Video captured by Jim Castle

This was the typical style of house built in the twentieth century for middle class settlers, many of whom moved to the prairies to be farmers. The logs used here were hewn causing the more square shape of the logs, while the majority of the log houses that would have been built were made of round logs, as shelters like this needed to be built quickly to protect the settlers from the elements. The home had no running water and would have been heated by a wood burning stove.
Circa 1920, donated by Victor Modjeski.

From Brokenhead School Division 472, about 12 miles north of Beausejour on Highway #12 North. Also called a teacherage, the teacher’s cottage was a small home provided to the teacher by the school they were employed at. Since teachers were mostly young unmarried women who often needed to move far away from their hometown to find a job, they also needed somewhere to live. A teacherage was a luxury that not every teacher enjoyed. Many had to board with students’ families, or slept in a small corner of the schoolhouse to sleep in.

Built in 1904, the one room school house was located along Highway #44, between Beausejour and Tyndall. It was closed in 1966 with the amalgamation of the Agassiz School Division and the ability for students to be bussed to Tyndall, Garson, or Beausejour for school. 

When the doors first opened there were 34 students ranging in ages from five to 14. At times as many as 50 students attended – some having to sit on sawed off logs.

Built in 1928, in the Ukrainian community of Brightstone, 40 miles north-east of Beausejour and eight miles west of Lac du Bonnet, the hall was used as a place for fellowship and community gatherings before the community was disbanded around 1944. The building then stood abandoned until acquired by the museum in 1973 for $100. It was dismantled and moved from its original location on highway #317 and reconstructed in its current location. 

A Class Three station design style, the Beausejour Canadian Pacific Railway Station provided the people of Beausejour and the surrounding area a quicker and more convenient way to travel to Winnipeg, and eventually the rest of Canada.

Rebuilt in 1909 after fire destroyed the original station in 1907, the station was located on Pacific Avenue between Second and Third Street and was used until 1972. It was then dismantled in 1974 by John Funk who donated the front wall to the museum. The rest of the building was constructed from logs from the Loeb homestead in Lydiatt. 

Originally located on the corner of Park Avenue and Second Street, the store was built in 1922 and operated until 1968. It was owned and operated by Carl & Agnes Kososki and later by Joe & Louise Kososki, and donated to the museum in 1983.

Started as a general store selling everything from food to books to clothing, Mr. Kososki even made a business of selling wood for heating from his store. He eventually went back to just groceries with the coming of coal and oil for heating.

It was not uncommon for a rural town to only have one general store for people to purchase all of their household goods.

Originally located on Fourth Street, this tailor shop (circa 1928), while not very large, served as the headquarters for Anton Bryk as he worked as a tailor, originally making uniforms for the Royal Canadian Air Force and then continuing to serve the Beausejour community for all civilian tailoring needs for over 40 years.

Edward Splett founded this shop in 1920, and ran it until his death in 1940, when relatives took it over. Located on Third Street near Park Avenue, it was the second harness store started in Beausejour and was in business until automobiles became the norm after the WWII.

This building now also holds artifacts from Edward's widow Alvina Sonnenberg’s Gift Shop & Sewing Centre, Ed’s son’s W.M. Splett’s Standard Radio Service, and J. Recksiedler’s Johnny’s Tire Shop.

The building was generously donated to the museum by Ed’s son Harold Splett.

Constructed by the museum in 2012 as a memorial to William Struss, a farmer and family barber who was seen as a pillar of the Beausejour community until his passing in 2008.

While not a historic building in the sense of date constructed, this building serves as a glimpse into what it was like in a small-town barbershop where there was no fancy modern equipment, only the fellowship of good friends talking over a straight shave or trim. Unlike modern hairdressers, barbershops were for men only.

The red, white, and blue pole was the symbol of the barbershop; the red and white symbolized blood and bandages as barbers used to also help people with small medical needs, and the blue is said to have been added in the United States to represent their flag colours and then adopted by other North American barbers

A Blacksmith shop was a staple in all pioneer towns. Before automobiles and tractors, it provided people with much needed metal made goods such as horseshoes, plow shares, wheel rims, and other tools and wagon parts. Blacksmiths worked with namely iron which was a black metal, hence the name ‘black’smith.

The buildings would have large doors so horses, wagons, and farm implements could fit inside. They were very difficult to keep clean because of all the black soot from the coal in the forge.

By 1928 Beausejour had at least three blacksmith shops.

Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church Brokenhead

This church was originally built in 1904 by the pioneers of the Brokenhead District. It was located 12 miles north and one mile east of Beausejour. It was in continuous use until 1977, when it was closed due to disrepair.

The church was then moved and renovated by the Beausejour-Brokenhead Historical Society in

1979. It now stands as a tribute to the early pioneers. 

This replica, constructed in 1980 of brick, clay, cement and straw, is an example of one type of outdoor baking source that would have been used before the modern stove. The roof over top helps provide protection from the elements.

The clay oven is used by the museum on special occasions to bake bread and buns.