Reston Recorder

The most important record of this area is contained in the pages of the Reston Recorder.  It is an exciting and long awaited day for me today to share with you that a group of these pages are available to everyone to browse online here. Choose a decade, then a year, then an edition and scroll through our past! (After you are finished reading this post, of course.😉)

Page from 100th Anniversary edition August 6, 2005

The history of the newspaper in Reston began in 1905 when Frank and Arthur Manning heard about a fledgling town on the prairies of Manitoba that was in need of a weekly newspaper.  The first edition was printed on July 25, 1905 and soon elicited 500 subscribers at $1.50/year.  It consisted of an even number of pages about half of them being local news and advertisement and the other 4 called ‘boiler plate’, national and regional news. Columns with news of district citizens had titles like the Lambton Lights, Ewart Echos, Belses Breezes and Clover Hill Clippings. Hockey, curling and baseball results, the local hospital admissions and discharges, classifieds and block ads for local businesses as well as those from Pipestone, Tilston, Sinclair and more each had space in the Recorder. 

In 1906, Arthur Manning left the day to day operation of the paper to his brother Frank and he became the principal of the local school.  That same year The Peanut on the Reston-Wolseley rail line began and with it a huge influx of workers and new businesses to support them. The first location chosen for the Recorder business was on Fourth street, where the Hairline Beauty Salon is today.  That building was built by J.B. Stallwood and later became the home of Helen Ready (nee Manning). More room was required so in 1907 a new office was built using the same brick as the Roundhouse. It sat along Second Avenue near the present Drop In. In 1966, a building was moved into Reston to be the new home of the Recorder.  It had formerly been used as a church at Bardal and Isaac Implements at Cromer.  This building is now listed for sale https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/22824971/330-fourth-street-reston

Along with the weekly newspaper, the Recorder was the local printer of all sorts. Auctioneer John Baldwin had flyers made to advertise his upcoming sales. The annual fair prize list and church financial statements were eagerly awaited by local citizens to be 'hot off the press'.

 

Subscription Reminder - 1940's perhaps

From the Regina Leader Post - March of 1950 

Two Papers Are One While Bonspiel Runs Maryfield, Sask., (Special) 

When Rusty Manning, editor of the Reston Recorder, and R. K. Harris, editor of the Maryfield News, participated in the recent bonspiel at Reston, the matter of printing their respective papers became a problem. Putting their heads together, the two editors came up with a solution, amalgamation. During bonspiel week the two papers came out as one joint effort with the printing done at Reston.

Frank Manning (1870 - 1945) had married Frances Lauretta Robinson in 1901 and they had 3 children - Helen (later Ready) , Wilma (later Pierce) and Russell. Arthur James  (1875-1949) married Marion Robertson in 1912 and became a school inspector living in Carman. He returned to Reston in 1945 to help Helen run the paper after the sudden death of Frank. Russell (1913-2003) worked at the paper from a young child except the war years of WWII when he as overseas.  Upon his return he was editor and publisher until his retirement in 1979.  Russell was a well-known sportsman in curling and golf and a enthusiastic duck hunter.  Gary Smith started as and was a editor and manager from 1980 until his death in 2002.  Bruce and Ingo Schwanke were next to head the Recorder and it became a part of Corner Pocket publishing under Bruce in 1996. In 2007, the new owners were Glacier Media Group.  The paper temporarily closed due to the pandemic in March of 2020 but by October of that year, the decision was permanent.  You can read the final word here. Besides editors and publishers, many many employees over the years contributed their blood, sweat and tears to get the paper out on time. 

 

When the Manning brothers began their paper in 1906, I wonder if they could imagine their news one day being available anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse.  All my wonderful Historic Reston Bricks and Boards readers now have some local history to peruse while I give myself the summer off.  There will be many more stories to tell from these pages. 

Wilkins Brothers in Reston

 

Photo and caption taken from a picture at the Reston Museum

Picture from Ancestry-  Knowmark Genealogy

Ernest James Wilkins (pictured right) came from England in 1891 to join his brothers Thomas and William who had arrived to the Reston area the previous year.  He first worked on farm of Robert Forke where he met with an unfortunate accident on a separator and lost his right hand above the elbow.  He attempted to homestead SW 6-7-28 but ran into more trouble in the form of prairie fire so he left the farm to work in Reston.  Ernest ran a hardware store for a time but set up a harness store where the playground is today beside the former bank.  This shop was built by Sinclair McMillan about 1898 who remained in the harness trade until about 1902. George William Stonehouse owned the building after that. Brothers Ernest and Tom Wilkins had married two of his daughters,  Elsie and Emilie Stonehouse in the early 1900's.   

