Crandall

BUSINESSES
General Stores
The story is told that the first "stores" were carried on peddlers' backs as they travelled on foot or horseback across the country, bringing their wares to the early settlers. However, as settlements grew, the need for towns in each district became apparent, as in the early 1880's, the closest towns were Virden and Old Beulah, in this area.
The first store in Crandall was started in the fall of 1899, in a small building just back of what was later known as Clarke's Store. This was on the southwest corner of Block 5, and was owned by a Mr. G. Elliott, who operated a store in Hamiota. Mr. Joe Jordan, a nephew of Mrs. W.H. Cox, managed this little store. We note by the tax assessment books that the property and building (that was later enlarged), stayed under the Elliott name until 1917.
In 1903 Mr. W.C. Lorimer and Mr. H. Brawn went into partnership and took over the Elliott store which was then enlarged. The upper storey at this time was used for community purposes. Its rafters rang many a night with the revelry of an old-time dance, and often the Glee Club entertained the people of the community who had gathered there. Mr. Lorimer left the store in about 1907 and Mr. H. Brawn took over the business in partnership with Mr. Russell Warren.
In 1909 Mr. J. McCosh became the new manager. He lived at Souris, and his sister, Miss Agnes McCosh, looked after the business for him with the help of a Mr. Thompson and Mr. Billy Morris of Souris. It seems they had a fine millinery line also, and many a pretty bonnet was purchased here to adorn the heads of the ladies of the district. Later the McCoshes moved to Brock, Saskatchewan when their lease expired.
Mr. Frank Denner took over the business about 1910. Mr. Finklestein also ran the store for awhile about this time. Around 1915 Mr. Orr had the store or managed it t'or a year. Mr. Denner operated the store until Mr. J.T. CIarke bought the property in 1916. Mr. Clarke added a portion on the east side of the store and for several years had a pool room and ice cream parlor along with the general store. Many will remember the display fronts on the counters with contents of each drawer identified by a sample under glass. This counter was still in use at the time the building was destroyed by fire a number of years later. Mr. Clarke also operated the Post Office for many years, first in the back of the store, and then in the east side. Mr. Clarke passed away in 1956 and the store was closed until Mr. Claude Bomford took over the store in the same year. The store remained in his hands until a disastrous fire on November 22, 1959, destroyed the buildings and contents as well as their living quarters. This ended the history of the first general store in Crandall.
In the year 1900 Mr. David Bowes, Virden, built a general store on the northwest corner of Block 5. Little is known of this enterprise, other than it burned to the ground after three or four years of being in business. More details are mentioned in the Bowes' history.
Still another general store came into being in 1900, built by ,Mr. James Todd of Oak River. This building was situated in the middle of Block 5 on Main Street. This was managed by some of his family for the first year while he remained in the Oak River store. In 1904 Mr. Todd added a new section on the east side of his original building, making this into a spacious store, well stocked in all lines of general merchandising. A number of years later, this addition was torn down. For many years, the rooms above the store were rented by dlfferent families. Mr. Todd remained in his line of business until he retired, when the store was taken over by Mr. J. Pressman who kept it until the mid-1940's. Thus' ended the history of this building as a store, which had served the community well for many years. Its life continued on for several more years as a cafe before it burned to the ground in 1952.
Mr. Jim Bing, a Chinese gentleman, came during the twenties and started a cafe just west of Todd's store. He bought the bank building later, on the the southeast corner of Block 5, and opened a general store. He remodelled the building by putting on an upper storey and making this part into his living quarters. He also added a section to the west side which he used partly as an ice cream parlor and lunch room. He built a lean-to and flour storage shed on the north side. Jim had a fine line of clothing as well as groceries. He is remembered for his gifts of Chinese lilies, chocolates and Chinese tea at Christmas time to his customers. Jim, like Mr. Todd, Mr. Clarke and others, are also remembered by the way they carried many customers' store debts throughout the depression years. Without their help, many families would have found the going very much harder. Men such as these did much in holding the community together.
In these years, from pioneer days until the forties and mid-fifties, eggs and butters were exchanged at the local stores for living essentials, by the farmers in the district.
Jim Bing sold his business in 1946 to Mr. Herald Hall of Crandall. Mr. Hall modernized the interior of the store by making it into a self-serve style, which was a new trend. Herald kept the business until 1947 when he sold it to Mr. Morgan Johnson. Mr. Johnson bought Teddy Bolton's butcher shop, which he dismantled and moved the equipment to the store, where he put it to use for the handling of meat. He remodelled the west portion, making it more convenient for storage and display. He operated the store for fifteen years until his retirement.
Mr. Ed Cadwallader bought the store in 1962. He made more improvements to the building's interior and built a storage shed on the back. He sold out in 1965 to Mr. Harvey Reevie, who had been a C.P.R. truck driver in this area. In the spring of 1967, Mr. Reevie sold out to Mr. Ken Page of Winnipeg. He operated the store until it was sold to Mr. Neil Wallace, Crandall in December, 1967. Neil added a coffee bar at the rear of the store and many a friendly game of cribbage is enjoyed by some of the patrons along with the coffee.

