The Destrubé family came to the St. Paul area from London, England, in 1907.  In Edmonton, they met Laurent Garneau, a Métis trader who owned and operated a store in St. Paul de Métis.  He extolled the virtues of the St. Paul area, and the Destrubé brothers Maurice and Guy traveled east with him to see for themselves.  They were captivated, and filed for homesteads twenty miles beyond St. Paul de Métis along the trail to Cold Lake.

Maurice and Guy were later joined by other members of their family, brothers Georges, Paul and Dan, sister Sylvie, and Maurice’s bride Maggie. As they set about the task of breaking the land and setting up a cattle farm, most of the supplies they required were obtained from Garneau’s store in St. Paul de Métis. However, Garneau directed most of his business toward his Native and Métis customers, who often did not require such things as flour, sugar, rolled oats and yeast. These items had to be obtained from Vegreville. Because the trail between St. Paul and Cold Lake intersected the trail to Franchere on the Destrubé property, it quickly became evident that the Destrubés were well-placed to run a store of their own, as well as a post office, which later became known as Rife. During the election of 1908, an electoral office was located there to provide services for people from near St. Paul de Métis to near Cold Lake. St. Paul de Métis was the business center for the Destrubé family, who banked and sought legal counsel here, shipped cattle on the railroad, and picked up shipments of supplies for their store.

As the family grew, their original log cabin was no longer big enough. Plans were drawn up to build a two-storey log house near the store. Building began in 1914. However, World War I broke out in August of that year, and all but Maurice and Maggie left to fight in the war. They moved into the new house in September, before it even had doors or windows, because of torrential rains that made their sod-roofed cabin unfit to live in. Various members of the Destrubé family lived in the house until 1936, and eventually the house was sold to Arthur Kennedy.

Arthur Kennedy was the Destrubé’s cousin from Missouri, who came in 1916 to see what life was like near St. Paul de Métis, and joined in the family operations. It is for his family that the area around Thin Lake is called Kennedy Flats. His daughter, Esther, married Oliver Sandmeyer, and their family still owns land in the Kennedy Flats area, including the parcel that once had the historic Destrubé log house on it.

The house has never had electricity or indoor plumbing, though renters did live in it on occasion over the years. It was declared a Provincial Historic Site in 1977, and in October of 2007, it was moved to the St. Paul Museum.

 As told by Clement Fontaine, President of the People’s Museum Board.

In the spring of 2006, Frank Sandmeyer came over to the farm to do some business and spoke briefly to me about the Historical House on his property. On our next encounter, he brought over Maurice Destrubé’s book, “Pioneering in Alberta,” which I read. That sparked some interest. 

A group of Museum members went over to inspect the house, and we brought in a renovation expert. His words were, “she’s a gem,” and those words set the wheels in motion. I will never forget Benoit Jacques reaction at the house visit. He replied, “lots of work, but not for me, but I can do bingos and casinos,” and that he did.

This house was believed to be one of the first two-story log houses built in Alberta. It had Historical Status, and in October 2006, Historic Conservation Resources gave us the okay to relocate the structure to the St. Paul Museum site where the Town of St. Paul donated additional land. 

In March 2007, we were granted $75,000.000 from the Community Initiatives Program and $9,250.00 from the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation. 

Volunteers began prepping the house, cleaning up, documenting details, tearing down the chimney, numbering the fireplace rocks as it needed to be dismantled, and digging out walkways.

In October 2007, Dallaire the Mover, Bruno, and Real Dallaire loaded the house on the lowbed and began the full day journey, going East on Highway 29 to Junction 41, South through Elk Point to Junction 45, West towards Two Hills to Junction 36, then Nother past St. Brides two miles and finally following the back roads East to St. Paul. All those miles were accompanied by the volunteers of Atco Electric and with Pierre d’Estrubé from Victoria, BC accompanying me. 

Pierre d’Estrubé is the son of Georges Destrubé, one of the original four brothers that homesteaded in Rife, Alberta. He sent us photos of the interior and exterior of the house from when they lived in the home in the 1930s-40s. 

In the summer of 2008, Leyco Enterprises out of Cochrane, AB started the restoration, replacing rotted out logs and redoing the roof. Ernie Bourget and myself supervised the job and made sure building materials were always on site. 

Ted Gerlinsky and his volunteers rebuilt all the windows to the original details. I collected as many old windows as I could find and cut them to size and glazed them in with putty. Yolande Kitt stained and varnished the inside of the windows and painted the outside green, which we later changed to white. I then proceeded to install them to the house along with old doors we found.

In 2009, we recieved another $62,950.00 from the Community Facility Enhancement Program and $2,000.00 from Kalyna Country Ecomuseum. We hired Richard Forsberg as a full-time carpenter making baseboards and trips and repairing gable ends, as well as to insulating the basement and closing in kitchen walls. 

Bob Cheshire took on the task of ripping out the old chinking inside and outside and cleaning off the old bricks to be used on the chimney. 

Whisper Creek Log Homes was hired to do the chinking on the house. 

R & R Masonry from Lloydminster, AB was hired to rebuild the fireplace, chimney, and parging. 

Yolande Kitt washed floors, walls, and ceilings, and began the task of staining the new wood to match the old. 

In the spring of 2012, we started landscaping and hired Paradise Creation and Yardwork to redo the rock work and lay sod. 

Special thanks to Leonard Bourget, who came with his tools to put siding on the outside kitchen walls, along with Wayne Morley and Michael Fontaine. Special thanks to Andy, Colleen, and Neil Pomerleau, Rhea Michaud, Bob Cheshire, Benoit Jaques, Richard Forsberg, Yolande Kitt, my wife Diane, my daughter Renée, my sisters Carmen Brodziak, Edith Fonainte, and Cecile and her husband Mike Wiart. Thank you to all the members who worked casinos and bingos. 

All grants were matched with donated material, labour, or cash. 

Donated materials: $20,000.00

Recorded donated work houses: 1,800

Ribbon cutting was on June 24, 2012, with many of the d’Estrubé and Sandmeye family members in attendance.