The Death of Peter Hutzel and others at the Manitoba Gypsum Company

© 2025, Christian Cassidy

June 5, 1925, Winnipeg Tribune

I write a monthly column in the Winnipeg Free Press Community Review and for story ideas I like to look back to the same date in newspapers from 100, 75, and 50 years ago to find anniversaries of significance that might be of interest.

On June 5, 1925 and for a couple of days afterward there were stories in both newspapers about a gentleman who had been killed in a horrific workplace accident at the Manitoba Gypsum Co. plant at Sargent Avenue at St. James Street. In the stories, his first name and the spelling of his last name change several times. He was thought to be “about 35”, and left a wife and three children with no mentions of their names or ages.

It wasn’t column material but I kept the screenshots of the clippings of his death and thought I would go back and piece together his brief time in Winnipeg with more factual information.

This won’t be a complete history as due to the last name issue I could find only one census record for the family, no vital statistics information, and a smattering of street directory listings. I will use the spelling of his last name from the 1921 census entry as my spelling of his name.

Before I get to the life and death of Peter Hutzel, I will provide a history of the company and wade through several prior deaths and serious injuries at the plant that were noted in brief news stories often with incorrect or inconsistent biographical information.

November 8, 1923, Winnipeg Tribune

The Manitoba Gypsum Company started operations in 1904 after it built a mine and small factory near Gypsumville, Manitoba. When the plant burned down in 1906, it was relocated to Sargent Street at St. James Avenue in Winnipeg and was expanded several times over the decades.

The company is credited with being the first in Canada to produce and sell wall plasterboard commercially. They also produced other items like plaster of Paris, wood fibre plaster, and stucco. (See their 1910 product catalogue here.)

Winnipeg was a major player in the national plaster industry by the First World War and Manitoba Gypsum employed 150 men at its plant and several more at its mine. By 1927, it manufactured seven to eight million feet of plasterboard per year.

August 8, 1910, Winnipeg Free Press

Kenneth McIvor (1910):  At around 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 6, 1919, Kenneth McIvor was oiling the bearings of a machine when the smock he was wearing got caught in its shaft and he was pulled in. By the time workers shut the machine down he was "badly mangled". One of his arms was severed from his body and both legs were broken. He was rushed to General Hospital but died five hours later. 

McIvor had only been working for Manitoba Gypsum for a couple of months. He lived in the family home at 1150 Strathcona Street with his widowed mother and sister. 

The initial news report of his death stated that he was 20 years of age but his mother contracted the Free Press to say that he was, in fact, a boy of just 15.

The coroner opted not to hold an inquest into the death, which seems unusual as coroner's inquests were much more common back then.

At a coroner's inquest, a citizen jury was selected and witnesses, such as eyewitnesses, police officers, medical professionals, factory managers etc., were called to testify. The jury would take these accounts and submitted material, such as photographs, autopsy reports, etc., deliberate, and make a verdict of death by accident, misadventure, or foul play and make recommendations they feel could have prevented it.

A jury could not do an investigations find blame, but an inquest was a chance to assemble all of the facts together in one place and put them on the record. In many cases, the inquest got more press coverage than the actual death and the resulting stories were usually much more accurate. 

George Davidson (1914): On December 12, 1914, foreman George Davidson was spared from a similar death. He was walking near the shaft that connected the crusher with its engine when his coat got caught in the machinery and was "whirled around once or twice". A quick thinking-employee shifted the machine into neutral.

Davidson was conscious but suffered a broken leg and arm. Doctors at the hospital could not find signs of internal injuries.

David Gellatly (1918): In March 1918, David Gellatly was adjusting a belt on a pulley using a steel bar when the belt grabbed the bar and it "whirled about striking him in the stomach.” He was rushed to General Hospital but died four days later from internal injuries. 

Gellatly came to Canada in 1909 with his Scottish wife Janet and their five sons and soon settled at 1448 Elgin Street. At the time of the accident, he was 48 and two of his sons were serving in the armed forces in England. He was listed in the street directory as an engineer at the plant. 

The coroner's inquest ruled the death as "accidental".

John McColl: In  May 1920 it was reported that a 17-year-old named "J. McGaw" sustained serious injuries after falling through the roof of the plant. The Tribune noted: "Plaster gave way and he fell through the roof.... He sustained serious injuries to the back and possibly internal injuries."  Beyond the initial four-sentence Winnipeg Tribune news brief, there were no follow-up stories about his injuries. 

