This is a shot of what's left of "Downtown" Neelin Manitoba. My dad lived here for the first 5 or 6 years of his life, and later moved to another town named Cartwright. My Grandfather ran the Post Office and hardware store at one time, though it is not standing anymore. It was located across the street from this building. I believe this is Neate's store and barber shop, but I'm not 100% sure.

At one time the railway ran through town and there were grain elevators. At some point the elevators shut down and the the rail line was closed, and that was the end of poor Neelin. Recently some more buildings started to disappear so I decided to document some of the remaining buildings while they're still around. Last summer the town hall was torn down. It stood across the street from this building.

This street light once lit the sidewalks of Neelin. In 1957 my dad can remember when the whole town met up, shut of all the lights and waited to catch a glimpse of Sputnik. I don't know if they ever saw it, but it's really hard to fathom that 51 years ago the first artificial satellite was flung into orbit, and a town stood out on the prairie hoping to catch a glimpse of it in the sky. My dad said it was a scary thing for a five year old, and something that he didn't really understand at the time, especially the changes it would bring about in the next few decades.