The Bradwardine Story

Related Collection: Remembering CFB Rivers

Excerpt from Bradwardine & District, A Century & More, Bradwardine History Book Committee, 2003, p. 12

Construction in 1883 / 84 / 85

The Forester’s Hall was built at Ancrum in 1893. That was also the year that the R.M. of Daly came into existence with the distinction of being the first rural municipality established in Manitoba. A new school was built at Tarbolton in 1883 to fill the educational needs of the children from the many new homestead families.

John Parr opened his store and became the first postmaster at “Bradwardine” on W12-12-23W1 in 1884. The mail confirmed rumours that the Cree had started an uprising in the Northwest Territories (Saskatchewan area) led by Big Bear. The newly built CPR was quickly used to rush troops from the east to quell the uprising.

How Bradwardine Got Its Name

Bradwardine may have received its name from that of a character in Scott’s novel, Waverly. There is also a place of a similar name in southwest England, which has only a minor difference in spelling.

Bradwardine is also a famous English family name. Thomas Bradwardine (1290-1349) was the confessor to King Edward III and later became Archbishop of Canterbury.

In any event, Bradwardine was the name given to the post office which John Parr established in his home and store on August 01, 1884. John was a half brother to Mrs. Edward Hunter (nee Carefoot/Parr).

In 1875, John Parr and his family moved from Ontario to Winnipeg where John obtained work as a messenger for the CPR. The family came up the Assiniboine by boat in the spring of 1882, disembarking near the Anglican Mission where they took shelter. The trip lasted only a week as the Assiniboine was in flood stage and short cuts could be taken. The Parrs claimed a homestead and were soon joined by the Ed Hunter family which had travelled west from Portage la Prairie with oxen.

The original location of John Parr’s “Bradwardine” Post Office was W12-12-23W1, “across the line” in Woodworth Municipality, one and a half miles directly to the west of the present day Bradwardine in Daly Municipality.

The Village of Bradwardine was built in its present location as a result of the establishment of a railway station on the new line for the Great Northwest Central Railway (GNWCR). After the construction of the GNWCR, Parr’s original “Bradwardine” Post Office closed and relocated to the new village in the E7-12-22 W1 in the Municipality of Daly.

Registered Plan of the Village of Bradwardine

The original homesteaders of the NE, SE, & SW of 07-12-22W1 were Andrew Elliot and J. Scott, who purchased the land from the CPR for $2.50/acre in 1882. Mr. Scott later assigned his interest in these three quarters of the section to Mr. Elliot in 1898. In 1901, Andrew and George Common purchased the property from the Elliot family.

When the Great Northwest Central Railway was built to Bradwardine, the required land for the village and railway was purchased from the Common family, then owners of the east half of Section 7. The legal survey was undertaken and on its completion a plan was drafted and signed on July 9, 1902.

The plan was later registered as #145 in the Brandon Land Titles Office on Jan. 30, 1904. It shows the prior land owners to be George and Andrew Common, who operated a farm just west of the new village. Common family members also operated Bradwardine businesses in the early days. Their descendants still reside in Daly municipality.

The original village plan consisted of four blocks and included a school site. The streets were named Elliot and St. James. Elliot Street, named after an original homesteader on the land, runs adjacent and parallel to the railway line. The avenues were named from west to east, St. Andrews, Kings, Richardson and Park, north to south.