Since Brubacher House’s opening as a museum in 1979, hosts have witnessed dramatic changes to the surrounding landscape of the University of Waterloo’s North Campus.
Sports field, 1982. Dorothy Bean and Ida Habermehl (1982-1986)
Golf course by Brubacher House, 1982. Dorothy Bean and Ida Habermehl (1982-1986)
Sports field, 1982. Dorothy Bean and Ida Habermehl (1982-1986)
Golf course by Brubacher House, 1982. Dorothy Bean and Ida Habermehl (1982-1986)
Drum and bugle corps practising on the sports field. Ida Habermehl and Dorothy Bean (1982-1986)
Columbia Lake, down the hill from Brubacher House, 1982. Ida Habermehl and Dorothy Bean (1982-1986)
Working on the new football field for the University of Waterloo, summer 1993. Howard and Carol Gimbel (1991-1994)
Canada geese on soccer fields at Brubacher House, 1993. Howard and Carol Gimbel (1991-1994)
Hockey school exercising up and down the bank. Taken from the veranda of Brubacher House, 1993.
”Major changes happened after our years. From 1994-2000, very little changed. The golf course was still in operation and no ‘new’ buildings had been constructed on the north campus. The north-south gravel driveway was fully functional as a second access. In many ways it felt like a rural property.”
- Arlyn and Judith Friesen Epp (1994-2000)
“In the summer of 2005 Columbia Lake was dredged and re-configured to support more growth of plants, and a better habitat for the local wildlife. The round-about at Frank Tompa Drive had just been built a few months prior to our moving in and it was one of the first round-abouts in the Region. A month after we started our time as hosts in 2004, and had returned from our honeymoon, they began breaking ground on the large OpenText building which continued to shake us awake at 6am each morning for the entire summer. The Accelerator Centre was also completed in 2005.”
- Chris Steingart and Jillian Burkhardt (2004-2006)
“While we were there the football team returned and the stadium went up just off to the side of the grounds. Lots of buildings were added to R and T park during our time.”
- Allison and Mark Brubacher (2009-2013)
“HUGE changes. When we moved in, the north campus was still completely undeveloped. There were big trees lining the 9-hole golf course, and the only traffic we saw was sports field participants and the odd lunch time rendezvous in the parking lot. A year or two after we moved in, development began in earnest. The golf course was razed, most of the trees were removed, the topsoil was pushed aside, and the view out our bedroom window became a barren landscape. The earth-moving was happening on such a large scale that dust covered the inside of the house that whole summer. Dishes in the kitchen would often rattle from the packers driving by (it was an interesting thing to explain to visitors). Fortunately nothing broke. While we understood this project had been in the works for many years, we were sad to lose the peaceful, idyllic backdrop to the house.”
- Colin and Jennie Wiebe (2000-2004)
“One advantage of the earth-moving happening on the north campus was the open space it created to launch rockets. Jennie’s brother hosted more than one “rocket building” event in the basement during our time there. Wrapping paper tubes were just the right size, and the access chambers for the new underground services provided an ideal level, non-flammable launchpad. The absolute lack of vegetation of any kind meant that it was easy to see where the rockets landed, and family could send their young energetic children off running to retrieve rockets and parachutes without worrying anyone would get lost.” Colin and Jennie Wiebe (2000-2004)
“One advantage of the earth-moving happening on the north campus was the open space it created to launch rockets. Jennie’s brother hosted more than one “rocket building” event in the basement during our time there. Wrapping paper tubes were just the right size, and the access chambers for the new underground services provided an ideal level, non-flammable launchpad. The absolute lack of vegetation of any kind meant that it was easy to see where the rockets landed, and family could send their young energetic children off running to retrieve rockets and parachutes without worrying anyone would get lost.” Colin and Jennie Wiebe (2000-2004)
Bethany and Brandon Leis (2006-2009)
“The David Johnston Research and Technology Park continued to expand. With the new roundabout and more buildings, there were issues with being able to find the museum and we had many discussions about increased signage.”
Updates to Brubacher House
Brubacher House when Dorothy Bean and Ida Habermehl moved in, September 18, 1982. Ida Habermehl and Dorothy Bean (1982-1986)
Digging along foundation at Brubacher House. Construction work at Brubacher House to replace the water pipe to well, along the west wall, 1988. Photo credit: Mennonite Archives of Ontario
Digging to connect Brubacher House to the sanitation line, April 2021.
A pit with a sanitation line connected to Brubacher House, 2021
“When we first moved in all of the exterior windows were repainted.
“We worked with the Brubacher House committee to create the video tour and purchase the projector and speakers for the summer kitchen. On Canada Day in 2004, prior to opening for tours, we hosted a group of actors dressed in historically accurate costumes to shoot some live action footage for the museum AV presentation.”
- Chris Steingart and Jillian Burkhardt (2004-2006)
“Once, Jacquie arrived home to find UW caretakers taking our hot water heater out for a few days. That was an exciting period - those caretakers were very surprised to learn that anyone lived in the house! The back porch was painted, and the front porch steps were fixed up while we lived at BHouse. The front porch also had some underground chicken wire installed to keep out groundhogs - but that is a whole other story!”
- Jacquie and Karl Reimer (2013-2017)
“The changes we implemented: expanded the vegetable garden, began perennial flower gardens around the perimeter of the House, added two external signs, both on large rocks (Brubacher House, and Hour sign). Most people, we felt, did not realize the house was open for people to visit.
“In 1999 we developed several panels that we hung in the basement that gave a brief historic overview of the Brubachers and the wider community they represented. Years later, we’d now likely write that history differently, but we offered it because we found so many visitors did not want a verbal (or certainly not a formal) tour, but would be helped with a self-guided, read what you want, set of panels. It was also our attempt to gather materials we had researched over our time and offer that to hosts who followed.”
- Arlyn and Judith Friesen Epp (1994-2000)
“In October 2006, shortly after we moved in, the old wooden windows were replaced with vinyl. The roof was redone with cedar shakes and the eavestrough and back porch were replaced.”
- Bethany and Brandon Leis (2006-2009)
New welcome panel outdoors, 2021
Information panels, 2021
“We installed new indoor and outdoor information panels, 2021.” Laura and Joshua Enns (2017-present)
New wooden hooks for the basement event space, 2020.
