Just Going for the Mail

Is there a phrase more often said?  In areas where the postal system is not delivered to your door as in Reston, it is self serve.  Mail was one of the first services established in any new settlement to keep in touch with those the pioneers left behind.  Receiving news from letters and newspapers was vital communication in the days before instant communication the way we have it now.   

The first Reston post office was established in 1890 on the farm of William Bulloch. Once the town was established where it is today, the post office relocated to a building on third street and then moved to the former Harris Boarding house (with the yellow star above)  on the south end of Fourth Street.  A fire in May of 1915 claimed this post office and it was thought also $5000 in cash that was destined for the bank.  An earlier blog post here tells that the Pinkerton Detectives got to the bottom of that case. Dr. Stevenson's former vet office was the next location and there was talk of building a new post office.  Gordon Goldsborough covered the topic of Post Office buildings in his Abandoned Manitoba radio show and you can listen here. As was the case for smaller centers, leasing a building for the post office happened instead of building.  Brady's Hardware which is now the Martin Block, gave the post office a home for the next many decades. 

Reston saw a major building renewal in the 1960’s with the high school(1961), rink (1964), hotel and gas station (1966), co-op hardware store (1965) and elementary school (1967). It was decided that something more convenient and modern was needed and the new post office was officially opened on September 25, 1964. The grand event was attending by many dignitaries and the official opening of the new water and sewer system was held the same day.  

Ribbon ready to be cut on opening day 1964 -  From McKee Archives at Brandon University

Day in and day out, the post office becomes the place to check the box and visit with a neighbour doing the same.  A news story from 2000 indicates 168 new mailboxes were installed to give a total of 536 boxes. Post offices have seen a shift in services from letters, bills moving to online email delivery but shipment of parcels has taken off. Online companies like Amazon, Walmart and others have found their customers through their keyboards.  Add Christmas gift mailing into the Covid-19 pandemic and the post office parcel surge was massive.

Reston has had some long term postmasters over the years.

• William "Bill" or "Mac" Harkness Mc Dougall was first from 1893 until 1928. Mac was an accomplished curler and community supporter. He and his wife Etta Burge had at least 3 sons and a daughter. In 2002, Fletch Manning wrote an article about their home in Reston and you can read it here. 
• Wesley George Morris was raised by his grandmother Mrs. Adaline Armstrong of Reston.  He was postmaster from 1929 to 1943 and did not have an easy time in life after losing a leg in battle in 1918 at Kemmelberg, Belgium.  He bought the former Methodist church and had it converted to a dwelling.  
• Cyril Standring was in charge from 1944 - 1955. He was a soloist of note in the choir of Reston United Church and led the choir for many years. 
• Oliver Chester was postmaster from 1955 to 1980. He had spent 5 years overseas with the Princess Pats and worked as a grain buyer on his return before the post office.  He and his wife Velma Addison raised 3 children. He was an active curler, community, sports and Elizabeth Legion member. 
  
  
  
• Gary McElheron and Jeff Kirk followed for several years each.
• Current postmaster Candice Morris is no different, working here since 1982.  
• Several more filled the position in an acting capacity (including Aunt Jean (Boulton) Elliott) and others were hired as assistants.  

That's the post for today.  I'm off - just going for the mail. 😊

Getting Fuel at the Corner

Isn't this just the most attractive receipt you've ever seen for wood and Galt coal from 1910? This Emerson brand horse drawn plow predated the days of hydraulics to lift machinery out of the soil, so I suppose they were all “foot lift”. It inspired me to go looking for T.W. Jackson's story and here's what I've found so far. As always, more pictures and information is welcome to ssimms@escape.ca

Thomas Wesley Jackson was born in the York region of Ontario in 1859. He married Annie Meredith in 1886. She had been born in Ireland in 1866 and came to Canada with her family the next year. 

They headed west in 1882 to homestead with the York Farmer’s Colonization Company near present day Yorkton, Saskatchewan and he was elected to represent the district of Qu'Appelle in 1883 - 1885 according to this source.  They can be found farming on the 1891 Mantoba Census in the district of Selkirk and subdistrict of Inchiquin with 3 children. I’m not sure where exactly this is but Inchiquin was the name for part of the later RM of Albert at the tail end of the 1800’s.   The railway pushed its way into Reston in December of 1892 and the Wesley and Annie Jackson saw an opportunity. Lodging for newcomers and temporary visitors would have been  badly needed and their home was built and named Jackson’s Boarding House in 1893. The beautiful brick boarding house is today the home of Rick and Lorelei Bloomer but formerly Harcourt Berry and Arthur Bushby’s called it home as well.  

Tragedy occurred in 1900 when Annie and Wesley Jackson's  2 month old son Albert Rice died.
The 1901 Census shows the parents with 3 children living in Reston along with 4 boarders, including Thomas Mutter, Albert Smith, James Stringer, and Sinclair McMillan.  A lady helping with the domestic chores, Lily McLaughlin is also listed. William Richard was born later in 1901.  

