Our Heritage

1. Excerpts from "Stories of Pioneer Days at Killarney"

A Few Notes on Early Days in Killarney - By T.J. Lawlor

KILLARNEY is one of the beauty spots of Southern Manitoba, situated about twelve miles North of the Boundary line. and between Ninga on the West and Holmﬁeld on the East. The original name was Oak Lake, probably so called from the oak trees found around its shores. The present name was the result of a conversation jokingly carried on between three pioneers, one of whom was the late John Sidney O’Brien, Land Guide, and which ended by one party saying to Mr. O’Brien, “I suppose you would like to call it ‘Killarney’, after the lakes in Ireland,” so, Killarney it has been ever since. That would be in about 1882.

The Municipality of Turtle Mountain was ﬁrst mooted in 1882,but was not fully organized until the next year, when John Hyman was made the ﬁrst Reeve and J. R, Sturt, the ﬁrst Secretary—Treasurer. Many of the old settlers will remember the always welcome visits of Mr. Sturt, and how he walked countless miles in the discharge of his duties. The Municipality then included Townships 1 to 3 in Ranges 17, 18 and 19, but was enlarged in later years to include territory to the north and east.

Late in 1883, the C. P. R. ran a branch from Rosenfelt to Manitou, which was the end of the track until 1885. That fall the road was continued west and south of lakes Rock, Louise, Lorne and Pelican, passing through Killarney in December and reaching Boissevain January 1st, 1886. At that date, the road was taken over from the contractors, and opened for traffic.

Canadian and United States investors had obtained a charter, known as the Manitoba South-Western Railway. The route, starting from Winnipeg, proceeding westward, a few miles north of Carman, then turning south west and running north of the ﬁrst three lakes previously mentioned, following the valley of the Pembina, and coming out of the prairie at Tisdale. The survey continued westward to the Height, or Rowland district, about north of Ninga. The town of Tisdale was surveyed and lots were sold, but the railroad is not built yet. Between 1882 and the fall of 1885, the C. P. R. acquired the charter, and instead of building north of the Lakes, they continued their Rosenfeldt - Manitou branch, via La Riviere, Crystal City, Killarney and Boissevain. It was extended to Deloraine in 1885 and that remained the end of the road for several years.

The country comprising Townships 1 and 2 in Ranges 16, 17 and 18 did not receive as many early settlers as Ranges 19 to Deloraine, on account of the broken character of the land. The Townships referred to only began to be settled in 1881 and 1882, ' On January 2nd, 1886, T. J. Lawlor arrived at Killarney station with a car load of general merchandise and building material. In the mean- time, he had arranged to have his store in Tisdale taken down and brought over to the new town.

The Land Commissioner gave him information as to the exact location of the C. P. R. Station, and from there, he located his lots on the North East of South Railway and Broadway avenue, and other buildings following the same direction, the town grew North and South instead of East and West.

The location of the Lake, within 'half a mile of the track, was an inducement for people to seek homes in the town. Our ﬁrst settlers were drawn from the several settled portions. of the country, as far east as Emerson Gretna and Morris.

Mr. Mills, of Gretna, was the ﬁrst carpenter on the scene, and with the lumber of the Tisdale store, and a supply brought from Rosenfeldt, he proceeded to erect the ﬁrst building on the townsite for T. J. Lawlor in January 1886. Later in the month the C. P. R. townsite surveyors arrived and surveyed the ﬁrst part of the town. Section 2 of Township 3 and Range 17 had been homesteaded and pre-empted by George Geates, on the north half and John Williams on the south half. They entered into arrangements with the C. P. R., to have the town site and station on Section 2. Both homesteaders retained a western portion of their lands which was not included in the town site.

James McCann, who had previously been in Nelsonville and Morden, secured lots on the East side of Broadway, and built the Leland Hotel, which is still in use. Following him were the Coleman Bros, William and Richard, Samuel Rowe, A. Wilson, Samuel Pierce, T. G. Dixon and Jas. Harrison. The Grand Central Hotel, built and conduc- ted by Alex Goldie, of Gretna, came next, in the summer of ’86. Other proprietors were P. MacCabe, F. Rollins, Coleman and MacMillan, Bascomb, from Chicago, James Fowlie, Watson & Comba, Worby and Scotty Ross. This hotel was burned down in 1916. Mrs. John Melville has conducted a public boarding house on Williams avenue since the beginning of the town. Other private boarding houses were conducted by Mrs. Dufty, on South Railway Street, Mrs. Wm. Cooney, Mrs. Ed. Hall and Miss Midford.

