This wedge-shaped tract of woodland was located west of 34th Street on the south side of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was formerly owned by the Great Northern Railway, and was acquired by the CPR when the GN line was abandoned in 1936. In 1978 Marathon Realty (CPR) sold this 7 acre property to a developer who planned to build condominiums. However this residential development was objected to for two reasons: [The proposed location] was home to many species of flora & fauna, and it was too close to the CPR mainline. Local residents took out a petition against the development. [Mr. Stuckey] wrote a letter to the editor of the Brandon Sun, [expressing the] attitudes of CPR officials, and read a statement to the Provincial Planning Board suggesting development be refused and the area become an undeveloped park. These efforts would prove successful - see file on same.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John Indian's Bush (also known as Bang's Bush)
Notes
Additional historical information provided by the Fred McGuinness collection (20-2009). Stuckey's letter to the editor appears in the July 22, 1978 issue of The Brandon Sun.
This wedge-shaped tract of woodland was located west of 34th Street on the south side of the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was formerly owned by the Great Northern Railway, and was acquired by the CPR when the GN line was abandoned in 1936. In 1978 Marathon Realty (CPR) sold this 7 acre property to a developer who planned to build condominiums. However this residential development was objected to for two reasons: [The proposed location] was home to many species of flora & fauna, and it was too close to the CPR mainline. Local residents took out a petition against the development. [Mr. Stuckey] wrote a letter to the editor of the Brandon Sun, [expressed the] attitudes of CPR officials, and read a statement to the provincial planning board suggesting development be refused and the area become an undeveloped park. These efforts would prove successful - see file on same.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John Indian's Bush (also known as Bang's Bush).
Notes
Additional historical information provided by the Fred McGuinness collection (20-2009). Stuckey's letter to the editor appears in the July 22, 1978 issue of The Brandon Sun.
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John E. Smith Block Fire
Notes
The John E. Smith Block was built in 1907.
Because of the fire, the building was badly gutted and the front wall bulged outward. As a result, the structure was condemned.
The Canadian Bank of Commerce had moved to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building at the corner of 8th Street & Rosser Avenue in mid-1960's, and their old building adjacent to Smith Block had since sat vacant. As a result, the stage was now set to clear the area where both buildings had stood for the construction of Scotia Tower. LAS.
[Mr. Stuckey put two negatives in same envelope, numbering them FA7 and FA7a. We have separated them.]
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
CPR Ice House Fire with engine 701
Notes
This large ice house, located between the CPR tracks and Assiniboine Avenue at 3rd Street, was filled with blocks of ice from the Assiniboine River each winter. It had a long high platform for [loading ice blocks into] refrigerator cars, and also handled charcoal braziers for heating these same cars in winter. The new ice house structure that was built after this fire was much smaller, as it had an artificial ice plant.
With mechanically temperature-controlled cars replacing ice-cooled refrigerators, it was demolished in the 1970's.
This photograph shows how steam switch engines were used as fire engines. A hose carried in a box under the tender was fitted into a branch of the boiler feed pipe (discharge pipe). When the injector was turned on it gave a nozzle pressure of over 200 psi.
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
John E. Smith Block Fire - The Morning After
Notes
The John E. Smith Block was built in 1907.
Because of the fire, the building was badly gutted and the front wall bulged outward. As a result, the structure was condemned.
The Canadian Bank of Commerce had moved to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building at the corner of 8th Street & Rosser Avenue in mid-1960's, and their old building adjacent to Smith Block had since sat vacant. As a result, the stage was now set to clear the area where both buildings had stood for the construction of Scotia Tower. LAS.
[Mr. Stuckey put two negatives in same envelope, numbering them FA7 and FA7a. We have separated them.]
Erected in 1889, on the southeast corner of Rosser Avenue and 7th Street at 806 Rosser Avenue, this block was designed by Brandon architect W.H. Shillinglaw. At the time of its construction the structure housed the Nation & Shewan Department Store, one of Brandon’s largest and most successful drygoods businesses, owned and operated by Fred Nation and Alexander Shewan.
Major improvements were made to the store and an annex was added in 1910. Some of the renovation additions included, but were not limited to, an updated frontage with new copper sash windows and prismatic glass tops, plate glass windows, new fixtures and carpet. With the renovations the floor space of the business was to be almost doubled. The stock of the business also increased, with the Brandon Weekly Sun reporting that when finished, Nation & Shewan would be a “store of which the citizens of Brandon will be justly proud.” The drygoods firm operated until Nation’s death 1926, when it became known as A. Shewan Limited. From 1933 to 1944, the business was known as Shewan and Son. Shortly thereafter, the Metroplitan Stores Ltd began operating out of the Nation & Shewan Block.
In 2000, the Town Centre prepared to knock down the Red Apple Building, formerly the Nation & Shewan Block. The demolition was to make way for the new atrium and entrance for the mall, and begin a new period of redevelopment at the downtown shopping centre.
[History/Bio written by Christy Henry (SJ McKee Archives) and Eileen Trott (Daly House Museum), researched by Morganna Maylon, for 2015 photographic exhibition "Gowen's Brandon: Then and Now".]
Custodial History
Photograph was given to Fred McGuinness by Linda Bilkoski (nee Lepard) of Lac du Bonnet, MB.
Scope and Content
Photograph shows a display of women's clothing and accessories in the window at Nation & Shewan. A sign reads: 1914 Spring Opening commences on Wednesday March 25th.
Notes
Writing on the back of the photograph reads: Mrs. E. Harden, 33-10th St., City. According to the Henderson's Brandon City Directories, Catharine "Kate" Harden (nee Chalmers) worked as a cashier at Nation & Shewan from 1913 to 1914.
Photograph shows a float advertisement for the Manitoba Agricultural College. The photograph was taken at Treesbank, MB. The banners on the float read: "Prosperity like a Tree" "If the Roots Suffer, the Leaves Wither and the Trunk Dies."
Photograph shows the exterior of the Royal George Hotel located at 142-6th Street, Brandon. Striped awnings cover the second and third storey windows of the hotel. Dogs roam the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Advertisements cover the fence adjacent to the hotel and include: Fort McMurray town site settlement; Mortgage sale for city property; Starland Theatre featuring Miss Amy Lawrence, Soprano; Sherman Theatre; 15th Annual Horticultural Exhibition
Notes
Date ascertained from 15th Annual Horticultural Exhibition advertisement posted on fence adjacent to hotel. Address obtained from Henderson's Brandon City Directory for 1913.
Photograph shows the possible interior of the Grandview Hotel. A young man is working behind the counter that holds a cash register and tobacco display case. A calendar for March 1913 advertises O.L. Harwood's Insurance, Real Estate, and Loans. Below the hotel's 35-room call box is an advertisement for the Public Stenographers Company. A postcard stand holds cards of Brandon's courthouse and other prominent buildings.
Photograph shows the possible interior of the Grandview Hotel. A young man is working behind the counter that holds a cash register and tobacco display case. A calendar for March 1913 advertises O.L. Harwood's Insurance, Real Estate, and Loans. Below the hotel's 35-room call box is an advertisement for the Public Stenographers Company. A postcard stand holds cards of Brandon's courthouse and other prominent buildings.
Notes
Date ascertained from calendar above counter. This photograph is a duplicate of 20-2009.23 but is in sharper focus. Grand View is written in pencil on the back of the photograph.