Beautiful Plains Museum

09/02/2026

Tick-tock! ⏳

There are only a few days left to explore our three floors of local history before we close our doors for the season on September 5th.

Come walk through our old CNR station, check out the different areas, and catch us before we wrap up summer!

Open Tuesday to Saturday, 9 AM – 5 PM."

Town of Neepawa

08/19/2026

This photo from May 1985 captures the Osborne Home, a Neepawa landmark that overlooks the golf course and Riverbend Park, shortly before its scheduled demolition.
The building first opened in 1904 as the Neepawa General Hospital. In 1952, after the new Neepawa and District Memorial Hospital opened, the United Church of Canada established the building as a residence for senior citizens.
By June 1985, the Osborne Home had been demolished, bringing an end to more than 80 years of history at the site.

08/18/2026

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped make our 50th Anniversary Celebration such a special and memorable day!

We’d like to give a special thank you to:

• Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op for supplying the BBQ
• Neepawa Banner & Press for the newspaper articles
• Town of Neepawa for supplying the picnic benches
• Pink Pixel Gallery for the amazing photo booth
• Lucky Ned for providing live music and keeping the celebration going
• Our karaoke/music - John Roy Flores and everyone who joined in!
• All of the Show & Shine participants for bringing out their amazing vehicles
• Michael Pickering for cutting the grass
• Rainkie’s Sewage for providing the port-a-potties

Most importantly, thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate 50 years of the Beautiful Plains Museum with us! It was so nice seeing everyone come together to celebrate the museum and its history.

We really appreciate everyone who helped make the day happen.

Thank you all for making our 50th Anniversary a day to remember!

08/12/2026

08/12/2026

08/08/2026

Our 50th Anniversary Celebration is tomorrow! 🎉

Join us tomorrow, Sunday, August 9th at 1:00 PM!

Bring your own lawn chair for extra seating!

A special feature for tomorrow’s event is a photo booth with 1970s clothing, so come and have some fun!

08/04/2026

Built in 1898, this school was located in Neepawa on Mountain Avenue between Ellen & Main St. Students from Grade 1 through high school attended classes here until 1928, when the high school classes were transferred to the new Viscount School.

08/03/2026

Recycling the Eaton’s Catalogue

While the Eaton’s Catalogue was used by thousands of Canadians as a mail order service, they found alternate uses for it past its “due date”. Here are a few purposes that the “Homesteader’s Bible” served:

1. Gordie Howe talked about how he used to strap the catalogue to each of his shins and use it as goalie pads during hockey games with his young friends.
2. New Canadian immigrants pored over the Eaton’s Catalogue to learn English. The words, accompanied by drawings, and later photographs, helped them to learn the language.
3. Young girls cut out silhouettes and used them as dolls; they cut out clothing to dress their dolls.
4. Children used the catalogue drawings or photographs for school projects or scrapbooks.
5. Pages could be torn from the catalogue, bunched up and put between the walls as insulation.
6. One room schoolhouses used the catalogues as reading material. Teachers cut out the letters to make alphabet books.
7. Homesteaders pasted the pages on their walls as decorations.
8. Rural residents used the catalogues as a cultural link to the outside world.
9. Teenage boys used the swimsuit section as an early Sports Illustrated.
10. The catalogue served as reading material while sitting on the toilet in the outhouse.
11. Pages served as toilet paper as well.
12. Homemakers made patterns and sewed articles of clothing from the fashions in the catalogue.

07/29/2026

Does anyone have a picture of the Drive-In before it blew down?
73 years ago
Thursday, July 30, 1953
The Airline Drive-In Theater located 2.5 miles west of Neepawa on the south side of #4 Highway was officially opened Friday. A large audience attended the opening of the ultra-modern theater, the first outdoor movie theater in the district.
Owned and operated by Leon Asper, the new theater ranks with the finest of its kind in western Canada and includes the latest equipment known to the industry. A well-known theater owner in Manitoba, Mr. Asper has operated the Roxy Theater here for a number of years in addition to the Lyric in Minnedosa, the Boyne in Carmen and the Deluxe in Winnipeg.
August 28, 1986
The Neepawa Airline Drive-in Screen is no longer on its pedestal. The screen was one of the first casualties of the twister, which struck Neepawa last Sunday evening. The landmark won’t be re-erected, since Esso Petroleum Canada, owners of the theatre closed last fall, intend to build a bulk station on the site.