Five houses have come before High River Town Council looking for a historical designation over the past couple weeks. Parks and Culture Coordinator Sarah Mitchell says it's great to see so many home-owners from the Heritage Inventory Project coming forward.

"It's wonderful that so many of the properties that were included in this latest phase have applied for the designation. It's sort of the ultimate goal of a property being included on the heritage inventory. It's obviously up the the homeowner to apply for designation."

She says the town can not force anyone to apply for designation, but they certainly encourage it for any residences involved in the project. Mitchell says one of the homes belonged to Edmund Fulton-Thompson.

"He and his brother-in-law Senator Riley had owned the Riley and Thompson livery stable, which was a land agency, machine shop, and a ranch."

Mitchell says the Kelly Residence, built in 1903, was owned by "Alf" Kelly.

"He was the town's second undertaker. So he was really instrumental, especially during the 1919 Spanish flu. As well he was active in the community and other community organizations."

She says the Methodist Church Manse applied for designation as well.

"That one was used by the Methodist Church from about 1910-1920. It was built by a local builder, Percy Taylor, who built a lot of the early homes in the area."

Another residence she noted was the Betton Residence, built in 1922.

"That one belonged to Thompson and Ethel Betton and they were very, very active with the Scouts and Girl Guides especially with getting the Scouts Hall built. So, they were local leaders."

Mitchell says the Kinnear Residence, built in 1929, was originally owned by the early settlers George and Cora Kinnear. It was then owned by Maud Swartz, who owned a local dress shop in the area.

She says designation is the end goal of the project.

"It is great to see that now we have had eight properties of the twenty-one that were included in phase three come forward. Which has been a much better turn out than any of our other phases. So it just goes to show that there is a lot more heritage awareness in the community and these historic homes are valued by their owners as well as the community."

To see the full Heritage Inventory Report Phase III, click here.