Museum marking 165th birthday of first mayor

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This article was published 04/08/2017 (3165 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Break out your top hats and bonnets and get ready to party like it’s 1889.

Brandonites will have the chance to step back into the Victorian Era on Aug. 16, when Daly House Museum hosts a 165th birthday party for the city’s first mayor, Thomas Mayne Daly.

“(It’s) a way of celebrating Canada’s 150th and letting people know a little bit more about the museum and about Mayor Daly, after whom it is named,” said Trish Buri, Daly House Museum board member.

The party will be held outside in the museum’s Victorian Garden from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and will feature fashion, games and entertainment circa the late 1800s.

Entertainment includes a local ukulele ensemble, award-winning soprano Jaimie Rose, the piano stylings of Rick Davison and magician Brett Chrest.

“You may wander the grounds to admire the garden and try your hand at traditional Victorian games such as croquet,” according to Buri. “At the end of the evening there will be a door prize — a gorgeous Victorian-style doll.”

The museum is able to provide this event free-of-charge, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Meighen Haddad — today’s descendants of Thomas Daly’s law firm.

As space is limited, entrants must obtain a ticket prior to the event. Only 100 tickets will be printed and are available at the museum.

Displays at the event will include an exhibit about the early years of the North West Mounted Police, as created by retired RCMP officer Greg Steele. Steele will be on hand dressed in the formal uniform from those early days. A second display will trace the lineage of the early law firm of Daly and Coldwell to what is today Meighen Haddad LLP.

Buri encourages families to attend the event, and hopes the public will take away a better understanding and appreciation of the museum.

“So many people in Brandon haven’t come to the museum. They don’t know very much about it,” she said. “It is a very unique and special place, and this gives them an opportunity to go to it. I hope they’ll spread the word that this is a vital part of our community.”

» jaustin@brandonsun.com

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SIDEBAR: Daly arrived in Brandon in 1881

Thomas Mayne Daly II was Brandon’s first lawyer and mayor, Manitoba’s first federal cabinet minister and Canada’s first juvenile court judge. He lived in the Daly House from 1882 to 1896, moving to further his career in politics. At this time, the house was only two levels and without running water.

Daly (1852-1911) was born and raised in Stratford, Ont. He attended Upper Canada College and then was admitted as a student-at-law by the Law Society of Upper Canada. He was called to the bar in Michaelmas, Ont., on Nov. 21, 1876. Later that same year, he began his legal career in Stratford. In 1877, he wed Margaret Annabella Jarvis.

Perhaps, with a sense of adventure like his grandfather John Cory Wilson Daly (the first mayor of Stratford, Ont.), Thomas moved his family west to the new settlement of Brandon. The family arrived July 1881 and within a short time Thomas was actively involved in the young community. He was admitted to the bar of Manitoba in 1881 and established his Brandon law office with George Robson Coldwell on Rosser Avenue’s south side between 11th and 12th streets. Daly was a promoter, a real estate broker and a solicitor for two Brandon banks. He served on the board of directors for the hospital and also was church warden for St. Matthew’s Anglican Church.

The arrival of the railway, a population rising to 3,000 people and the establishment of more than 300 businesses within a year meant that the city needed capable administrators. Due to Thomas’s familiarity with local affairs and his previous political experiences as a city councilor in Stratford, he was chosen as Brandon’s first mayor on July 3, 1882. As mayor, Daly actively promoted civic development in the newly incorporated city.

Daly was a elected as a member of Parliament for the Manitoba Constituency of Selkirk from 1887-1896, and served as Minister of the Interior and Superintendent General of Indian Affairs from 1892-1896. He was Police Magistrate of Winnipeg, 1901-1908, and Judge of the Winnipeg Juvenile Court, 1909-1911. He passed away suddenly on June 24, 1911 in Winnipeg.

» Daly House Museum