Doors Open, Brandon style

Below is a post about what I saw at Brandon's Doors Open 2011. There were some great buildings open for the 10th anniversary.

Some of my other Brandon history posts include:

From West End Dumplings:
Doors Open, Brandon Style
Brandon's pedestrian mall experiment
Brandon's new city museum
Brandon Telephony and Government Telephones Building
John A McDonald dies in Brandon
The old Brandon Mental Health Centre / Asylum site
CPR Station's new lease on life
Brandon's first female alderman (Rhoda Powers Tennant)
Brandon's firefighter down finally remembered (Fred Brown)
A good sign for Brandon
More Brandon heritage win
1919 Stanley Cup and the death of Joe Hall
Thirsty in Brandon (1): A history of the waterworks
Thirsty in Brandon (2): A history of the water tower
Old Brandon Signage
The Agaard Brothers in Brandon
A Brandon Bus Tour

Brandon from This Was Manitoba*
Alexander Fleming
Stanley McInnis
Brandon's first hanging
Brandon's last hanging
Brandon's first council meeting
Brandon Transit begins
City of Brandon Incorporates
Brandon General Strike
Brandon's first M.P.
Brandon / Shilo's In Flanders Fields connections
Wheaties play for Stanley Cup

This is a history by the day site that I update every year. Use the search box to find brandon references tat might be updated.

Now, onto Doors Open !

Brandon General Museum and Archives

First off, the Brandon General Museum and Archives on 9th Street is now open to the public. (You can see my background post about the museum here and a history of the Telephones Building here).

It's great that at least one of Manitoba's two main cities has decided to open a civic museum. I do admit, though, that it was smaller than I expected and pretty sparse. I've been to a lot of museums in towns 1/20th the size of Brandon and saw a lot more about their community.

I assume that these are early days and that as donations of artifacts and money come in there will be more to show and the addition of professional looking displays.

ACC Culinary Arts School

I also checked out the former Brandon Mental Health Centre Nurses Residence building. This is now home to Assiniboine Community College's Culinary Arts School. (See my post on the old Mental Health site here)

It was the best preserved of the BMHC buildings, I believe it was been restored in the 1980s. It contains an impressive array of tiled floors, wood accents and murals.

Renovations are continuing on the upper floors to add more classroom and programming space.

Provincial Exhibition Building No. II

The Provincial Exhibition Building renovations are in full swing. (I wrote about the funding here).

It's both a federal and provincial heritage site as it is the last of the provincial exhibition buildings left in the country. It will become offices and display space for the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba and other community groups.

For more on the project check out the website.

I also had a chance to see inside a couple of great homes including Moreland Manor and Patterson / Matheson House.

It was nice to see inside some of Brandon's heritage treasures. I look forward to returning next year to see them on their way to completion and, hopefully, some new ones started !