Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 3225
Stephen Adolph Magnacca (1902-1980) (Brandon’s 30th Mayor
12/10/2009 at 6:44 AM
Was Born in Winnipeg on December 10, 1902 and started his army career in 1914 by joining the Winnipeg Highland Cadets. At the age of 15, (but he claimed he was seventeen) he joined the Winnipeg Light Infantry. He received his Commission as a Lieutenant on June 15th 1923.
In 1927 he married Grace Rosina Jones, and they had two children, Daughter Patricia, and Son Allan.
In 1933 he was promoted to the Rank of Major.
They lived in Winnipeg until 1940 when S. A. Magnacca was transferred to Shilo. Remaining in Peacetime, the happy couple operated an Officers Kit Shop, and later they sold Real Estate under the company name of Magnacca Agencies.
In 1949 he went before city council with a request that they allow him to purchase 150 building Lots in the west end of Brandon for $1.00 each.
This move awoke the interest of other developers, and a bidding frenzy broke out. When the smoke had cleared, Mr. Magnacca was in possession of eighty-one residential building sites that had cost him $3,874.
Three years later in 1952, he made an “Offer to Purchase” a further 200 building Lots. Most of them were located between Twentieth-Street, and Twenty-fourth Streets, and McTavish and College Avenues. Mr. Magnacca must be remembered for transforming the area known as “Buffalo Narrows” located west of Earl Oxford School into a well drained, and attractive residential subdivision.
He was Mayor of Brandon for two terms in 1962 – 1969.
He was made an Honouree Lieutenant Colonel of the 26th Field Artillery Regiment in 1956, and was promoted to Colonel in 1967.
On December 17, 1973 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his services to local government, and to the social, and business life of his city. He attended his Investiture at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on April 3rd 1974 when the Right Honourable Jules Leger, the Governor General, conducted the service.
He died in Brandon on August 4th 1980, and is interned at the Brandon Cemetery.
Magnacca Crescent in Brandon, and the Magnacca Research Centre at Daly House Museum of which he was a founding member commemorate him.
Source: Daly House Museum Archives.