Memorable Manitobans: Gerard Alphonsus “Gerry” Baert (1906-1971)

Building contractor.

Born at Ingelmunster, Belgium on 14 June 1906, he came to St. Boniface in 1926 and worked as a carpenter. He began doing small-scale contract work on his own in 1931, ultimately founding the G. A. Baert Construction Company that was responsible for the erection of many fine buildings around Manitoba.

On 18 December 1930, he married Martha Flora Mourant (1906-1992) in St. Boniface and they had five children: Harry Baert (1928-1990), George Baert (1934-1953), Jules Baert, Robert Baert, and Elaine Baert. The family lived successively on 201 Des Meurons Street and 88 Kingston Row. He was a member of Christ the King Roman Catholic Church, St. Boniface Rotary Club, and the Carleton Club. He was an honourary life member of the Winnipeg Builders Exchange.

He died at Rochester, Minnesota on 7 August 1971 and was buried in the Belgian Sacred Heart Belgian Cemetery.

Some of his construction work in Manitoba included:

Building	Location	Year	Status
Dominion Post Office Building / Winnipeg Postal Station F	187 Henderson Highway, Winnipeg	1935
Fort Osborne Barracks Instructional Building	Tuxedo Avenue, Winnipeg	1936	Demolished (?)
Weston Locomotive Shop (addition)	Winnipeg	1937
Norwood Telephone Exchange Building (addition)	235A Horace Street, Winnipeg	1938
St. Boniface Hospital (Outpatient Building)	409 avenue Taché, Winnipeg	1938	Demolished (2022)
St. Germain School No. 969 (expansion)	St. Mary’s Road, Winnipeg	1939
No. 3 Wireless School	500 Shaftesbury Boulevard, Winnipeg	1940-1941	Demolished (?)
Deer Lodge Hospital (various additions)	2109 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg	1942-1945
Moody and Moore Building	295 Broadway, Winnipeg	1948
Dickson Motors Garage	634-640 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg	1949	Demolished (2019)
Nordale School	99 Birchdale Avenue, Winnipeg	1949
Viscount Alexander School	810 Waterford Avenue, Winnipeg	1949
Norwood United Church (addition)	170 St. Mary’s Road, Winnipeg	1951
Pigott Motors Building	1290 Main Street, Winnipeg	1951-1952
Security Storage Truck Terminal	Ellice Avenue at St. James Street, Winnipeg	1952
Airport Hotel	Ellice Avenue at Berry Street, Winnipeg	1953
Christie Brown Building (addition)	1147-1155 Notre Dame Avenue, Winnipeg	1953
Winnipeg General Hospital Nursing School and Residence	Winnipeg	1954-1955
University of Manitoba Medical Building (addition)	Winnipeg	1954-1955
Monarch Lumber Building	207 Donald Street	1955-1956
Winnipeg General Hospital (addition)	Winnipeg	1955-1956
Great-West Life Assurance Company Building	60 Osborne Street, Winnipeg	1957-1959
Norquay Building	401 York Avenue, Winnipeg	1959-1960
Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital	800 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg	1959-1960
University of Manitoba Education Building	71 Curry Place, Winnipeg	1961-1962
Green Acres Memorial Chapel	RM of Springfield	1961-1962
Medical Arts Parkade	218 Edmonton Street, Winnipeg	1961-1962
Baxter Building	360 Broadway, Winnipeg	1962
Clark's Department Store (Grant Park Plaza)	Grant Avenue at Nathaniel, Winnipeg	1962
Clark's Department Store (Northgate Plaza)	McPhillips Street at Dafoe, Winnipeg	1962
St. Paul's High School	2200 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg	1963-1964
St. Mary’s Academy (addition)	Academy Road, Winnipeg	1963-1964
Winnipeg City Hall	510 Main Street, Winnipeg	1963-1964
Coca-Cola Bottling Plant	Inkster Boulevard, Winnipeg	1963-1964
Clark's Department Store	Regent Avenue and Highway 59, Winnipeg	1964
Wiley Motors Building	555 Empress Street, Winnipeg	1964-1965
Fire Hall No. 1	65 Ellen Street, Winnipeg	1965
Garden Hill School	Garden Hill First Nation	1966
Crossroads Shopping Centre	Regent Avenue and Highway 59, Winnipeg	1966
University of Manitoba Engineering Building	Winnipeg	1966-1967
Duff Roblin Building, University of Manitoba	35 Chancellors Circle, Winnipeg	1967-1968
Museum of Man and Nature (science tower and exhibit hall)	190 Rupert Avenue, Winnipeg	1968-1970
Victoria General Hospital	2340 Pembina Highway, Winnipeg	1970-1971

