Prudential Toole Peet Real Estate
#14, 3919 Richmond Road SW, Calgary, Alberta
P: (403) 240-4000
F: (403) 245-6295
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#14, 3919 Richmond Road SW, Calgary, Alberta
P: (403) 240-4000
F: (403) 245-6295
The partnership of the two Irishmen, George Peet and William Toole, shouldn’t have worked - but it did and with tremendous success.
Born 13 Miles Apart in Ireland...
One of the most startling coincidences of the Toole Peet story is that the founding partners, George Peet and Barney Toole, grew up within 13 miles of each other in Ireland but it wasn’t until they were in their twenties when they met in the small railroad town of Calgary in the Dominion of Canada.George Peet had been kicking about the West for several years, dabbling in farming, ranching and mining - while drinking his share of the local whiskey. In 1897, he put his personable character to more profitable use when he opened an agency in Calgary tocarry on a commission trade in everything from coal to real estate and insurance while enlarging his circle of acquaintances to include many of Calgary’s well-to-do.
Soon he became known as one of Calgary’s most prominent bachelors; and his fashionable jackets, ties and spats became a familiar part of the city’s growing social scene.
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| IRELAND: Tramore, the birthplace of George Peet, and Curtacloe, the birthplace of William Toole, were only 13 miles apart. However, the two men never met until they were in their twenties and living in Calgary. |
His unconventional manner, however, remained unchanged and he continued to add an element of spirited informality to all occasions. When the Prince of Wales visited Calgary in 1919, George Peet gave him an unforgettable insight into how Calgarians celebrated. Peet lit a fire in the middle of the Ranchman’s Club floor to give the proper effect to his demonstration of the intricacies of the Chicken Dance. The Prince was always pleased to see his friend George during later visits to the city.
William Toole was a formal, tee totalling, ambitious, bright young star who diligently worked his way up from a clerk’s position in the CPR’s Winnipeg offices to District Superintendent of the CPR in Calgary. Perhaps the West loosened his austerity slightly for, in the early years, he conceded to using the nickname of ’Barney’, a general referral at the time to anybody who spoke with an Irish accent, and he was known by that name for the remainder of his life. It was, however, one of the few concessions he was to make to the informal way of life in early Calgary. For example, years later, with their partnership an established part of the business community, he would write a scathing memorandum to George Peet in which he expressed his outrage over one of their senior department head’s volunteering on behalf of a charity as a program vendor at the Calgary Stampede, where he might be seen by one of the firm’s clients "competing with the class of newsboy and programme seller which we are accustomed to recognize in that capacity." The potential damage to the firm’s reputation so alarmed William Toole that he added, "So far as the firm is concerned, it would have been far better to have him sent away on a holiday at the firm’s expense during this week."
It is hard to imagine how two men of such different characters could become close friends and eventually agree to put their resources together to build a partnership. Calgary, in the late 1890’s and early 1900’s, was a town of opportunities and, generally, the entrepreneurs of the day found their way to fortune through personal efforts. It was an era of individualism: of store owners, butchers, farmers, tailors, and, before long, real estate developers and oilmen. Partnerships, outside the traditions of accounting and law firms, were rare. Partnerships that survived more than one crisis were probably non-existent.
Possibly, George Peet and Barney Toole both recognized that, together, their personalities created a special balance and viewpoint that would be an advantage in earning their share of the prosperity which was unfolding in Calgary. For whatever reasons, by 1905 the two agreed formally to continue building the agency George Peet started in 1897. It would, however, be known as Toole, Peet & Co.
Today, after one hundred years of wars, depressions, floods, booms and busts, with both George and Barney gone, the city grown far past the river valleys and coulees where they hunted, with the town’s original buildings torn down and rebuilt several times (often bought and sold through the agency), Toole, Peet & Co. Limited continues to bring its participants a share of Calgary’s prosperity. It was an improbable partnership that succeeded.
