The major portion of the park is a 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) landholding featuring five miles (8 km) of frontage on the south side of the river that had been owned by prominent Winnipeg businessman, mining entrepreneur and civic leader John Draper Perrin.

The Beaudry name had derived from a family that had once owned large sections of land in the area in the early years of the 20th century.

Around the same time, the Perrins had purchased from CN the abandoned Beaudry Station and relocated it to the bank of the Assiniboine River near the entrance to the present park's riverbottom forest hiking and skiing trails.

The station building was fully rehabilitated and used by J. D. Perrin and his wife Ruth as a country retreat until it was destroyed by fire during the winter of 1977.

South of the CN line, along a small chain of "lakes," known locally by some today as Perrin Lakes, a dam had been built by Ducks Unlimited to preserve the wetlands and while prohibiting hunting, the Perrins permitted the Manitoba Gun Dog Association for many years to operate a seasonal clubhouse for dog training and trials.