Sources:

Marriage registration [Gerard Baert, Martha Mourant], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Contract let for new barracks unit,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 July 1936, page 2.

“Award 5 contracts for railway work,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 April 1937, page 5.

“St. Boniface Hospital lets contract for new annex, cost $125,800,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 June 1938, page 28.

“Plan Deer Lodge Hospital addition,” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 November 1942, page 19.

“Award contract for Deer Lodge clinical wing,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 March 1943, page 1.

“G. A. Baert gets contract for hospital pavilions,” Winnipeg Free Press, 2 December 1943, page 3.

“G. A. Baert gets $207,000 contact for Deer Lodge,” Winnipeg Free Press, 2 March 1945, page 4.

“G. A. Baert awarded local building contract,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 July 1945, page 6.

“Norwood United to speed Sunday School, steeple,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 April 1951, page 10.

“Our new showrooms open [Pigott Motors Building],” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 January 1952, page 13.

“Winnipeg firm erecting new truck terminal,” Winnipeg Tribune, 19 July 1952, page 13.

“$500,000 Airport Hotel opens in July,” Winnipeg Free Press, 9 January 1953, page 3.

“Local builders get contracts from 2 firms,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 July 1953, page 3.

“General Hospital nursing school tenders open,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 November 1954, page 4.

“Contract let for addition to Med Bldg.,” The Manitoban, 3 December 1954, page 1.

“$4 million contract [Winnipeg General Hospital addition],” Winnipeg Tribune, 31 December 1955, page 21.

“$4 million contract let [Norquay Building],” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 May 1959, page 3.

“Start on U addition job next week [University of Manitoba Education Building],” Winnipeg Tribune, 21 October 1961, page 31.

“Green Acres Memorial Chapel,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 October 1961, page 8.

“Medical Arts Parking,”Winnipeg Tribune, 13 January 1962, page 51.

“Business world [Baxter Building],” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 February 1962, page 94.

“Business world [Clarkes-Gamble stores],” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 May 1962, page 46.

“Jottings from the business world [St. Paul's High School],” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 April 1963, page 57.

“St. Mary's to get new wing [St. May's Academy],” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 July 1963, page 5.

[Coca-Cola bottling plant illustration], Winnipeg Free Press 5 September 1964, page 59.

“Firm opens third store here [Clark’s Department Store],” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 November 1964, page 54.

“Business world [Wiley Motors Building],” Winnipeg Tribune, 12 November 1964, page 44.

“Plan big school for north Indians,” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 February 1966, page 31.

“$2.8 million engineering wing for U of M,” Winnipeg Free Press, 15 April 1966, page 12.

“Large all-weather shopping centre to be opened at end of the month,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 November 1966, page 54.

“Zoology, Psychology get new building [Duff Roblin Building],” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 July 1967, page 10.

“Baert gets museum contract,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 March 1968, page 14.

“Victoria Hospital sod turned,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 December 1968, page 3.

“Logic dominates design of hospital,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 January 1971, page 10.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 9 August 1971, page 22.

Obituary [Harry Baert], Winnipeg Free Press, 22 February 1990, page 40.

Obituary [Martha Flora Baert], Winnipeg Free Press, 28 July 1992, page 28.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 27 March 2023

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