The Prince Edward Hotel

Brandon Sun - ONLINE EDITION

ARCHIVES: Articles from the time of the construction

By: Grant Hamilton

Saturday, Jun. 2, 2012 at 1:24 PM | Comments: 0

Originally just planned to be a new depot for the Canadian Northern's track into Brandon, the city lobbied to have the railway also build a hotel.

It was one of Brandon's biggest building projects of the day — rivalling the new Brandon Asylum, which was being rebuilt after a devastating fire.

The Prince Edward Hotel, with the attached depot, cost $500,000 to build, between 1910–12.

The Bank of Canada provides an inflation calculator, although it only goes back to 1914. Still, half a million dollars in 1914 would be worth approximately $10.2 million today.

And remember — this was built in a city of just 14,000. Per capita, the economic impact of building the Prince Edward Hotel in Brandon would be akin to a $36 million project today.

But as you'll see below, the perceived cultural and social impact was incalculable.

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, March 17, 1908)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Feb. 21, 1909)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Aug. 14, 1909)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Oct. 8, 1909)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Dec. 10, 1909)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Dec. 15, 1909)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Dec. 28, 1909)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Jan. 12, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Jan. 13, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Jan. 19, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Jan. 27, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Feb. 28, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, June 3, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, June 22, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Aug. 15)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Aug. 29, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Sept. 16, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Oct. 7, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Oct. 10, 1910)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, March 14, 1911)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, May 5, 1911)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Aug. 8, 1911)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Oct. 19, 1911)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun,Oct. 26, 1911)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Nov. 4, 1911)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Dec. 14, 1911)

(Above from the Manitoba Free Press, May 18, 1912)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, June 1, 1912)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, June 6, 1912)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, June 13, 1912)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, June 26, 1912)

(Above from the Brandon Daily Sun, Aug. 14, 1912)

(Click here to enlarge above, from the Brandon Daily Sun, Nov. 1, 1912.)

This is merely a selection of the most-relevent news articles from 1908–12, during the planning and construction of the Prince Edward Hotel in Brandon.

For much more, visit Manitobia.ca, which has a collection of historical newspapers that can be searched by date or by keyword. They were invaluable in this research, and the above clippings were sourced from their site.

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