LaPorte's Garage
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LaPortes of Inwood
See also Ernie
LaPorte
or Ben LaPorte of Inwood
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click on the larger image for an even larger one in many cases
LaPorte's Livery Stable (the forerunner of the garage before there were any cars in Inwood)
Ernie LaPorte's first business was the livery
stable (note the sign over the door) which he built on the edge of his
father-in-law Ulphie Cossette's field in
1910 even before the railway line came through. From here he would
rent out horses and wagons to new arrivals. On the extreme left
edge of the photo you can just see another building. That's his
uncle Wilfred Bonin's homestead cabin and general store which they had
moved from a mile and a half north of there.
It seemed like an apparently random
spot near nothing else but from there he hoped to build a town and possibly his fortune.
The second picture shows the same building in
the 1930's after he added International Harvester and Massey Ferguson
farm equipment dealerships.
The Railway Arrives in Inwood
In
1910 the Woodlands Municipality sent Counsellor Bill Cossette and two
others to convince the Minister of Public Works to allow the railroad to
extend their line past its terminus at Grosse Isle. While the
Canadian Northern Railroad was laying out their new line Ernie and Bill
convinced them that their best route would pass through their region as
the new settlement was producing record crop yields that needed to get
to market and the forest that was being cleared for fields would provide
ample cordwood for the railroad to transport into Winnipeg. In
1911 the track was laid to pass right between Ernie and Bill's lots and
right beside Ernie's stable. The arrival of the first train was
the occasion for a big 2-day party at Latourelle’s Hotel featuring an
Italian band that came out from Winnipeg. As they had to set up before
the train arrived Ernie picked them up by wagon from Teulon the day
before.
I'm working on identifying the people in the
photo. Ernie is the on the far right in the middle row and I think
that's Bill Cossette in the middle of that row. Note the engineer
is wearing a woman's hat while the woman in the middle is wearing the
engineer's hat, the woman in the front (Anna LaPorte I think) is wearing
a man's hat and the man behind her is bareheaded.
Ernie LaPorte's First Garage
Ernie
built his
first garage beside Bert Irwin's
general store on Railway Avenue in 1912. The second photo shows
the signage for his new Ford dealership in about 1915. The third photo
shows three generations of Fords sold by Ernie, a 1920's Model A, a
1910's Model T and a 1935 Ford Sedan.
Ernie welding in his shop. The last photo is probably one of Dad's
(Ernie's son Ben's) time lapse photos.
The Start of the New Garage on Main Street
The 'crew' (Caroline's term for Donat Senneville, Billy Morris
and Roy
Wilkes) building Ernie's new office and gas station on Main Street to serve
the traffic passing through town in the Spring of 1930. A month or
so later the roof and studs of the new office can be seen in the background
of
a photo taken at
the Fete Dieu in July 1930. The third photo shows Caroline and Toupie
LaPorte on the steps of the almost complete office, the signs aren't up yet (the
side of Ernie's main competitor and brother-in-law Frank Beaudoin's garage can be seen at the left). Caroline on
the steps after the LaPorte Garage Farm Implements sign went up.
The office is complete and the Buffalo gas pumps and oil bin are in
(1931). The second last photo is Ernie in his office in the 1930's
and the last is marked 'Pops on office steps before I left home 1941'.
That would have been when Ben left to work building fighter planes at
the Canadian Car Foundry in Fort William in November 1940.
A promotional ink blotter for Ernie's
businesses from the 1930's. Inwood had just recently gotten phones.
The switchboard was in Ernie's office and had only 7 lines numbered 2
through 8 with Ernie taking the first line 'Phone No. 2'. The
second photo shows Caroline LaPorte operating that switchboard in about
1940.
Ben in the boattail racer he built from parts
of other scrapped cars when he was about 18 (assuming this photo was in
about 1932). It had a model T engine and transmission connected up
to a second transmission and drive shaft from a model A so the car had 5
speeds forward and two speeds in reverse. This was one of
Ben's first attempts to colorize his own photos.
Bus Service Comes to Inwood (with the bus stop at LaPorte's
Garage)
In 1922 Ernie hired Albert (Burt) Todd (second
photo) to drive a 7 seater 1920 Studebaker Big Six between Inwood and
Winnipeg. The first photo shows the bus driving past Frank
Beaudoin's garage (note: Frank was Ernie's brother in law and his only competitor
in Inwood; their relationship became even more strained when shortly after Ernie acquired his Ford dealership, Frank
became a Chevy dealer). The third photo shows Violet Mills,
Caroline LaPorte, Burt Todd, Leah Cossette LaPorte, Ernie and his dog
Pat with Burt's new bus in 1933, a 1930 10 seater Studebaker President.
It looks like Grey Goose bought Burt out as just a year or so later here's Burt with his same Studebaker at Ernie's garage beside a Grey
Goose Studebaker (notice that they have sequential license plates).
The last photo is the Grey Goose driver in 1937, Joe McDougal.
The LaPorte Transfer
To reduce his own shipping costs and to serve other neighbouring
communities Ernie started a transfer service first with a 1931 Ford
Model AA Truck but soon graduating to a mid-1930's Model BB with a
longer box.
He hired Andy Lavender as his driver. It looks like they had quite
a time moving this thresher even with the bigger truck. Caroline
told me that the 4th picture showed her Dad (Ernie) taking a load of her
friends to a local hockey game.