Next to Mrs. Dufty’s on Railway street was a store built by Frank Rollins, who previous to that time had a store down by the Bay. The next business place was a hardware store, whose proprietor, Mr. Bird came from Emerson. Others who followed were A. Ashdown, Chris Godfrey, T. Liddle and the present B. T. Lawrence. Other hard-ware men were W, T. Philips, Binns Bros., J. Shannon, Jas. McNaughon, W. F. Ramsay & Son and W. C. Cooney & Sons.

Then followed a building put up for Dr. Fawcet, where he ran a drug store and occupied the upstairs as a dwelling. Other druggists were John Williams, R. Olver and Olver & Carson. W. J. Carson still continues in the same business. Later came Dr. J. T. Whyte, P .D. Evans and W. H. Richards.

The late Wm. Pritchard, who supplied the railroad contractors with meat and vegetables, came to settle in the town in the summer of ’86. He built the place known as Pritchard’s Hall, the ﬁrst ﬂoor of which was used as a butcher shop. On the rear of the lots he placed a small dwelling. He was the ﬁrst to buy and ship cattle and produce by the carload. His brother, the late Joseph Pritchard was his successor. ‘ Other butchers following were Harvey Coleman, W. S. Hopkins, D. Laird and W. C, Simpson.

George Robinson had a store immediately south of Pritchard’s Hall. Next to him were Messrs. Kirkpatrick and Wallis who had at ﬁrst opened a. small store at the north side of the lake. F. Kirkpatrick retired from the business, and H. A. Wallis opened a Real Estate, Insurance and Collection Agency. He built a cottage near the present Town Hall and also the Middleton Bakery Block.

Early in 1886, J. W. Smaill also started a Real Estate, Insurance and Collection agency, and built a home on Williams Avenue, which he still occupies.

One of the ﬁrst doctors who visited Killarney occasionally, was Dr. Pinkerton, of Clearwater. Others who followed were Messrs Harris, Carter, Noble, Patterson, Whyte, Alexander, McKee, Little, Duxbury and Best.

R. T. MacLean from Pilot Mound was the ﬁrst lawyer, Thomas Metcalfe, of Boissevain, had a branch oﬁice in charge of George B. Monteith, law student, who upon qualifying, took over the practice, and continued until he sold out to F.A. Williams. A. G. Hay, now of Virden, also practiced here several years.

Soon after the town was started, the government arranged for a County Court district, and sessions were held at intervals, Judges Ardagh, Pendergrast and Prudomme preceded Corbet Lock, who held office for many years, Chas. Bate, John Williams and David Hysop were our ﬁrst Justices of the Peace. In the early nineties the Half-Breed Commission had two sessions here to wind up the issuance of scrip Grants. Half-Breeds and Indians to the number of 3000 or more, came from points in the United States and Western Canada, to share and beneﬁt in the grants. The ﬁrst drowning accident in the lake occured at this time.

A small stone building, which served the purposes for council meetngs and a jail was erected about 1904 on Mountain Avenue. Previous to that a box car was occasionally pressed into service to accommodate disturbers of the peace. During the mayorality of T. H. Buck, the present commodious building, including Town Hall, Council Chamber, Fire Hall and Jail was built, and was opened on February 8th, 1910.

In 1903, we were incorporated as a village. The officers for the ensuing year. were Robert Monteith, Mayor, John Lawrence, T. Buck, the late J, Pritchard and James Cowan. T. J. Lawlor succeeded R. Monteith for 1905 and 1906. His councillors were T. H. Buck, J. Law- rence, A. G. Hay and J. Cowan. The 1906 Council took proceedings to change the standing from a village to a town. J. M. Baldwin was the ﬁrst Mayor for the town, others following were T. H. Buck, Dr. Mc- Kee, again T. Buck, J. W. Smaill, J. Sanders, A. Shepherd, T. Coop— er, R. Watson, and the present incumbent, J. W. Smaill.

