Photograph mat is bent. Emulsion problems with image.
Scope and Content
Photograph shows Rosser Avenue in its incipient stages. Canvas tents are mixed amongst wooden structures. The James Smart Hardware store, Winter & O'Neail Groceries & Provisions, and the law office of F.G.A. Henderson in the Molesworth Block can be seen on the north side of Rosser Avenue. A street sign designating 6th Street can be seen below the Winter & O'Neail sign. A horse and buggie is traveling down the dirt track that is Rosser Avenue. Groups of men can be seen congregating outside some of the local businesses.
Notes
Front of photograph reads: Rosser Avenue, Brandon 1882-1883, from east of Six Street. Back of photograph is stamped: I. Bennetto & Co., Photographers, Opposite Post-Office, Winnipeg, Man.
Corners of photograph mat are bent. Picture is cracked.
Scope and Content
Photograph shows an early view of Brandon's 6th Street in the 1880s. The Winter & O'Neail Groceries & Provisions and James Smart Hardware storefronts have been photographed. A street sign designating 6th Street can be seen below the Winter & O'Neail sign. A horse and cart is parked in front of the grocery store. A number of men wearing hats and jackets are standing along the boardwalk while posing for the picture. Lumber/timber saws are displayed in teh windows of the hardware store.
Notes
Front of photograph reads: 6th Street, Brandon, Manitoba, 1881-1882, Entrance [to Winter & O'Neail] corner of Rosser Ave & 6th Street.
Left hand corner of mat is bent. Mock-up instructions are written in pencil at the bottom right hand corner. Portions of the photograph itself are marked with pen.
History / Biographical
The Queen's Hotel was located on the corner of Rosser Avenue and Tenth Street (Steen & Boyce, 1882. Brandon, Manitoba, Canada and Her Industries. Steen & Boyce Publishers Printers & Binders, 81.). Therefore this photo appears to display Rosser Avenue looking east. P.E. 11/06/09
Scope and Content
Photograph shows early Rosser Avenue under construction between 9th Street and 10th Street in the 1880s. Buildings that line the avenue are wood framed and there are wooden boardwalks in front of a few structures. On the north side of Rosser Avenue signs for Fortier & Bucke Commision Agents and Transit House (Hotel) can be seen. On the south side of Rosser Avenue, the Queen's Hotel and Robinson Brothers and Company groceries and dry goods store are open for business. A family appears to be standing on the stoop at the dry goods store. A boy is lounging in the entryway of the Queen's Hotel. A man is standing on a wooden plank that extends across the dirt road of Rosser Avenue between the dry goods store and the commission agents' shop.
Postcard is of a combine bailing hay in the north end of Brandon at the junction of First Street and Veterans' Way. The Brandon city skyline is in the background and the orange Pioneer Grain elevator can be seen on the left side of the postcard.
Notes
Writing on the front of the postcard reads: Brandon, The Wheat City. Back of the postcard reads: Brandon the Agricultural and Industrial center for southwestern Manitoba; Photo by Sandy Black; Printed in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, by Leech Printing Ltd.
Reg Forbes was born September 16, 1924. He and his wife Clara have two children, Bob and Faye. Forbes served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Navigator during World War II. From 1945-1949, he attended the University of Manitoba where he received his B.Sc.A. While working as Village Councillor and as Secretary-Treasurer for the Pilot Mound Hospital, Forbes initiated the "Save the Soil Campaign," a soil conservation programme that became province-wide, between 1952-1962.
From 1956-1975, Forbes was the Principal of the Agricultrual Extension Centre in Brandon, where he reorganized the Adult Education Centre into the Agricultural Extension Centre. During this period, Forbes was a founding member of the West-Man Regional Development Corporation and a founder of the Manitoba Committee on Rural Leadership. He was also instrumental in the amalgamation of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair and the Provincial Exhibition and in the resulting construction of the Keystone Centre.
