McKenzie’s - a Rivers Institution
 
In the summer of 1907 there were signs that Rivers was the place to be. The newspaper in nearby Rapid City noted, with regret one supposes, that a few of the citizens in that well-established town were considering a move. The word was out. Opportunity was knocking.
R. S. McKenzie had come from Portage la Prairie and opened the first store. Like many of the newcomers who were about to arrive, he would have had to disembark on the south bank of the Little Saskatchewan River, ford the shallow stream, and then walk the last mile into town. Material for the store he was building would have to be hauled by team and wagon from nearby Wheatland.
Business was good. By the next year he was already expanding out of his recently built store. He took over a corner block from hardware merchant Thompson.
 


By 1910 his General Store had become a “Departmental” store. In 1912, the business passed over to his son: the enterprise was renamed the Jas. A. McKenzie Departmental Store.

In 1913 James A. McKenzie began to take a leadership role in the community and was elected to council.
As World War 1 progressed many of the towns young men were off to war and as G. Barker in his History of Rivers puts it this way:
“two Rivers' ladies (Mrs. J. Blake and Mrs. J. Warren) had departed for England and munition-factory work - transitions which gave concern to merchant J. A. McKenzie who (after staff depletion due to enlistments) decided to take no chance on losing his book-keeper, and married her.” 
Over the years the business prospered and moved with times. The Rivers Banner noted improvements over the years. In 1940 the entire second floor was renovated. There was expansion in 1946.
 


In the Community

Both R.S. and his son J.A. followed the tradition of community service that typified rural business leaders. R.S. was very influential in the decisions around building the first school.  When the Rivers Banner noted that in 1909 at an event marking the opening of Shannon Hall, they mention that the musicians included, J. A. McKenzie. Decades later, in 1962 he was still active in musical presentations.