The spring of 1886 was marked by the advent of numerous implement dealers, among the ﬁrst of whom was the late George Lawrence, representing Massey & Co. He and J, M. Baldwin were afterwards in partnership and handled machinery for several different ﬁrms. Mr. Lawrence was elected to represent Killarney County in 1896 and af— terwards was taken into the Roblin Cabinet as Hon. 'Minister of Agriculture. Mr. Lawrence was instrumental in having the demonstration farm located near Killarney. Other implement agents were H. Ander-son, John Armstrong, Toohill and Britten, Winram, Weir, Foley, Burrows and others. During 1886, C. W. Williams of Wakopa and F. S. Moule of Portage la Prairie, general merchants, were added to the business community, and later came A. E. Fremlin, Cross & Hicks, later R. Cross & Co., and Mr. Knechtel. Other business names familiar to old timers are W. A. Bingham, C. Richards, Robt. Rollins, F. Squair, Marquis & McCullough, Percival & McKnight, A. McQueen, J. Vinond. W. Roller, Geo. Parsons and others.

The ﬁrst station agents were Ellis, Hicks. Bette and Russell. Then came Philip J. Sherlock in 1899, who retired in 1928‘ and was followed by H. E. Curll.

G. McNamee and C. Barquest were early section foremen, followed by J. T. Larson, who was superanuated in 1927.

The ﬁrst lumber yards were owned by Robert Rolston and Fred Davis. Mr. Davis only remained a few years. Mr. Rolston erected a residence on the corner now occupied by the “Guide” office, and later a home on Clarke ave. After Mr. Rolston’s death, the Wholesale Lumber Dealers carried on the business till it was bought out by A. M. High. John Conley and Thomas McElroy also handled lumber. James McNaughton had a lumberyard opposite the present High office. He built a hall known as McNaughton’s Hall, on South Railway street, with four offices on the ground ﬂoor. This business afterward passed to W. F. Ramsay & Son, then to Nelson & Thomas, and eventually to A. M. High.

Robert Rolston built and owned the ﬁrst livery barn, known as the “Broncho Stable.” Jonathan Lindsay and James Cowan also built one on South Railway street. Both were burned down. Mr. Gainer also carried on a livery stable in 1886-87. One of the ﬁnest livery, feed and sale stables in Southern Manitoba was erected by George Crawford & Son, on Williams avenue. Hannah & Robbins followed and later Dickson, McKenzie and Harris.

The ﬁrst furniture store was built by A. Leitch, north of the track, r where he also built a double house of stone. The store was afterwards moved south and placed where J .C. McCalpin now [has his hardware store. The successors to A. Leitch were James McNaughton, Robt._Monteith, J. H. McCalpin, George Cooper and again J. H. McCalpin.

The ﬁrst blacksmith shop was opened by Edward Machon. Then came John C. McLeod, now of Calgary, who was followed by F. Stilwell & Son, and R. Arscott, all on Broadway avenue. On South Railway street there were Wm. Weir, Thos. Readman and Wm. McNamee. F. Stilwell’s business is still carried on by his son, A. H. Stilwell on Williams avenue. 0n the opposite side were A. G. McKibbon and Wm. Ellison.

The late George Treleaven opened the ﬁrst harness shop. He built the Treleaven block on Broadway avenue and a, brick cottage near the bay. Others in the same line of business were Messrs Tether, Sedore and Dudley.

Machinists who were kept busy, were Harrison Bros, Fred Galleon and later Shepherd and Baxter. They represented some of the large threshing and separator ﬁrms, repairing and keeping in order, threshing outﬁts in and beyond the Killarney district.

The honor of buying the ﬁrst grain at Killarney belongs to the Ogilvie Milling Co. The growing of wheat and other farm produce was much retarded, on account of bad roads, lack of bridges and long distances to railheads at Emerson, Manitou and Brandon.

In 1886 Ogilvies built a plank platform and were represented by Frank Simpson and James Dunsford, who were on the market for one season only. Then followed D. H. MacMillan & Brother. They erected the ﬁrst grain warehouse, on the present Lake of the Woods site, and were represented by David Hysop & Son, later by Wallace Smith and J. Miller. Finlay M. Young and his brother, Donald, were also on the market, for Winnipeg dealers, during the winter of 1886.

The ﬁrst elevator was put up by Wm. and George Harrison, known as Harrison Bros. It stood about where the Grain Growers are located now, and through it passed most of the grain bought at that time. A. J. Rollins and John G. Smith were on the market at this time. They with T. J. Lawlor erected a warehouse where the Grain Grower's coal shed stands. The next elevator known as “The Farmers” was built by James Hatch. He leased it, and bought for S. P. Clarke, of Winnipeg. Mr. Hatch also gave bin accommodation to other buyers. Nichol & Son, of Boissevain represented by Hugh Sutherland, and several, who came and were here but a short time. This building eventually fell into the hands of the late Joseph Pritchard, who disposed of it to the Patter-son Grain Co. The latter ﬁrm ﬁnally took the building down and re- moved it.

