This two-storey, red brick building in Reston, in the Rural Municipality of Pipestone, was built in 1915 for hardware merchant William Albert “Bert” Brady (1860-1930), after a disastrous fire that started on 8 May 1915, in a nearby post office, destroyed many buildings on the block—a livery barn, hardware store, boarding house, and billiards parlour. Brady built the structure on the former site of his destroyed store.
The main floor hosted Brady’s hardware business and the post office, with storage and living space on the second floor. In 1919, he was joined in business by his son Frank Hackland Brady (1896-1952), who had recently returned from military service, and Frank took over when his father died. Frank’s son Albert David “Bert” Brady (1927-2015) took over in 1952 but sold it out of family hands in 1955 after which it was a franchise in the Marshall Wells hardware chain.
The business closed in 1968 then the building sat empty for a few years. The hardware part was used for a time as a centre for teens and as election headquarters for a local political candidate. It became a clothing store in 1974 but the space was later renovated fully into residential apartments.
The former Brady Building in Reston (July 2016)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.55642, W101.09434
denoted by symbol on the map above
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
“Half of street burned at Reston,” Manitoba Free Press, 10 May 1915, page 4.
Trails Along the Pipestone by R.M. of Pipestone History Project, 1981, pages 495-496, 538. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.P56 Tra]
Obituary [Albert David Brady], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 October 2015.
This page was prepared by Ken Storie and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 July 2025
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