Potvin, Farnham, 1951. Quebec National Archives (E6, S7, SS1, P87565). Photo: Omer Beaudoin.
The construction of silos contributed to the development of milk production. Forage or fermented green corn stored in a silo is more nutritious than dry hay and allows cows to maintain good milk production for a longer period of the year. Consumers thus benefit from an almost continuous supply of milk and cream.
Towards the end of the 19th century, silos began to appear in Quebec. Initially they have a square or polygonal shape, but soon the circular shape is retained. This shape allows the silage to settle for optimal fermentation. The silo is attached to the barn and rarely exceeds its height.
The first generation silos consist of vertical wooden planks that are held together by metal straps and can be adjusted as required. A few silos from this period survive, although generally unused. Over time, the wood rotted when it came in contact with the moisture from the silage, which curtailed the popularity of the silos for a time. Subsequently, other, more resistant materials were used.
6. Dairies
Saint-Elzéar, Île Jésus, fieldstone dairy, c. 1950. Quebec National Archives (E6, S8, SS1, SSS763, D4829, PB3). Photo: Gerard Morisset.
Every dairy farm has a dairy. Today it is an adjoining or even integrated space with the barn, equipped with a tank where the milk is cooled immediately after milking and is collected daily by a tanker. This was not always the case.
The dairies we are talking about are small buildings, often erected near the house in an ideally shaded corner to keep the cool. They have few openings: generally just a door and sometimes a small window, ideally facing north to preserve the coolness of the place as much as possible. This helps ensure proper storage of dairy products. The room can also be used for milk processing: skimming and churning.
Paul Potvin in his dairy, Métabetchouan, 1954. Quebec National Archives (E6, S7, SS1, P1151-54H). Photo: Omer Beaudoin.
Dairies may have a compartment cooled with ice cubes collected during the coldest part of winter. Without such a compartment, a nearby creek could help keep dairy products fresh. Cans of milk or cream that are insufficient for the family’s needs are delivered to the local butter or cheese maker.
7. Butter factories and cheese factories
Cooperative butter factory in Saint-Elzéar, Beauce County, 1944. Quebec National Archives (E6, S7, SS1, P19356). Photo: Paul Carpentier.
Until about the 1870s, the cheese and butter our ancestors consumed was made on the farm. The first cheese factories were built around 1865 in the Eastern Townships. The first butter factory was built in Huntingdon County in 1873.
Their reproduction is then exponential, so many Quebec communities in the St. Lawrence Valley, where milk production is concentrated, have at least one cheese or butter factory.
Their architecture is characterized by the presence of at least one quay for unloading milk cans, that is, a large door the width of the wagons. This can be built at ground level or placed high enough that there is no need to lift full containers or back the trolley into the building.
These old industrial buildings have all but disappeared from the Quebec landscape. The remaining objects are usually listed historical buildings. Some of these have retained some features of their main function.
8. Chicken coops
Disinfection of a chicken coop in Ville-Marie, Temiscamingue County, 1942. Quebec National Archives (E6, S7, SS1, P9301). Photo: Donat C. Laut.
The chicken coops of the last century can be recognized by their large glass windows on the south facade of the building. Sunlight can thus penetrate abundantly. This allows laying hens to produce more easily all year round and provide some warmth in winter.
Depending on the focus on egg production, the building can have more than one level. There are separate rooms for storing the grain the hens eat, bedding to keep them dry, and storing the eggs – in a cooler corner north of the building.
Finally, some chicken coops have an area for hatching some eggs. The family can then rely on a continuous supply of pullets for laying eggs and chickens for meat production, which allows for a variety of menus.
9. Pigsties
Pigsty at Wilfrid Roy, Saint-Georges, Beauce County, 1952. Quebec National Archives (E6, S7, SS1, P93836). Photo: Omer Beaudoin.
Since pork was one of our ancestors’ favorite meats, it is bred on almost all farms. Many farmers keep all their animals under one roof. However, each species has its own area in the barn. It was recommended to erect a partition between the room reserved for the few pigs and the other rooms.
The separate pigsties of the time, also known as pigsties, were often small in size and had a low ceiling in order to keep the temperature as constant as possible in winter. They must be adequately ventilated, but often have only a few windows. Holes in the gables provide ventilation. The pigs also needed access to an outside yard to stretch their legs.
10. Sheds and Sheds
View of a hangar on Île d’Orléans, 1950. Quebec National Archives (P728, S1, D1, P19-57). Photo: Lida Moser.
Sheds and sheds are small buildings intended for storing grain, firewood, carts and horse-drawn carriages. They usually have a rectangular shape, are one to one and a half stories high and often without windows. Some are intended for single use, others are multifunctional.
The grain sheds have a wide door. The wagon can thus be easily turned around there in order to unload the grain. The same applies to those used to store carts, carts, etc.
Log sheds are covered but have openings that allow the wood to continue drying during storage while protecting it from the elements. All you need is a pedestrian door. It is one of the surviving farm buildings that over the years has easily been converted for other types of storage.
A text by Annie Labrecque, Library and National Archives of Quebec
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Sources
- ABBOTT, Louise, The Heart of the Farm – The History of the Barns and Fences in Eastern Quebec’s Townships, Photographs by Louise Abbott and Niels Jensen, Georgeville, Georgeville Press, 2012, 306 pp.
- DORION, Jacques, A Sunday in the Country – Life, Architecture, Tradition, Outremont, Trécarré, 1999, 158 p.
- DUBOIS, Martin and Chantal LEFEBVRE, Inventory of MRC de Coaticook Buildings and Agricultural Sites – Phase 1 and 2, Coaticook, Regional County Municipality of Coaticook / Patri-Arch, 2008.
- DUBOIS, Martin, “An Architecture in Motion”, Continuity, No. 165, Summer 2020, pp. 16-19.
- GINGRAS, Yolande, Agricultural heritage of the Assumption, L’Assomption, Y. Gingras / Éditions Point du jour, 2017, 183 p.
- LAPOINTE, Pierre-Louis, “The Quebec Dairy Society and the Modernization of Practices in That Industry,” Histoire Québec, vol. 21, No. 3, 2016, pp. 26-29.
- MARTIN, Julie, “From Barn to Bread Oven”, Continuity, No. 109, Summer 2006, pp. 45-48.
- ROY, L. Philippe, Farm constructions, Quebec, Department of Agriculture of the Province of Quebec, Service de la grande culture, 1923, 95 p.