Then came a grist mill north of the track, which received. bonuses, from the Municipalities of Riverside and Turtle Mountain, Woodrulf & Sons, of Ontario, built and equipped this mill. Young Bros. & Buck took possession and also erected an elevator on a spur track. This en- abled them, with their roller mill process, to supply local and export trade, and at times to handle most of the grain on the local market. Young Bros. also had elevators at Deloraine, Cartwright, Lena, Dun-ea and other points. Dyeel & Leitch, Hanson Bros, and the United Grain Growers also had elevators in Killarney. The Harrison and Leitch elevators were burned the same day, about 1900

The late Finlay M. Young, after representing the Constituency of Killarney for two, or more terms, part of which time he was Speaker of the House, was later called to the Senate at Ottawa, which position he ﬁlled till 1916. Mr. Young erected a ﬁne brick dwelling on the corner of Clarke avenue and Finlay street, Alex Middleton’s home today.

A school house, built in 1883 by Andrew McNamee, senior was placed on the correction line, directly opposite the section road running south and passing the end of the Bay. It was used for several years for community purposes. The ﬁrst teachers were Miss A. E. Bates, assisted by Miss E. C. Williams, followed by Jesse Poole, A. A. Hobkirk and Mr, and Mrs. Scholes.

As the population increased, the old school had to be abandoned, and the trustees acquired what is known as the School Block on the East side of Broadway avenue. In 1891, a wood frame, brick veneered, four-roomed school was put up by A. Leitch. In 1906, the present High School of solid brick was added. Snyder Bros. of Portage la Prairie, were the builders. Another building was placed directly east of the school block and used ﬁrst for a "primary department and later for manual training.

The ﬁrst Board of Trustees was composed of three, A. J. Rollins, Chas. Bate and Peter Dufty, the latter was secretary-treasurer. After Peter Dufty, Charles Bate was made secretary-treasurer, which pest ' he held until after the high school was built in 1906.

Previous to 1883, the nearest post offices were Smith’s Hill, on the east, Wakopa, on the West and Glendenning on the north Mr. Chas. Bate opened the ﬁrst post office in this district, in his house on the farm on the north shore of the Lake, April 1, 1883. When ﬁrst the post ofﬁce was opened the mail was fetched from Wakopa. It was brought by rail to Brandon, thence to Deloraine by courier. Another courier took it to Wakopa, and a third brought it from Wakopa to the newly opened post oﬂice at Killarney. Later it was brought in from Brandon, via old Souris City and Langvale. In the fall of 1886, Mr. Bate moved the post oifice into town and later built a dwelling and ofﬁce on Williams avenue. Here the post office remained till 1923, several years after Mr. Bate’s death.

The ﬁrst English church service in this district was held in the school house in September 1883. Rev. Geo. H. Aitkens preached from the text “What think ye of Christ?” The church without the chancel, was built in 1890 and opened in December of that year. Rev. Canon O’Meara took service at the opening. In 1892, the chancel was added, and the building brick veneered. Revs. Geo. H. Aitkens, W. R. Johnson and C. W. F. Jeﬁrey gave occasional service_ till 1886, when W. R. Johnson became settled pastor and continued until 1895. T.C. O’Meara, student, and Rev. H, Beacham were later incumbents. Mr. Johnson again became rector of Holy Trinity Church in 1900, remaining until 1916.

Among the earliest names of ordained Presbyterian ministers working in the district, were Revs. John Stewart, Cameron and Lantrow. They preached in school houses and also in the homes. Wm. Patterson of Wakopa and C. W. Gordon, “Ralph Connor” were two of the earliest students in the ﬁeld. Before the church was built, the Presbyterians worshipped for a time in Pritchard’s Hall, McNaughton’s Hall and, the old Methodist church. Students whose names wiil be families to many were Mann, Fraser, G. Menzies. J. W. S. Lowry, J. MacGerrigle, Peter Strang, Smith and Polson. Ordained men were Revs. C. W. Whyte, J. R, Hodnett, McKenzie and M. P. Floyd. The stone church, Erskine, was erected in 1898, Rev. Dr. Pitbaldo, of Westminster Church, Winnipeg, conducted the services, when the church was opened and dedicated. Rev. M. P. Floyd was the ﬁrst settled pastor in the new church. He was followed by Rev. Dan McIvor.