From 1975-1977 Forbes was a Commissioner for the Grain Handling and Transportation Commission (Hall Commission/GHTC). Following his work with the Commission, Forbes was employed as the General Manager of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba (1977-1979), the Director of the Grain Handling & Transportation Section of the Manitoba Department of Agriculture (1979-1983), the Industrial Commissioner for the Brandon Industrial Commission (1983-1986), and as the Westarc Group Inc. Project Director for delivery under contract of Canadian Rural Transition Programme in Manitoba.
Forbes also held a number of voluntary and elected positions, such as Long-term Director and President of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair and of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba. In 1970-1971, he was the President of the Agricultural Institute of Canada, and from 1978-1981, Forbes was the first chairman of the Agricultural Advisory Committee of the Canadian Broadcasting Corportation. He was also a member of the Canada West Foundation Board, the Brandon University Board of Governers (1974-1976), and the Federal-Provincial Transportation and Industrial Development Advisory Committee (TIDAC). Forbes is also a Fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada. In 1977, he received the Jubilee Medal and in 1987, he was given the Distinguished Agrologist Award by the Manitoba Institute of Agrologists.
Custodial History
Reg Forbes donated his working collection of briefs, correspondence and other documents relating to his work as a commissioner of the Grain Handling and Transportation Committee (GHTC) to the McKee Archives c. 1985.
Scope and Content
The majority of the collection consists of records created and received by the Royal Commission on Grain Handling and Transportation (GHTC). Included are documents detailing numerious hearings from all four Western provinces. In addition to the GHTC hearings, there are also a number of documents given to the GHTC as reference material. These include information on the Snavely Commision, documents for the province of Alberta, various reports, the Prairie Regional Studies in Economic Geography (No. 1-27) and General Information. The collection also includes two maps given to the GHTC.
The idea of the Keystone Centre was first mentioned in 1958, at a meeting of the board of directors of the Manitoba Winter Fair. The Manitoba Winter Fair wanted a new facility because the old Wheat City Arena had a leaking roof and a deteriorating west wall. The old facility also had limited space and the Winter Fair felt it needed more space for expansion. The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba also had problems with their facilities, such as old barns and poor display areas. The idea of the Keystone Centre was put on hold until 1969, when the boards of the Provincial Exhibition and the Manitoba Winter Fair joined together as the Provincial Exhibition Association of Manitoba and the Wheat City Arena was sold and demolished. The original estimate for the cost of the Keystone Centre facilities was $4.5 million and funding would be proportioned so that the federal and provincial governments would each put in one-third of the money, with the rest coming from local donations. The financial campaign for the Keystone Centre began in 1970, and construction began in November 1970. The grand opening of the Centre was in March 1973, and coincided with the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair of that year.
Custodial History
This fonds was accessioned by the McKee Archives in 1998. Prior custodial history is unknown.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains many folders full of correspondence, financial statements, meeting minutes and other documents relating to the development and construction of the Keystone Centre from 1970-1974, including those from the Keystone Executive Committee, as well as the Building Committee. Fonds also contains one folder that pertains to the Brandon Area Agricultural Development Survey from 1959. This folder contains the names and locations of all farmers in the Brandon area in 1959. The Brandon Area Agricultural Development Survey was created in 1959, in order to make farming in the Brandon area more profitable. The survey was aided by Doane Agricultural Service from St. Louis, Missouri, who had success creating agricultural development programs in the United States. Fonds also contains folders from the Provincial Exhibition with correspondence, pamphlets, estimates, and studies from the 1960's. There is also one folder belonging to the Manitoba Winter Fair, which contains correspondence and financial statements relating to the Wheat City Arena. Fonds also contains information pertaining to the proposals made in the 1960's, for the building of the Keystone Centre, as well as one folder about the Keystone campaign from 1970-73. There is also one folder about the opening of the Keystone Centre, which contains newspaper clippings and guest lists. Finally, the fonds contains information about a court case involving Albert Bobyk and Robert Stewart. Stewart was the project manager for the Building Committee and Bobyk worked on the Keystone Center. The fonds includes a report about the trial of the two men who were charged with fraud involving their work on the Keystone Centre.
