Century old Bird Construction firm began in Moose Jaw and just grew
An Army private from Moose Jaw, wounded slightly during the First World War, rejoined the war effort in the Canadian Engineering Corps, rising to captain by war’s end.
The construction supervision post in the Engineering Corps gave Hubert J. Bird a taste for the construction business. In Moose Jaw during 1920, he and two partners bought Navin Construction, starting a business that has become national and celebrated 100 years of operation at the end of March.
Bird bought out his partners and went on to grow the company.
In a four-year period, the company went from $150,000 volume to $2 million. Revenue is now over $1.3 billion.
When the crash of 1929 came Bird had secured enough contracts to see the company through to 1931.
Just some of the Moose Jaw buildings Bird built include Moose Jaw General Hospital, Providence Hospital, Royal Bank on High Street, Natatorium, Timothy Eaton Centre and St Joseph’s Church.
Bird built an arts-and-crafts style bungalow at 1122 Redland Avenue in 1924. The home features a broad eave with exposed rafters, low-pitched roof overhanging the porch supported by columns. Narrow clapboard siding was placed above a stucco foundation sprayed with small stones. Cedar shingles went to the top of the gables with oak wood floors in the living area.
The Bird family left the home in 1937, when the company moved the head office to Winnipeg. Now restored the house is Redland Cottage Bed and Breakfast. When the Second World War came Bird was awarded huge contracts from building half the air training schools in the west to military bases. Miraculously the projects were all completed in six months, allowing the British Air Commonwealth Training Program to function and fight the war.
By the mid-1940s, Bird was the largest home builder in Canada., awarded a contract with Wartime Housing Ltd. to build 15,000 houses.
The wartime houses were in the Atlantic provinces, Calgary, Kildonan, Elmwood, Fort Rouge, Kenora, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw, Portage la Prairie, Redcliff, St. James, Transcona, and Winnipeg.
The compact sturdy wartime houses are still in use today.
Bird got a federal government contract to build more than 5,000 peace-time homes in western Canada for returning veterans, in Redcliff, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Bow Island, and Moose Jaw
Bird Construction grew further across Canada with Hubert Bird stepping down in 1953 to become board chairman. Major projects in Saskatchewan included the CPR postal station in Regina, Casino Regina, then the CPR station, Alwinsal Potash Mine, regional Royal Bank headquarters in Regina, Weyburn Hospital addition, Outlook bridge, Saskatchewan Landing bridge, and the Royal Museum in Regina.
Bird died in 1964 and his son took over. He died in 2018. The family still holds a controlling interest in the publicly traded company.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@ sasktel.net
Tell a child he or she can’t have something and that’s exactly what the child will continually demand. Adults aren’t much different in dealing with the forbidden, even if the forbidden is something totally unnecessary or even frivolous.
Since we’ve been told to “stay home” it has become human nature to want to do exactly what we should not be doing during self-isolation and proper distancing.
I am not a shopper. At Christmas time we make a list, dash into a store where we are confident of finding what we need, pay and get out. Mission completed.
So why do I have this urge to wander the aisles of a department store, with absolutely no need to buy anything. But I want to browse the kitchen department to check out the new gadgets, most of which I would never use even if I could figure out what it is they do.
I want to run my hands over the non-stick frying pans and muffin tins and even though I have no use for either, being able to touch is a desire I am barely able to control.
We have a new cousin so of course sending a cheque suddenly becomes an impersonal way to greet the little guy. The mom wants clothing in vibrant colours so checking out the tiny overalls and t-shirts or the infant shoes and slippers is a shopping experience that I suddenly want to do. Then I would naturally pick a gift that the mom and dad would not appreciate — like a drum or cymbals on which to bang. They live far away so why not.
Purchasing items to enhance my wardrobe is a task undertaken only when someone looks at my top and comments “you’ve been wearing that for a long time,” suggesting it might be time to spend a few dollars. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something new to wear when we once again are able to gather? Not an essential purchase, but gosh I wish I could browse some of the stores that carry my impressive size. I’ve never been much for spending time in museums but suddenly I wouldn’t mind a voyage to spend a few hours learning about people I don’t know and why they settled where they did.
Because I know I shouldn’t, I want to visit all the grocery stores in town to pick out our fresh fruit and vegetables. Before Easter I wanted to poke the hot cross buns to find the freshest packages, and I “needed” to find Easter treats that might last us to Victoria Day. I still want to linger over the tomatoes and talk with other shoppers as they pick out cauliflower and celery.
I don’t drink coffee but it is suddenly imperative that I visit family and friends to share cakes and cookies, a glass of water, maybe a hot chocolate. The tables inside the fast food outlets and favourite cafes beckon and it is difficult to stay away. And it goes without saying that my hair do needs doing by a professional.
I have been advised not to do any heavy lifting until my injuries heal. So that means no house cleaning. Darn. I am barely able to resist getting out the vacuum cleaner to chase down those dust bunnies that grow daily. But resist I will.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not NECEssArILy rEflECt tHE POsItION OF tHIs PuBLICAtION.