Advertisement from 1906 Reston Recorder

In April of 1911, the Ernest Wilkins family, Elsie Lafayette Stonehouse and his 3 sons headed west to North Battleford where a fourth son was born.  Perhaps the leather work with only was hand was too challenging for him. He died in May of 1928 at North Battleford at the age of 58. W. A. Shippam took over the business but fire claimed the building in 1916. 

From Reston Museum

Paid Up Account of Thomas Boulton - 1910

Wilkins bill holder on display in Reston Museum

As to the other two Wilkins brothers - Tom and his wife Emilie farmed and had 2 children. She was quite an entrepreneur and operated a confectionary and store in the harness building and later ran the hotel’s restaurant.

Brother Will and his wife Beatrice Powell were married upon her arrival from England in 1894.  They homesteaded SE 17-7-27 until 1918 when he broke his leg badly and was never able to regain full use of it.  They moved to town in 1922 and he began work for the Municipality of Pipestone first as assistant and later as the secretary treasurer. They had 6 children and were involved in community life at the Baptist Church , Masonic Lodge, Reston School Board.

If I've learned anything while writing this blog, every family has a story to tell and the pictures and papers that are left help to tell it.  Take the time to write down everything you know about your family's history.  Someday, someone will thank you!

Second Avenue Buildings

Thanks to John and Verna Olenick for this picture from the collection of Bert Pierce. 

Last week's research about the Al-Res-Tone Drop In got me thinking about what was there before it. I'd love to see the scene down the north side of Second Avenue from the County Court building to the corner but this is the best I've got right now. Use your imagination with me. You can see the backs of them from this picture taken from on top of Munro’s Store around 1940. Demolition of all three buildings took place the same day in September of 1968 and would have left a large gaping hole to the old timers.  

First, right beside the County Court building was Mr. Archer’s Tailor Shop.  This wood building began as a photographer shop for Les Eaton and then used as a carpenter shop for Frank Clark.  Alfred Archer was the final owner from 1924 and along with custom clothing and alterations, he had a dry cleaning plant which was added in 1926.  He had 5 or 6 people working in his shop in its heyday but business gradually declined with the popularity of ready made garments and he retired in 1951 to spend his time at his true calling, the Reston Memorial Park. 

Next was the Reston Recorder Office.  It was a brick structure built in 1907.  For two years previously, they had been creating and printing the paper out of a building where Hairline Beauty Salon is today but needed more space.  The Recorder building on Second Avenue was built with surplus bricks from the round house.  The carpentry work was done by Arthur Bushby and George Corbin did the brickwork.  It had a solid wall of windows on the street side which led to plenty of light but also drafts. The frost on the windows stayed for the month of January, said former employee Tom Wilkins.   The paper was printed on a hand operated press and the type was all hand set.  Frank Manning was the man behind the news with assistance from his brother AJ his daughter Helen Ready and finally his son Russell. In 1916, the first Linotype was installed and power for the presses went from human to gas to electric.  Several who learned the trade at Reston went on to be printers like Raymond Evans at the Queens Printers, Tom Wilkins at Killarney and Robert McKay at the Western Producer and his brother Bert McKay at Moosomin.  With the purchase of larger and more modern machinery, the Recorder office was moved to Fourth/Main Street in 1966 in a building moved in from Bardal as the former Church of God in Christ.  That building had also been used in Cromer as an office and parts department for Ab Isaac.  

Lastly,  the yellow brick fire hall which had been built in 1910. Standing beside it was the town bell in a tower visible in the picture. The bell was wrung for curfew each night at 9:00 as well as for fires.  Apparently the more rapid the ringing, the worse the fire was.  It was used to ring in the New Year as well as having some unauthorized use for Halloween tricks. The bell was replaced with an automated one on top of the Municipal Office. Reston remains famous for its siren still ringing twice a day, noon and six pm. Firefighters are paged through their phones now but it still rings when more members are needed.  The doors to the old fire hall faced north onto Second Avenue but it was later remodeled to have the doors looking west onto Third Street.  A prison cell was also in the building.  As with the Recorder, the vehicles grew more modernized and larger, new space was needed and the firetrucks were stored where the municipal shops are now.  A new firehall was later built with several bays and training and meeting room. 

I hope you enjoyed your stroll down pre-1968 Second Avenue with me today.