Compounding the Jackson tragedy, Annie died in 1904 shortly after the birth of another son, Ernest. Both Annie and Albert are remembered on a handsome pillar monument with their names engraved in the Reston Cemetery. Her death may have likely brought about the end of running a boarding house but a focus on the wood and coal business grew.

T.W. Jackson’s business on the bottom left and Jackson’s Boarding House beside it about 1910

The 1906 census shows the 47 year old widower and five children, two horses and 8 cows living on 8-7-27 which I think is on the golf course somewhere or on the west side of First Street and the same 5 years later in 1911. He was an agent for coal and wood and had a draying business right beside his former  house on the corner of 4th Street and 1st Avenue. The second floor of the long narrow building had a hall on the second floor that was used for entertainment, meetings and other gatherings. Like the Berry Hall, it seems unusual that gathering spots were private businesses but Jackson Hall was the first meeting spot for the Reston Masonic Lodge before they built their own building in 1928. After WW2, the hall was the Legion Clubroom for a while. 

 

The above photo was found on Ancestry from user Eliza823. It is identified as William Richard Jackson and his father Thomas Wesley taken about 1930. I am guessing it was a photography studio backdrop of the Tia Juana Bar and have found a few other similar images online. Perhaps these portraits were taken at fairs on in studios like the ones at Moose Jaw and the West Edmonton Mall as they are today.

On the 1921 census, Wesley and youngest son Ernest were living in Vancouver with his sister Ella Stott and her family. Wesley was a merchant and Ernest a student. Wesley died and was buried in Vancouver in 1934. 

On the 1916 Manitoba Census, son Howard is the only Jackson left in Reston, employed as an agent.  He moved to Yorkton in 1919 and sold Case Implements and was city clerk.  He seems like my kindred spirit when he retired in 1959 and took on recording the early days of Yorkton by collecting postcards. The Jackson Collection can be viewed online here.

The Reston fuel business was purchased by the Grieg brothers as is shown for Thomas Boulton's purchase of Royalite fuel in 1915. Hill and Company bought the business for a short time until William Mennie and his son Alexander D. ran the dealership for almost five decades before Ross Benzie took over in about 1970.  There several places to get fuel in Reston but I believe this business was a bulk dealership for farms.  Please correct me if I'm wrong! 

The building was torn down in 1972 with an office being built on the same lot for Mr. Benzie and his wife Ella who did the books  .They  sold to toKen and Eileen Milliken in 1980.  They operated the Imperial Oil bulk dealership until 1993.  What appears to be an empty windy corner in Reston has a long history which was all uncovered from that fancy receipt! 

Just Like the Floor Falling Out From Under You

Imagine being at a very solemn funeral for a family member or a dear friend on a hot summer day and the church is packed with mourners.  Suddenly there is a groan and without warning the floor collapses under the front pews three inches.  If you were in Reston in 1935 at the service for Annie Clementine McGregor Guthrie, you would calmly resume the service and carry on.  This incident brought to an end the Reston Baptist Church building. 

  

The Reston Baptist Church was built on Fourth Street in 1905 from embossed cast cement blocks like the ones at the home of T. A. Bulloch featured here. It was a beautiful building and true to its name, water baptism of adults was the norm. The building held a adult-sized font enclosed in a curtain that was pulled during the ceremony.  The church was decorated with arched coloured glass windows and used for community choirs and plays as well as church services for three decades.

Baptist worshipers had practiced their religion in Reston since 1893 and in 1902, twenty-eight charter members established a church community and worshipped at Jackson's Hall on First Avenue.  English immigrants George Corbin and Walter Hansell built the church in 1905 and Mr. Hansell made the pulpit.  Joseph McAdam designed the wood panelled ceiling and R. John Douglas did the carpentry to create it.  Mr. McAdam would unfortunately be one of the first buried from the Baptist Church in 1906. The church was never used again after that summer day in 1935 despite the congregation's attempt to fix it.  It was determined wet soil underneath caused the foundation to weaken. Lack of an excavated basement in typical Reston potholes was not a good combination.  Perhaps the cement blocks were a new technology to the builders and after only 30 years, the church building was abandoned.  

Wilfred Nolan was a the son of homesteaders William and Annie Nolan.  He farmed in the Sinclair/Ewart/Linklater districts and ran a grocery store and bulk oil dealership in the Ewart townsite, northwest of Reston.  His first wife, Sara Ellen Donald died young in 1926 and tragically, their two sons Donald and William died in a house fire in 1929. He must have felt like the floor fell out from under him too.  His fortunes turned and he married Eleanor Maud Lansing in 1933.  They had a family of two - a boy and a girl and new opportunities arose.

  

The Trails Along the Pipestone history books says Wilfred Nolan operated Prairie City Oils from a warehouse on Railroad Avenue for a few years in the 1940's.  This may have been the same place where he established a garage and John Deere agency, between 3rd and 4th street where Lockhart's Garage came later. I have not found any information on the "Jessett" that was his partner in 1947 when the receipt below was printed. Any ideas what kind of Washer the Boultons bought in 1947 worth $202? The more I find out, the more questions I have! 

