Description of Historic Place

The Qually Brothers Store looks beyond the gravel road that passes it by to railway tracks just metres away. Built in 1936, the modest wooden retail establishment in the Elie-area hamlet of Dacotah still seems poised to accept shipments from trains that intermittently thunder by, but no longer stop. The site's municipal designation applies to the store and the parcel of land on which it sits.

Heritage Value

The Qually Brothers Store is an excellent representative of the many unpretentious commercial establishments that sprang up across rural Manitoba to serve the needs of growing communities in the early twentieth century. A modest and utilitarian outlet employing vernacular traditions and local construction materials and finishes, the store provided a variety of goods in a straightforward, simple manner. Run by brothers and prominent local farmers, William and Oscar Qually, the business also functioned as a mail-order distributor of International Harvester farming implements, an Imperial Oil outlet, the office of a local `farmer's line' telephone system and an informal community gathering spot. It is now the last commercial structure on Dacotah's main street.

Source: Rural Municipality of Cartier By-law No. 1530-01, February 12, 2001

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the site's heritage character include:
- the store's location on the north side of Qually Road, with telling proximity to the railway line to the south of the street

Key elements that define the building's external heritage character include:
- the simple rectangular form, modest one-storey height and gable roof with deep projecting eaves, supported by utilitarian brackets, to cover the open porch on the front facade
- the practical building approach as seen in the wood-frame construction, use of wood siding, and main entry door centrally placed and flanked by large rectangular windows with wooden frames

Key elements that define the building's function as a store run by the Quallys include:
- the informal plan, with the entrance opening into the largest room and two smaller rooms on the east side
- the utilitarian finishes throughout, such as rough, sealed, but unpainted wooden plank flooring, double-hung windows and no-frills window coverings
- a variety of shelving and stocking systems to facilitate retail operations, including continuous open shelving spanning the lengths of many walls, compartmentalized storage space for smaller stock (such as nuts and bolts) and compartments built flush into walls with removable lids for bulk storage (for nails, etc.)