In 1941 Ernie tore down his original garage
building on Railway Avenue and used wood from it to add two work bays
onto his office on Main Street. The photo shows the split roof on
the two sections of the new garage.
Under New Management
In 1946 Ernie sold his garage to his son Ben
who returned from his wartime work in Fort William with his wife Marion
and sons John and Paul to carry on the operation of LaPortes Garage.
I (Tom) was added to the family in 1951. When I grew up in Inwood
our garage was my family's only business, the other services which
Ernie built up had lost out to larger competitors over time. The
third photo shows our garage as I knew it in the 50's. By that time
Ernie's stable from 1910 which became his International Harvester sales
and services building in the 1940's had become just a locked up storage
room as shown in the last photo.
Ernie with his brothers Paul, George and Rene LaPorte. Ernie looks
dressed for work but this must have been after Ben took over the
garage's operation as they are standing by the new pumps that he had put
in. The last
photo is Ben in his garage working on his 1947 Frazer.
This site was last updated
04/13/23
Ernie LaPorte's first business was the livery
stable (note the sign over the door) which he built on the edge of his
father-in-law Ulphie Cossette's field in
1910 even before the railway line came through. From here he would
rent out horses and wagons to new arrivals. On the extreme left
edge of the photo you can just see another building. That's his
uncle Wilfred Bonin's homestead cabin and general store which they had
moved from a mile and a half north of there.
It seemed like an apparently random
spot near nothing else but from there he hoped to build a town and possibly his fortune.
The second picture shows the same building in
the 1930's after he added International Harvester and Massey Ferguson
farm equipment dealerships.
In
1910 the Woodlands Municipality sent Counsellor Bill Cossette and two
others to convince the Minister of Public Works to allow the railroad to
extend their line past its terminus at Grosse Isle. While the
Canadian Northern Railroad was laying out their new line Ernie and Bill
convinced them that their best route would pass through their region as
the new settlement was producing record crop yields that needed to get
to market and the forest that was being cleared for fields would provide
ample cordwood for the railroad to transport into Winnipeg. In
1911 the track was laid to pass right between Ernie and Bill's lots and
right beside Ernie's stable. The arrival of the first train was
the occasion for a big 2-day party at Latourelle’s Hotel featuring an
Italian band that came out from Winnipeg. As they had to set up before
the train arrived Ernie picked them up by wagon from Teulon the day
before.
I'm working on identifying the people in the
photo. Ernie is the on the far right in the middle row and I think
that's Bill Cossette in the middle of that row. Note the engineer
is wearing a woman's hat while the woman in the middle is wearing the
engineer's hat, the woman in the front (Anna LaPorte I think) is wearing
a man's hat and the man behind her is bareheaded.
Ernie
built his
first garage beside Bert Irwin's
general store on Railway Avenue in 1912. The second photo shows
the signage for his new Ford dealership in about 1915. The third photo
shows three generations of Fords sold by Ernie, a 1920's Model A, a
1910's Model T and a 1935 Ford Sedan.
Ernie welding in his shop. The last photo is probably one of Dad's
(Ernie's son Ben's) time lapse photos.
The Start of the New Garage on Main Street
The 'crew' (Caroline's term for Donat Senneville, Billy Morris
and Roy
Wilkes) building Ernie's new office and gas station on Main Street to serve
the traffic passing through town in the Spring of 1930. A month or
so later the roof and studs of the new office can be seen in the background
of
a photo taken at
the Fete Dieu in July 1930. The third photo shows Caroline and Toupie
LaPorte on the steps of the almost complete office, the signs aren't up yet (the
side of Ernie's main competitor and brother-in-law Frank Beaudoin's garage can be seen at the left). Caroline on
the steps after the LaPorte Garage Farm Implements sign went up.
The office is complete and the Buffalo gas pumps and oil bin are in
(1931). The second last photo is Ernie in his office in the 1930's
and the last is marked 'Pops on office steps before I left home 1941'.
That would have been when Ben left to work building fighter planes at
the Canadian Car Foundry in Fort William in November 1940.
A promotional ink blotter for Ernie's
businesses from the 1930's. Inwood had just recently gotten phones.
The switchboard was in Ernie's office and had only 7 lines numbered 2
through 8 with Ernie taking the first line 'Phone No. 2'. The
second photo shows Caroline LaPorte operating that switchboard in about
1940.
Ben in the boattail racer he built from parts
of other scrapped cars when he was about 18 (assuming this photo was in
about 1932). It had a model T engine and transmission connected up
to a second transmission and drive shaft from a model A so the car had 5
speeds forward and two speeds in reverse. This was one of
Ben's first attempts to colorize his own photos.
To reduce his own shipping costs and to serve other neighbouring
communities Ernie started a transfer service first with a 1931 Ford
Model AA Truck but soon graduating to a mid-1930's Model BB with a
longer box.
He hired Andy Lavender as his driver. It looks like they had quite
a time moving this thresher even with the bigger truck. Caroline
told me that the 4th picture showed her Dad (Ernie) taking a load of her
friends to a local hockey game.
In 1941 Ernie tore down his original garage
building on Railway Avenue and used wood from it to add two work bays
onto his office on Main Street. The photo shows the split roof on
the two sections of the new garage.
Ernie with his brothers Paul, George and Rene LaPorte. Ernie looks
dressed for work but this must have been after Ben took over the
garage's operation as they are standing by the new pumps that he had put
in. The last
photo is Ben in his garage working on his 1947 Frazer.
