[1][2] They had applied for homesteads under Clifford Sifton's immigration campaign to bring new settlers to the Canadian Prairies.
Most immigrants were of European ancestry, from Britain, the United States and Europe, including Ukraine and Russia.
Sifton later sent immigration officers to the US South to try to dissuade black farmers from emigrating to Canada.
Violet King Henry, whose family was among the first settlers with the Bowens, was the first Black Canadian women to earn a law degree, and helped to develop more progressive policies.
In 1938, his son Obadiah Bowen built the existing house, to replace the log cabin.