Rev. Andrew Stewart, later Dr. Stewart of Wesley College, and Rev. Elliott, were the two earliest Methodist ministers in the district, holding services in the ﬁrst schoolhouse and also in the homes, Mr. Stewart was here in 1882. The old church and parsonage were built in 1887, the site for the church being donated by Mr. Williams. When the new church was built in 1900, the old one was moved and converted into an implement shed on Broadway Avenue. The parsonage was also removed and sold. The congregation later bought a brick house built by James McCann, on Broadway Avenue which they still use for a parsonage.

Nelson Tracey and Allan Grouse were the builders of the new church, now known as First United. The names of some of those who occupied the pulpit at different times are Mr. Cruickshanks, student, Revs. A. H. Anderson, R. Lewis, J. Tozeland and C. F. Van Norman.

Charles Bate organized the ﬁrst Sabbath School in 1883. It included children of all denominations and continued as a Union Sunday School, with Mr. Bate as superintendent, until 1897 or ’98, when each church took over the care of its own children. Mr. Bate continued as Superintendent of Holy Trinity Sunday School until 1914.

Mrs. B. T. Lawrence was the ﬁrst child born in the Village.

A small paper called “The Southern Manitoba was printed for a short time in the summer of 1886, by an American from Dakota. Later we had another, also short lived, printed by Rev, Charles Whyte. In 1896 the “Killarney Guide” came into existence. For two years ﬁt was published by W. H. Hatch. The present Editor and Proprietor, J. H. Monteith took it over in 1898. Anyone to glance over the columns of the “Guide” today, and note the different branches of business ad- vertised there, can form some idea of the progress that has been made in forty—two years.

To our surrounding district belongs much of the credit for this progross. Killarney district was a large one, and the town drew trade. from an area extending from Cartwright to Boissevain, and from the Boundary line, to well on towards Brandon.

Though life in the pioneer days was hard, and many privations were borne, they were also happy years. Neighbors were all friends in these days, and a visitor could always be sure of a welcome, and the best the house afforded, though sometimes the best was not very good, especially when the potatoes were all frozen, and bread made from frozen wheat ﬂour was to be found in every home.

Mrs. John Williams tells of her ﬁrst start in poultry raising. Securing a setting of eggs from a neighbor, she found a wild duck’s nest and a prairie chicken’s nest, and traded eggs with the nest owners with the result, that in due course, every egg but one brought forth a little chick, which was watched for, and carefully tended in the house, until able to fend for itself.

We had picnics in those early days, which were red-letter days especially the Sunday School picnics, when Mr. James Finlay would lead the procession of wagons playing on the bagpipes, and fonts came for miles to join in the fun.

We had an occasional concert too. The ﬁrst concert was held in the school, in March 1885, as a farewell to Rev. Andrew Stewart, the ﬁrst minister to hold services in this district. We also had a banquet and concert in September of the same year, to say goodbye to Charles W. Gordon, then but a student, never thinking that he would become, as “Ralph Connor”, such a noted writer in later years. The centre of community life, in the early days, was the church service, and every one attended, no matter what the denomination of the preacher. Some of the early Settlers will remember how J, G. Smith used to get the right tone for the hymns from his tuning fork, and how, once Mrs. John Williains started “Nearer My God to Thee” to the tune of “Robin Adair.” It went well, too.

A Literary and Musical Society was started in 1886, which lasted for ﬁve or six years. Lots of fun was had, practicing such glees as “All Among the Barley,” and “Hail, Smiling Morn,” and an organ was bought for the use of all community gatherings and placed in the old school house. A reading room was later opened over the post office, where various meetings and entertainments were held, and where everyone could enjoy magazines and papers, where games of various kinds could be indulged in.

The ﬁrst boat to be placed on the lake was built for Mr. John Williams by Mia, Milo Harris from lumber brought from Portage la Prairie, Mr. Williams brought it on a Red River cart, drawn by an ox. The boat, which was called “The Pioneer”, was built in Mr. Williams house in 1883, and had to be put through the window. There were several home-made ﬂat-bottomed punts on the lake, previous to this, but no real boats.

Time and space make it impossible to give the names of the noble pioneers who worked under all sorts of handicaps, laying the foundations of what we enjoy at the present time.

Looking backward, we have much to be thankful for, and looking forward, we think of the young people, whose duty it will be to carry on. May they take up the burden, with hearts full of song and press onward, singing in all sincerity, “O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.”