The youth was, in fact, John McColl who lived at home with his widowed mother Elizabeth, five brothers, and one sister. If I found the right family in the 1916 census, he wsaa likely 16 at the time of the accident.

George Rich: On July 12, 1921 around the lunch hour, Rich was "caught in a machinery belt" and "flung against the beams of the building". He was rushed to hospital suffering from a head injury, a broken leg, and severe abrasions.

Neither daily paper reported directly about his death but did print brief stories about the outcome of the coroner's inquest a couple of days later. It was noted that there were no eyewitnesses to the accident so determining exactly what happened was impossible. His death was ruled an accident but the jury recommended that there be "closer supervision of men employed among machinery in the Manitoba Gypsum plant."

Little is known about Rich, (or Ricks as the Free Press called him), except that he lived at 1400 St. James Street which was Manitoba Gypsum company housing next to its gypsum mill further north of the plant.

An interesting side story is that a man named Harry Cline stole $23 from Rich just five days before he was killed. Rich reported it to the police and told them "I can ill afford the loss", which was around $400 in today's money. Cline was eventually caught, pleaded guilty to this and another theft, and was sentenced to six months in jail.

June 5, 1925, Winnipeg Tribune

Peter Hutzel (1925): At 7:30 a.m. on Friday, June 5, 1925, Hutzel went into a pit to oil a stuck bearing in a machine without first turning off the power. His smock got caught by a shaft that spun at a speed of 75 RPM. By the time employees shut down the machine, he had been wound tightly around the shaft and eyewitnesses believed he was already dead. The coroner determined that his death was from asphyxia due to strangulation.

At the coroner's inquest, photos of the scene taken by the chief inspector of the Bureau of Labour were shown. It was noted that Hutzel was the third fatal accident at the plant in recent years. The jury ruled the death as accidental.

The Hutzel inquest received more extensive press coverage than any of the previous deaths at the plant. The Tribune even published a photo of him. Could this be a sign of a growing intolerance for such senseless accidents?

1921 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada

Peter and Tonnie (sp?) Hutzel came to Canada from their native Poland in 1913. They had at least two children after arriving: Mary, born ca. 1916, and Annie, born ca. 1917. Newspaper stories from the time of Peter's death in 1925 said he had three children but I can’t confirm that with vital statistics or census records.

The first street directory mention of the Hutzel family in Winnipeg comes in 1920 residing at 1079 Alfred Avenue. Peter's occupation is listed as a labourer with no place of work indicated. In 1922, he is employed with the Manitoba Gypsum Company and was 44 years of age at the time of his death.

Mrs. Hutzel stayed at the Alfred Avenue house until 1927 and then her name disappears from Winnipeg's street directories. She also cannot be found in the 1930 census.

In the short term, she may have left the city to live with other family, (there were a large number of Hutzels in Dauphin and Athabasca, Alberta who may have been relatives of Peter.) By the time of the next census, she could have remarried to gain financial stability for herself and her children.

Nor-West Farmer, April 20, 1920

I could find not other reports of deaths at its plant after Hutzel's.

As for the company, Manitoba Gypsum Co. and a subsidiary it owned in B.C. were bought out in March 1928 for $3 million by Canada Gypsum and Alabastine Ltd.. William Armstrong, the company's founder and president, got a seat on the national company's board.

In 1959, what was then known as Gypsum, Lime, Alabastine Canada, sold out to Domtar Construction Materials Ltd. which also had a tar-based building materials plant in St. Boniface.

Domtar sold all of its Canadian gypsum-related business interests to Georgia Pacific Canada Ltd. in 1996.

Georgia-Pacific announced the closure of the Winnipeg gypsum plant, along with two others in the U.S., in 2001. The land at 1385-1405 Sargent was sold to Loblaw Companies and in March 1904 it was announced that the site would become home to a 150,000 square foot Real Canadian Superstore with a 38,000 mezzanine level fitness centre.

The store opened on November 12, 2004.

Related:

Gypsum in Canada Department of Mines, Ottawa, 1913 (start at page 77)

Gypsum in Manitoba Government of Manitoba, ca 1983
Gypsum in Manitoba Government of Manitoba, ca. 1983
"Empire" Gypsum Products Catalogue Manitoba Gypsum Company, 1910