Anglo Oil Service Station

 1964 was a year of frenzied building in Reston.  After the disastrous fire in November the year before, a new rink was being built along with a post office, another gas station and at least one private home.  The first to be opened was the current Petro-Canada station on Main Street. The property had been a tennis court when it was owned by the lawyer who lived across the street, Kippen Cates. 

Anglo-Canadian Oils Ltd was established in 1939 and was very committed to small town service stations in 1964, the company had 384 employees, according to an interview with president J.L. Valena and half of that number were employed in towns in rural Manitoba.  They also a refinery in Brandon, where the Canadian Tire stands today where a million barrels of oil were processed in 1963. Crude came to Brandon from Alberta and Saskatchewan via the Interprovincial Pipeline. Manitoba crude was not suited to the equipment at this plant, apparently. 

Bob Peel was the first manager of the station and Don Benzie drove the bulk fuel truck and was a salesman.  Fred Paul's name is also connected to the early days of the Anglo Station. 

In 1966, the business  was rebranded as Royalite.  Bob Froese was manager in 1972 and along with Jim Pringle, had the business called B &J Gulf.  Other names associated with the garage over the years are Dale Mayert, Jim McLenehan, George Pringle and Vernon Cook.  In 1986, Petro-Canada took over Gulf as a crown corporation and Barry Caldwell was installed as the manager of Caldwell Sales and Service with operations in Melita and Reston on December 8, 1986.  Jack Smith was hired as a driver salesperson for bulk fuel.  Petro-Canada became a private company again in 1999. 

October 2022

Do you recall Power Toboggan Races and Potatoes?

 

April 2, 1963 was a historic evening in the Sportsman’s Room of the Reston Hotel.  Reston Lions Club was officially formed with Henry Claussen elected president. Sixteen members signed up that evening and the club soon grew with many more energetic Lions. They planned to meet the first and third Tuesday each month with one of those being a supper meeting. 

The Reston Lions Club was a very active group in Reston in the 60's and 70's.  Many projects were taken on by their crew of fundraisers and builders.  Mentioned previously in this blog include The Alstone Lodge, The Reston and District Museum, and the basement of the Reston Memorial Theatre.  They were instrumental in installing artificial ice in the rebuilt 1964 Rink now known as the Rec-Plex.  The Reston Lions playground on Main Street beside the bank was their centennial project in 1970.  It was at their push that got the Willowview personal care home started in the mid 1980’s. Tennis courts in the Park and Skeet Shooting at the fair grounds were supported financially.  An annual Seniors Christmas supper was another of their projects. Along with their projects, they are fondly remembered for their unique fundraisers starting with a dunk tank at the fair that first year of 1963.   

Power Toboggan Races were held for the first time northeast of Reston at Burton Berry's farm in 1969.  Ads reprinted below from the Reston Recorders online tell the story. Alex Watt was also advertised in the classifieds looking for a copper boiler to make coffee for the event.   

Profits from the day were pegged at $200 with 36 machines entered in 11 races. Three Sno-Sport machines were entered by the factory in Winnipeg and a number of Sno-Jet machines were shown by Art Belisle of Antler, SK who was a dealer for the machines. Classes included Children' 12 and under, Children 18 and under, Powder Puff (women drivers), classes by horsepower, open classes, Fat Man's race (?) and Cross Country.  Archive papers from 1970 indicate the race will not be held that year and may not ever be held again.  Hmmm - so many questions!

Reston Lions Club members were fundraisers were often ambitious and their potato crop was one that is well remembered. It was first tried in 1969 and the Recorder notes that thousands of pounds were grown in an area of just over 2 acres on 55 rows. It was a challenge initially when every family had their own idea for how the seed should be cut and the best way to tend the plants! Lions Club members and volunteers were assigned their own row or rows and competition took over to encourage the biggest harvest possible come October. All work was done by hand and shovel but as the fundraiser continued and grew, planting and harvesting machines were purchased by the club.  

Sometime in the past 20 years, the Reston Lions Club ceased to exist although some of the members joined the active clubs in Sinclair and Pipestone.  However, their mark was made and their contributions to the community are remembered!  

The Matter of Privacy at the Hospital

Welcome back for another fall and winter of Reston, Manitoba history.  Do you have any ideas or pictures for future blog posts?  I'd love to hear them!

A previous post about the Reston District Hospital is here but browsing through archived issues of the Reston Recorder this summer (https://rmofpipestone.com/p/reston-recorder-archive) turned up some more information and pictures.  Photos from the scanned microfilm and not very sharp but it’s something! These 3 were taken by Verne Glass on grand opening day when the public was invited in to look around and have tea. 

Reston hospital was officially opened on December 15, 1951. Community donations toward the building amounted to $4212.20 including $2000 from the Reston Memorial Theatre and $712.20 from the Masonic Lodge. A donation of 2 scales was made by Jim Sing of the Modern Cafe. The Reston Unit of the Hospital Aid was tasked with furnishing and buying equipment for the new hospital. It had 4 wards each having 2 beds, a case room, a nursery and nurses beds, staff dining room and kitchen on two floors. 

The community, and especially Dr. Chapman, had been promoting the idea of a community hospital since the flu epidemic of 1919 but homes and hospitals in surrounding communities were used instead. Finally in 1951, construction began at the far west side of town along the highway.  Reading through the past issues, listing of names of patients admitted and released were printed weekly.  it seems strange and lacking privacy according to today's standards although I recall seeing similar in the Minot, N.D. paper.

The hospital admission and discharge lists stopped in early 1969 and I was curious at to why.  Luckily, my questions was answered in the two Letters to the Editor below!

Lastly for today, the clipping below from 1970 certainly has a familiar ring to it.  I guess history is indeed bound to be repeated!