Dominion Building, Queen Street, Charlottetown

The lot cost $1000 and the Connolly Estate took back a mortgage.

They were paying interest at the rate of two percent, which resulted in a payment of $50 a month. Although the monthly payment was a relatively large sum, Kathleen and Bill were frugal. For instance, while living in Halifax, Bill once went out after Christmas to buy a pair of skates for Shawn. They were on sale for half—price, so he bought two pairs, one for Shawn and one for the infant D’Arcy who was not yet ready to skate. It was this kind of economizing that enabled them to put a down—payment on their lot and begin construction of their home.

With help from family, they laid the foundation. Kathleen and Bill came up with their own design, and with that in hand, they approached a Charlottetown carpenter, Walter Reid, to construct it. Reid was formerly from Hope River and was a friend of the Murphy family. He charged one dollar an hour, and with the help of another carpenter, had the first floor of the house completed in mid—1956. The second floor would be finished

later as the family grew and expanded.

It was with great excitement that Kathleen and Bill moved into their new home with three young sons. Danny, the youngest, was still in a crib and the three boys shared the second bedroom on the first floor. Kathleen set about decorating their new home, planting trees and flowers, and looked forward to having friends and neighbours drop by.

102 KATHLEEN MURPHY, MAITRIARC