Banking
By Charles R. Lee
In writing this history I may err a year or two on dates, but believe I can give a fairly accurate account from memory.
Somewhere between 1906-08 the Northern Crown Bank opened its first branch at Crandall in a building constructed by Thomas Hamilton and leased to the bank, the building is now occupied by Neil Wallace's store. At that time Crandall had a population of approximately three hundred with two stores, five elevators, machine agents, etc., and from the start the bank enjoyed a prosperous business. The first manager was William Bell who later married a daughter of le Nixon Warren, and Mrs. Bell and family resided in Crandall for many years. The next manager was C.H.L. Smith who was also a lover and breeder of bull dogs. He later ran a brokerage business at Biggar, Saskatchewan, and I understand, died there.
Our third manager was L. Wilson Lyons, and at that time he was quite a novelty as he had a beard and goatee and consequently was quite conspicuous as very few young men wore beards in that era. Following Mr. Lyons was W.E. ~ "Tiny" Strange who later on was very well known throughout Brandon and district as the owner and racer of "Phil Patch", one of the best race horses to be brought to Canada up until that date.
Incidentally, just prior to my fifteenth birthday, I started working in the bank under Mr. Strange. At that time the bank had a two-man staff consisting of the manager and myself. A few weeks after I started in the bank, Mr. Strange resigned and S.A. Maddocks, a young Englishman, became Manager. Later Miss Lillian Borland, now Mrs. James Beer, joined the staff for a few months, and, after her resignation, the late Miss Rita Crawford worked for several years.
It is interesting to remember that, at the time I started in the bank, my salary was $400.00 per year, but the manager was getting only $1,100.00, which was a high until that date. Bank managers were allowed to write insurance in order to augment their income, and some of them were quite successful in that respect. Also I can remember that on a date in December, we had every loan paid and nothing past due, and quite a number of people had money drawing three per cent interest.
When Maddocks was transferred to Saskatchewan, the manager at Miniota branch drove down each day to Crandall for a period of two months and managed both branches. This gentleman was Lou Pulfer and later was the Municipal Secretary at Beausejour. At this date, another young manager arrived, Walter Buck, from Nokomis and he was here for several years. While he was living in Crandall he was married and left in 1917 and later died of a heart condition. He was very easy to work for, in fact, I believe he would do all the work rather than suggest the staff do it.
Due to the fact that my father broke his leg in 1917, I resigned and this ended my banking career. Another brother, Stuart, worked in the bank while Mr. Smith was manager, and two years after I resigned, my younger brother Harry joined the staff under Mr. N.H. Haworth. Haworth was somewhat of a character who really enjoyed living and had a lot of friends. Along the way he ran into trouble with Head Office and was transferred. He was replaced by Mr. Bob Emmett who was manager in the early '20's and married Miss Isabelle Hamilton, the elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hamilton. Mrs. Emmett is now deceased, but Bob still lives in St. James, having retired from the bank about ten or fifteen years ago.
He was replaced by Mr. Vradenbergh who was here for several years, and the bank closed its branch here during his tenure of office as the depression was starting and also a plan on centralization which necessitated closing out a number of smaller branches. I neglected to mention that the Northern Crown Bank was a comparatively small organization, and was taken over by the Royal Bank of Canada in 1918.
The bank closed its doors in November 1932, and the business was transferred to Hamiota and Miniota branches.
Apart from managers mentioned, people will perhaps remember such; names as Christie, Patterson, Telfer, Shewfelt, Cobb, Hipwell and Bench. Other local boys, in addition to the Lee boys, were Whitney, Wallace, Young and of course, Miss Borland and the late Miss Crawford.

Hardware
Mr. R.J. Brown and his brother, James, came to Crandall from Hamiota in 1900 and started a hardware business as Brown and Company. They erected their store on the southwest corner of Block 4. They stocked a wide range of hardware of all types and people came in from a wide area to purchase their merchandise. Robert Brown carried on after his brother left, and served the community for 35 years. After his death, his son, Roy ran the hardware store for two years. In 1937 he rented the store to Mr. Milton Curll of Brandon. Mr. Curll, assisted by his brother Neb, stayed in the business until it was sold to Mr. Milton McConnell in 1942. As each new owner took over, he changed the inside ofthe store, gradually bringing it up to modern day standards. The owners lived over the store in spacious rooms, reached both from the inside and outside as well.
Mr. McConnell sold the store in 1950 to Mr. Robert Kitz of MacGregor, Manitoba. They remained here, serving the public until 1965. At this time, the store was sold to Mr. Leonard Strachan, Ontario, in October, 1965.
Mr. WaIter Moroz and Mr. Steve Spaak of Sandy Lake went into partnership, and bought the hardware. They stayed for two years, and the hardware was finally closed after 69 years of service.

Tinsmithing
R.J. (Bob) Brown, prior to coming to Crandall, had a tinsmith trade in Hamiota. With the advancement of the railway and the new town of Crandall starting, Mr. Brown decided to move there. He built the hardware store with a tin shop on the back, with a platform and an outside entrance on the east side. He also had other buildings for storage.
Bob's brother, Jim, was in partnership with him at this time. Many of the older buildings in town had fancy scroll tin panels on their walls and ceilings.
The tinsmith business declined over the years and was non-existent after his death.
Cecil Collyer started up in the same line after the war and had a business in town for several years.