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).
Due to the increasing volume of long-distance auto traffic in the 1920's, the city designated the block between Hill & Queen's Avenues and 9th & 10th streets as a "Tourist Camp" with a few basic facilities. After the demise of the Brandon Municipal Railway, several of the old car bodies were placed in the Tourist Camp to be used as cooking & eating shelters. Some may have had sleeping accommodations. Later (ca. 1938?) several were placed in a row along the south side of Victoria Avenue, approximately 28th or 29th St, and were used as the city's first drive-in hamburger place, "The Train Drive-in". This, I believe, only lasted one or two summer seasons. LAS.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
This bridge was condemned in the late 1930s but cyclists continued to use it until it was torn down (approximately 1940)
Until the early 1920s the Canadian Pacific Railway maintained a well and pumping station near the southeast corner of this bridge, which pumped water through a pipeline to a locomotive watering tank at Kemnay.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Assiniboine River Bridge North of Kemnay
Notes
[Mr. Stuckey put a negative and print in the same envelope. We have separated them, numbering the negative OB5(1) and the print OB5(1a).]
This bridge was condemned in the late 1930s but cyclists continued to use it until it was torn down (approximately 1940)
Until the early 1920s the Canadian Pacific Railway maintained a well and pumping station near the southeast corner of this bridge, which pumped water through a pipeline to a locomotive watering tank at Kemnay.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Assiniboine River Bridge North of Kemnay
Notes
[Mr. Stuckey put a negative and print in the same envelope. We have separated them, numbering the negative OB5(1) and the print OB5(1a).]
According to Stuckey and Bain (1996), “The Brandon, Saskatchewan & Hudson’s Bay Railway was built and operated as a totally owned subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway. Construction commenced in late 1905 and by the end of 1905, less than a mile of track had been laid north of the boundary at St. John. In 1906, the remaining 68.6 miles to Brandon were laid and service commenced that year. During the Depression of the 1930s, traffic declined significantly and the entire branch was abandoned in 1936. Over much of the branch’s length, the ties and rails were laid on the prairie without ballast and today little remains of the line apart from traces where there were cuts and bridges.” (p. 18)
Stuckey, L. A., & Bain, D. M. (1996). The Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways in Canada. Calgary, Alberta: British Railway Modellers of North America.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Great Northern wedge snowplow on ore gondola, Minot, ND.
Notes
From the collection of George H. Harris, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Stuckey and Bain (1996, p. 21) note that "Built in the company shops, simply by adding a plow to an ore jenny which was filled with rocks, these vehicles were quite effective at removing snow from single tracks."
According to Stuckey and Bain (1996), “The Brandon, Saskatchewan & Hudson’s Bay Railway was built and operated as a totally owned subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway. Construction commenced in late 1905 and by the end of 1905, less than a mile of track had been laid north of the boundary at St. John. In 1906, the remaining 68.6 miles to Brandon were laid and service commenced that year. During the Depression of the 1930s, traffic declined significantly and the entire branch was abandoned in 1936. Over much of the branch’s length, the ties and rails were laid on the prairie without ballast and today little remains of the line apart from traces where there were cuts and bridges.” (p. 18)
Stuckey, L. A., & Bain, D. M. (1996). The Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways in Canada. Calgary, Alberta: British Railway Modellers of North America.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
View of the Great Northern Railway's station at Boissevain, Manitoba.
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