Beausejour: A Brief History

Beausejour Station was first established as part of a move to incorporate the “Northwest Territories” into the Dominion of Canada.  “Rupert’s land” (1670-1870) was purchased from the Hudson Bay Company and the Dominion Land Survey of the territories began in 1871 followed by the Dominion Land Grant Act in 1872.

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While the first railroad (1878) in the territory connected Winnipeg to Pembina and then to St. Paul Minnesota the railroad that would connect Eastern Canada to British Columbia began its survey at East Selkirk to establish a line from there to Rat Portage (Kenora). Survey teams were sent first to a gravel ridge 16 miles from East Selkirk.  The area west of there was mostly wooded, while east of the Brokenhead River was mostly Spruce and Tamarack swamp.

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It was at this point that a railroad station would be established and eventually named “Beausejour Station” (1877) .  Early settlements in the area were established close to the Brokenhead River following existing “tote” trails from Lower Fort Garry and East Selkirk.  In 1881 the first post office was established in the station house and the first store was opened by TS Gray.  The first train arrived through Beausejour to Winnipeg from the east in 1885.

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European settlers began to arrive in the early 1890’s and take up homesteads in the areas around the station. Some of these early settlers saw the opportunity to open businesses to support the other settlers needs.

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At the same time, Tyndall Station was also competing with Beausejour to become the trade centre for the area and the opening of the Limestone Quarries gave them an edge.  When Beausejour opened a (silica) sand pit, brick factory and glass factory the town began to “boom” and quickly gained the lead in becoming the agriculture and trade centre of Eastern Manitoba.

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Brokenhead became a municipality in 1900, a few years later Beausejour incorporated as a village in 1908, then as a town in 1912.