PETERS, Henry Joseph (1840-1906) was born in New York State in 1840 and was the son of Simon Peters (1815-1896), a leading contractor and master joiner of Quebec City, whose career has been extensively documented in A.J.H. Richardson, Quebec City: Architects, Artisans and Builders, 1982, 457-461. His son Henry J. was educated and trained in Quebec, and his father may have persuaded him to pursue a career in architecture and building. Henry J. came to western Canada in 1882, settling in Winnipeg. In 1886 he was recorded as an architect at Westminster Flats in Winnipeg (Henderson's Manitoba & North-Western Ontario Directory, 1886-87, 25). The following year he was '...the architect sent out by the Government" to Prince Albert, Sask. to design the Barracks for the North West Mounted Police (McPhillips Directory of the District of Saskatchewan, N.W.T., 1888, 38). In 1891 he was described as the 'Government Architect of Public Buildings in the North West' and he was commissioned to design the Town Hall, MOOSE JAW, SASK. (The Times [Moose Jaw], 11 Sept. 1891, 4). This early civic building opened in November 1892, and was later replaced by a new Town Hall in 1904 designed by William Albrant. Peters was hired by the Dept. of Public Works in Ottawa to oversee the construction of several buildings in Alberta and Saskatchewan which had been designed by Thomas Fuller and his team at the Department of Public Works in Ottawa.
Peters career with the Department ended suddenly in late 1892 when it was reported that Peters was under investigation for financial malfeasance (Regina Leader, 31 Oct. 1892). An internal inquiry was held, and just 4 days later he resigned from his position in Regina "....because he is evidently out of touch with the people of the town.....and his future usefulness for the position is now gone" (Regina Leader, 3 Nov. 1892, 4; and Medicine Hat Times, 9 Nov. 1892, 1; inf. Frank Korvemaker, Regina).
No references to the architectural activity of Peters have been found after this date, and he later died in Montreal on 24 February 1906 (death notice Montreal Gazette, 25 Feb. 1906, 3; obituary Manitoba Daily Free Press, 1 March 1906, 9; inf. Frank Korvemaker, Regina; inf. Canada, 1891 Census, Regina, Assiniboia, West District , 199; mfm Reel T. 6426; inf. Gordon Fulton, Ottawa).