This building, designed by provincial architect Victor Horwood, was one of four Normal Schools built in Manitoba. The school was a center for rural teaching instruction with Benjamin J. Hales as its first principal. Hales was an educator, author and naturalist, and founded the B.J. Hales Museum of Natural History. As Chairman of the City of Brandon Parks Board for 19 years, Hales studied the flora and fauna of Manitoba, and through his personal commitment, a tree of every common species that will grow in Manitoba was planted on the Normal School grounds. In 1940 the building was occupied by the Department of National Defense during the Second World War. In 1946 it was turned over to the Manitoba Department of Agriculture for its southwestern operations. It became the Agricultural Extension Centre in 1959.