Now back to the church site - in 1945 Wilfred Nolan acquired this property and by 1948 he had torn it down and reused some of the lumber for opening Nolan Garage. He sold John Deere equipment and Chrysler cars along with Texaco gas and oil and Firestone tires. Nolan retired in 1957 and continued to live in Reston. Mr. Nolan was active in curling and other sports during his time in Reston and was a Masonic member.

The third generation of his family at Reston, Wilfred Ellis spent time overseas in the Armed Forces from 1941 - 45. He was hired as a mechanic in Nolan Garage after he returned from active service in WW2.

Wilf and Veryle Ellis and his kids 1970's

From The Sequel Pipestone history book page 284

 Wilfred married a Reston girl - Constance (Connie) Low - in 1948.  Wilf and Connie had a family of four - two boys Veryle and Gregg along with two girls Carol and Brenda.  In 1957, he bought and continued the successful business, now Ellis Motors.  In 1968, the John Deere part of the business was discontinued.  Wilf retired in 1981 and the shop was used by his son Gregg for his business, GWAE Enterprises and Construction.  Brent Walker makes use of the building today on Main Street, just south of the Theatre and Masonic Lodge Building. 

Wilf's grandson Tyson proudly displays the old John Deere sign in his home today - a link to the past.  

The Reston Roundhouse

In 1906, the town of Reston was a buzz of activity with a new rail line being laid from Reston to Wolseley, Saskatchewan to the mainline. Reston was fortunate to be chosen for the end of the spur line and would be the overnight home for the train soon to be referred to as The Peanut.  In 1908,  a Roundhouse was built by the CPR to service the engine and turn it around for the return trip.  It is not round, but fan shaped with 4 bays that each had a track leading from the mechanism into it. Many more openings in the brickwork would have been filled with windows for light and loading chutes for water and coal. In 1922, pits were dug in the bays so the men could service the engine from underneath. In 1930, use of the roundhouse was discontinued and a wye was built to turn the engine around.  Diesel engines took far less maintenance than steam engines and the CPR Shops at Souris were chosen for maintenance of the engine on the weekend.  

Have you ever wondered about the inner workings of the roundhouse? How on earth did they turn a locomotive engine around?  Here is a short video from Henry Ford's Innovation Nation that shows it nicely. This one remains as on of three standing roundhouses in Manitoba, the other two being in The Pas and Dauphin.  Gordon Goldsborough featured the roundhouse on his CBC radio spot called Abandoned Manitoba and you can listen to it here. It was named  Manitoba Municipal Heritage Site #142 in 1996. 

In 1939 and for the next 3 decades, the building was used by Colin C. Campbell & Son as a seed and fertilizer warehouse and seed cleaning operation. Colin came to Reston in 1901 with horses to sell as he had been a horse drover in Ontario.  His sister Kate was married to Reston merchant G.S. Munro and his McMurchy cousins also had put down roots here. Colin C. married Minnie McLandress in 1902.  Besides running a livery barn, he was a grain buyer for James Richardson.  During the 1930's, Colin saw the need for planting grasses and clover to hold the soil and he began marketing seed all over Canada and the United States.  Needing more room, he purchased the Roundhouse and installed seed cleaning equipment and developed a large retail and mail order business. He employed between 4 and 12 people on a 24 hour basis, more during the winter months and early spring.  He diversified by operating a cattle feed lot in the acres around the roundhouse. Colin C. Campbell & Son closed in 1969 when more farmers had their own seed cleaning equipment and pedigree seed was more widely available. It was bought to be used for storage by Jim Walker and then later the Martin brothers. 

Ancestry user Grigg_Family14 has graciously agreed to allow me to use the picture below of the Campbell family.  Colin C.  is her great grandfather and the picture was taken in about 1950 in front of Colin C.'s former home.  This beautiful home is now the Sauvé residence and was the first one featured in this blog here with a post written by Fletch Manning in 2004.  Colin Sr.(1872-1959) and Minnie (1886-1957) had three children.  A daughter Helen died in infancy and second daughter Mildred Jean married Frank Mellor and lived in the east. Their son Colin St Clair Campbell (1907-1989) took over the seed business and married the doctor's daughter Clair Clark (1917-1980) in 1939.  They had 4 children and moved to B.C. in the 1970's. The Campbells are buried in Reston Cemetery. 

Colin C. and his wife Minnie (McLaundress) are standing in the middle of the group of four
 and Colin S. and his wife Clair (Clark) Campbell are on the ends. 



Have you ever heard of a ghost sign?  Wikipedia says it is an old hand-painted advertising sign that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time. The sign may be kept for its nostalgic appeal, or simply indifference by the owner. The Colin C. Campbell & Son ghost sign is a landmark in Reston and especially amazing to think it is on the north wall of the roundhouse and has been exposed to the harsh elements for so many decades.  I hope it remains for decades more to connect us to our past.