Heritage

What you know now as Brewster Mountain Lodge grew from a place of exploration and ambition. While the beauty and immensity of the Canadian Rocky Mountains has always attracted visitors from around the world, the town and the region have a humble, rugged past within which the Brewster family planted their roots over 100 years ago.

A Journey to Banff

Before the Irish famine in the 1840’s, William Brewster managed the Irvine Estate in Irvine, Fernanagh, Erie. James Irvine, a friend & a doctor, had immigrated to Canada & encouraged his friend William to come to Canada. Sarah Jane Irvine followed her brother soon after to Kingston, ON. Here it was that Sarah Jane, an heiress to land holdings in Ireland, married the manager William Brewster, and while farming in Ontario raised eight children. John, the 5th born in 1852, married Isabella Thompson, farming until following the railroad west to Winnipeg where he worked in mill shops before coming to Banff. Isabella Brewster with her four sons, William, James, Fred & Jack arrived in Banff, AB via CP Rail from Winnipeg, MB on March 17, 1888 to join her husband John who had decided Banff would become their permanent home. George, Pearl, & F.O. Pat were born in Banff. John, on the advice of his brothers who had visited the mountains earlier, told him of the opportunities in the West, thus he started a dairy to service the Banff Springs hotel & the community. This was the start of a great adventure for the Brewster Family in Banff National Park.

Forging a Relationship with the Land

The dairy herd could not remain in Banff through the winter, so John established his homestead at the base of Yamnuska Mountain. Today, the land still remains in the family. John’s young sons, W. A. (Bill) & James (Jim) didn’t like delivering milk. A family friend, Joshua Twin Wildman, taught the boys how to survive in the wilds. So, at ages 12 & 10, the boys began to taking guests on Pack Trips into the mountains. They would begin outfitting operations, livery service, tally-ho horse drawn carriages to bring guest from the railway station to the Banff Springs Hotel. This marked the birth of Brewster Transport.

The division came with motorized vehicles in the 1930’s. Jim developed the Transport Company, Bill managed transportation for 30 years & quit. Bill remained in outfitting, but also built Brewster Industries in Banff in 1947 to house a Ford dealership. His building remains part of Brewster’s Mountain Lodge, which opened in 1996.

Claude, 3rd generation Canadian, with his mother, Missy, developed the original homestead into the Kananaskis Guest Ranch in 1923. With his wife Ruth, Claude continued guest ranching raising two sons, Bud & Jack, at the Ranch. Claude is probably the least known because he was quiet, unassuming, but a giant in his humanitarianism. At his own expense, he would care for his staff through food chits, waived rents & gave his own shirt; Claude was also an active politician in the Liberal Party, a personal friend of Louis St. Laurent, Prime Minster of Canada in the 1950’s. He was active in the Chamber of Commerce & many local organizations. Because Claude had grown up with the Stoney Nakoda peoples at Seebe, AB, he was able to promote the Trans Canada Highway through the Stoney Nakoda reserve. He was prominent in bringing Sulphur Mountain Gondola, (now Banff Gondola), into the Park, through his political connections. He worked for years to promote Indian Days, a native festive affair celebrating their rich culture. …now the Stoney Nakota Camp ran by elder…

To know the Brewster family is to know hard work, dedication and at times sacrifice. Bryan Niehaus and Alison Brewster, met in the summer of 1986 at one of Bud’s hike camps and the two hit it off. Not before long Alison saw how impressive Bryans mechanical skills were, all self-taught from growing up on a farm in central Alberta, and realized he wasn’t afraid of hard work. Bud took a liking to Bryan as well from his tenacious spirit and ability to accomplish anything he set his mind to. Bryan became a member of the family and, of course, the family business when the two got married in the spring of 1991.

Alison and Bryan helped Bud’s dream of building a back country lodge come to life and dedicated 25 years from negotiating with Parks Canada, building every cabin and operating the lodge seasonally, to selling the lodge to the Alpine Club of Canada in 2019. Alison and Bryan were stewards of the land and have left an amazing legacy for other to enjoy.

Brewster Mountain Lodge was another one of Bud’s dreams, built in 1990, Alison took over operations in 2008 at the height of the economic downturn. She worked tirelessly and never gave up honoring a commitment to her family. Alison with her husband Bryan now own and operate Brewster Mountain Lodge with their two daughters Morgan and Joleen.

The Next Generation of Brewsters

Bud, 4th generation Brewster in Banff, began to take the task of his family’s enterprises. The family owned several lodges including Lake O’Hara. Bud met his wife Annett at Lake O’Hara when she came from a small town in central Alberta to cook at the lodge. The two married in 1959, by which time Bud had taken over the operation of Brewster’s Mountain Pack Trains, outfitting the Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies, Skyline Hikers, backcountry camping groups during the summer months as well as the trail riding concession the had with CP Hotels in Banff and Lake Louise. By 1962, he purchased the company from his father.

Bud’s grandfather, W.A. (Bill), fondly referred to as “The Boss”, owned property on Caribou Street, when The Boss died in 1970, Bud pursued ownership since no other family member appeared interested. Buying out the shareholders, Bud acquired the property in 1974 with the idea of developing a hotel. That did not happen, so Bud, the builder, developed his grandfather’s property into retail, office & apartment space. Always with the future in mind, he acquired adjacent property, believing that one day; he would be able to build a hotel. When Banff became a town in 1990 and, with rezoning, he got his wish. With the help and planning of his daughter Janet, and a fabulous architect, the new Brewster’s Mountain Lodge came to fruition.

Moving Forward

Bud and Annette have three daughters, Janet, Corinne, and Alison, who have given them five grandchildren, now the sixth generation of Canadians.

“It is an absolute honour to run this business with my family in the town that the Brewster’s have called home for over a century. I am proud and excited that my husband, daughters, and I can uphold my family’s legacy and invite people from around the world to experience the place that we’re fortunate enough to call home.”

- Alison Brewster

Today, Bryan Niehaus and Alison Brewster own Mountainview BBQ, Brewster’s Kananaskis Ranch Golf Course, and, of course, Brewster’s Mountain Lodge.