Photograph of 10th Street facing north from Princess Avenue. Vehicles are parallel parked on both sides of the street. The Welcome Brandon sign can be seen at the Rosser Avenue intersection.
Visible businesses on the west side of 10th Street include: Doig's, Box Brothers Hardware and Allied Hardware Stores in the Alexandra Block; followed by Simpsons-Sears in the Strathcona Block. Barry Neill Men's Wear, Kresge's and the Cecil Hotel are also visible. The Johnny Smith Block is visible in the background.
Visible businesses on the east side of 10th Street include: Ollies Steaks and Chops, Elna Sewing Centre, Carlton Cafe, Chop Suey. At the base of the hill the Canadian Pacific train station is visible at the base of the hill.
Notes
Writing on the front of the postcard reads: Tenth St. Brandon, Man.
Photograph of the northeast corner of 10th Street and Princess Avenue facing northeast. An Imperial Esso Dealer is situated on the southeast corner. On the northeast side the following businesses are visible: Thunderbird Bowl, Canadian Pacific Telegraphs, Pittsburgh Paint & Glass, The Strand Theatre, Trans Canada Credit Loans, Ted Heming Jewellers, Carlton Cafe, Barclay Shoe Store, Chamber of Commerce, United Cafe, and Chop Suey. An billboard for 2 Way drink is mounted on the former Campbell's Furniture Building. A sign for the Manitoba CAA Motor League hangs from a business on the southwest corner of 10th Street and Princess Avenue. Traffic on Princess Avenue, on the east side of 10th Street, is travelling one-way.
Photograph of the northeast corner of 10th Street and Princess Avenue facing northeast. An Imperial Esso Dealer is situated on the southeast corner. On the northeast side the following businesses are visible: Thunderbird Bowl, Canadian Pacific Telegraphs, Pittsburgh Paint & Glass, The Strand Theatre, Trans Canada Credit Loans, Ted Heming Jewellers, Carlton Cafe, Barclay Shoe Store, Chamber of Commerce, United Cafe, and Chop Suey. An billboard for 2 Way drink is mounted on the former Campbell's Furniture Building. A sign for the Manitoba CAA Motor League hangs from a business on the southwest corner of 10th Street and Princess Avenue. Traffic on Princess Avenue, on the east side of 10th Street, is travelling one-way.
Brandon College established a Canadian Officer Training Corps (COTC) program in 1916 and had enough students for a platoon that would join the 196th Western Universities Battalion's B Company. COTC logs for in the SJ McKee Archives show that at least 40 men regularly attended classes on campus during the 1916 winter term.
The Brandon Daily Sun published the names of 60 potential platoon recruits before they headed to Camp Hughes to train in the summer of 1916. Although Lt. J.R.C. Evans spearheaded the training of the COTC enlistees at Brandon College, he was found medically unfit for overseas service. In his stead, the son of the college's founder, Lt. William Carey McKee, lead the platoon to Camp Hughes where they joined the 196th Battalion. Of the 60 recruits identified in the local paper, 20 would not survive the war, including Lt. McKee. [ST/2016]
Scope and Content
Photograph shows a group of 40 men wearing WWI uniforms. The men have the Canada general service cap badge on their headdress. The officer in the centre of the group (i.e., the man with the cane) is J.R.C. Evans. The group of men are likely members of the first Brandon College Platoon, which joined the 196th Western Universities Battalion.
Gerry Beaubier was born in Wainwright, Alberta to Beatty and Babe Beaubier. He completed his high school in Saskatoon, before receiving a BSc in Geography from Brandon University.
Before attending university Gerry served in the army as a special reserve, while working as a night clerk at the Bessbourough Hotel in Saskatoon. His post-graduate career consisted primarily of work for Canada Agriculture, under the PFRA Branch (Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration). Later he would work as an Executive Manager, helping develop forage and range management programs for several post secondary schools, including, Assiniboine Community College, as well as schools in Red Deer, Lethbridge, and Saskatoon.
Gerry Beaubier married Joyce Abercrombie, of Saskatoon. Together they had two sons: Neil and Dean. Neil, an Account Advisor for the Royal Bank, was born in Regina, and currently works in Swift Current. Dean was born in Swift Current, received his PhD in Education and currently lives in Forrest working at Elton Collegiate.
The Beaubiers, who were originally from Ireland, emigrated to the Canadian West, making Gerry part of the fourth generation of his family to call the region home. His great-grandfather, along with his grandfather and great uncle were amongst the first one hundred settlers in Brandon. Together they first built the Beaubier House, a boarding house for early settlers and travellers. After it burnt down they began construction on the Beaubier Hotel, which stood at the corner of 8th Street and Princess Avenue in Brandon until August 17th, 2008. His grandfather, David Wilson Beaubier, continued to build and operate hotels throughout the prairies, including the Empire Hotels (of Brandon and Saskatoon) and The Park (Moose Jaw).
David Wilson Beaubier served as a secretary of the Orange Lodge of Manitoba. As an Orange Lodge Colonel, he worked with other Orange Lodge members, to recruit throughout the prairies for the purpose of World War One. For his efforts , David was promoted to Leftenant Colonel, and later Captain of the 99th Manitoba Rangers. David's sons (Gerry’s father, at University of Manitoba, and uncle at McGill), were both working towards undergraduate degrees when war broke out in 1914, and each would leave school to join their father at Camp Hughes.
Custodial History
Gerry Beaubier collected these photos primarily in the years 2000-2011, largely
from family and friends who knew of his interest in the topic. They were donated to the S.J. Mckee Archives in 2011.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of digital photographs of those who trained for battle in World War I at Camp Hughes and in Brandon, Manitoba. It also includes a digital copy of the cover of the Nominal Roll of Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men, who departed from Brandon in 1917.
The photos, taken primarily at Camp Hughes, are of a number of battalions, including the 34th, 100th, 108th, 181st and 214th. The photo, PT in England, is a postcard sent home from Beaty Beaubier. The Massey Harris building seen on the right side of, WW1 B parade0001, was used to house troops throughout the war. The man standing alone at the front of the parade in, 181 Parade, is David Wilson Beaubier.
Notes
Information for the biographical and custodial histories was provided by Gerry Beaubier on September 25, 2013. Description by Dustin Lane (October 2013).