BARTON, Arthur Sheppard (1857-1936) was active as an architect and builder in rural Manitoba for nearly 23 years, from 1882 to 1905. He lived and worked at Turtle Mountain, Man. and his biography published in Vancouver in 1905 states that “.....in Manitoba, he designed many churches, schools, residences and business blocks “ (Mount Pleasant Recorder [Vancouver], 22 April 1905, 3). In 1889 he was recorded as the architect of All Saints Anglican Church, Turtle Mountain, Man. (Manitoba Morning Free Press, 31 May 1889, 2, descrip.). This church remained in use until it closed in 1929; the building was then moved to Horton District, and converted to a private residence. It is likely that he also designed the fieldstone church in nearby Boissevain, Man. constructed during the same year in 1889.
Barton was born in Bromborough, Co. Cheshire, England on 13 November 1857 and spent five years training in an architect's office in Manchester from 1875 to 1880. He emigrated to Canada in late 1880 and settled in Winnipeg where he spent one year working in an architectural office there, then moved to Turtle Mountain in 1881. Only one of his commissions has been located, but his name may be linked with many other projects in the south-west region of Manitoba. After moving to Victoria, B.C. in 1905, he lived in Vancouver, then relocated to Victoria and became a real estate agent and developer with F.B. Pemberton & Son. He died at Tientsin, China while on an extended study trip (obituary Victoria Daily Times, 10 June 1936, 6; biography & port. Saskatoon Phoenix, 10 March 1905, 3)
TURTLE MOUNTAIN, MAN. All Saints Anglican Church, 1889; closed 1929, but church building later moved to Horton District (Manitoba Morning Free Press, 31 May 1889, 2, descrip.).
(attributed) BOISSEVAIN, MAN., St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Stephen Street near Struthers Street, 1889-90; still standing in 2023 (Manitoba Morning Free Press, 31 May 1889, 2, with note on the construction of the forthcoming church in Boissevain, but lacking attribution to the architect; Kelly Crossman, A Study of Anglican Church Buildings in Manitoba, 1989, 62, illus. & descrip., but lacking attribution; inf. Manitoba Historical Society).