Link to:
Agents / Buyers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
One of only two surviving elevators in the Municipality of Rhineland, the former Manitoba Pool elevator at Gretna, on the CPR Gretna Subdivision, was built in 1950. Its 50,000-bushel capacity was enlarged in 1967 with a new crib annex with room for another 70,000 bushels. Still more space was acquired through the Pool purchase of Federal Grain elevators in 1972, and the conversion of its elevator into a second annex. The railway line between Altona and Gretna was threatened with closure in the early 1980s but, after public outcry, it was saved and upgraded in 1985. It would prove a temporary reprieve. CPR abandoned the line on 31 July 1996, prompting the elevator to close the same day. It was later sold and used for private grain storage.
Period
Agent / Buyer
1951-1952
R. H. Streimer
1952-1957
Peter P. Wiebe
1957-1958
D. Sawatsky
1958-1982
Frank L. Friesen
1982-1996
James R. Borgford
Aerial view of the Gretna grain elevators (1980s)
Source: S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University
Repairs to Manitoba Pool grain elevator at Gretna (c1960) by Earl Gordon Johnston
Source: Shelley Johnston-Frith
Railway cars at the Gretna elevator (no date)
Source: Doug Belcher
Manitoba Pool Grain Elevator at Gretna (June 1992)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Grain Elevator Inventory, slide 2215.
The former Manitoba Pool grain elevator at Gretna (July 2014)
Source: Jean McManus
The former Manitoba Pool grain elevator at Gretna (June 2024)
Source: Rose Kuzina
The former Manitoba Pool grain elevator at Gretna (August 2024)
Source: George Penner
The former Manitoba Pool grain elevator at Gretna (October 2024)
Source: Jean McManusSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.00499, W97.56027
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Henry Ritz Grain Elevator A (Seventh Street, Gretna, Municipality of Rhineland)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Henry Ritz Grain Elevator B (Seventh Street, Gretna, Municipality of Rhineland)
“Pool ponders Gretna elevator,” Winnipeg Free Press, 26 September 1996, page 7.
Manitoba Pool Fonds, S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University.
We thank Doug Belcher, Shelley Johnston-Frith, Rose Kuzina, and George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Jean McManus.
Page revised: 6 November 2024
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