Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba Pool Grain Elevator (Oakland, RM of Portage la Prairie)

Link to:
Agents / Buyers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The village of Oakland, on the CNR Oakland Subdivision in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, once had three elevators. Portage businessman Andrew Forsythe built two of them, the first in 1912 and a second around 1925. Three years later, Manitoba Pool Elevators built a 40,000-bushel elevator beside them, augmented in 1957 with a 60,000-bushel crib annex. Eventually, Reliance Grain bought the Forsythe elevators and sold the larger of them to Manitoba Pool in 1948. Pool operated two elevators here until 1973.

Replaced in 1986 by a large concrete elevator east of Portage, the sole remaining elevator at Oakland was destroyed by arson fire, along with $300,000 of stored grain, in September 1988.

Agents / Buyers

Period	Agent / Buyer
1928-1939	S. G. Dack
1939-1945	James McVie Ogilvie (1889-1957)
1945-1946	J. H. Whyte
1946-1953	James McVie Ogilvie (1889-1957)
1953-1956	Dennis Albert Corder (1922-1984)
1956-1969	Frederick Alton “Fred” Wentzell (1918-1969)
1969-1981	Aubrey Hugh Hay (1944-1986)
1981-1984	Brian W. Morton
1984-1985	Victor H. Penner

Photos & Coordinates

Manitoba Pool Grain Elevator at Oakland (circa 1928) Source: Ian Wishart Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.10668, W98.31933 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Manitoba Pool Fonds, S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University.

“Arson suspected in elevator file,” Brandon Sun, 6 October 1988, page 3.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

We thank Ian Wishart for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 31 March 2022

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