Fort Garry
Encyclopedia
Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 trading post at the confluence of the Red
Red River of the North
The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...

 and Assiniboine
Assiniboine River
The Assiniboine River is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked within a flat, shallow valley in some places and a steep valley in...

 rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...

's Fort Gibraltar
Fort Gibraltar
In the early 19th century fur-trading was the main industry of Western Canada. Two companies had an intense competition over the trade. The first, the Hudson's Bay Company was a London, England-based organization. The second, the North West Company was based in Montreal...

. Fort Garry was named after Nicholas Garry, deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. It served as the centre of fur trade within the Red River Settlement. Unfortunately in 1826, a severe flood destroyed the fort. It was rebuilt in 1835 by the HBC and named Upper Fort Garry to differentiate it from "the Lower Fort," or Lower Fort Garry
Lower Fort Garry
Lower Fort Garry was built in 1830 by the Hudson's Bay Company on the western bank of the Red River, north of the original Fort Garry, which is now in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Treaty 1 was signed there....

, 32 km downriver, which was established in 1831. Throughout the mid-to-late 19th century, Upper Fort Garry played a minor role in the actual trading of furs, but was central to the administration of the HBC and the surrounding settlement. The Council of Assiniboia
Council of Assiniboia
The Council of Assiniboia was, from 1821 until 1870, the appointed administrative body of Rupert's Land.-History:This Council was created by the Hudson's Bay Company to govern the territory following its merger with the North West Company, and the death of Lord Selkirk...

, the administrative and judicial body of the Red River Settlement mainly run by Hudson's Bay Company officials, met at Upper Fort Garry.

In 1869, the Hudson's Bay Company agreed to surrender its monopoly in the North-West, including Upper Fort Garry. In late 1869 and early 1870, the fort was seized by Louis Riel
Louis Riel
Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....

 and his Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...

 followers during the Red River Rebellion
Red River Rebellion
The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...

. After the Rebellion, the area around the fort continued to grow. In 1873, the city of Winnipeg was established and the name Fort Garry was no longer used. By the end of the 1880s, the majority of the fort had been demolished to straighten Main Street.

Although only the main gate of the fort remains today, the name "Fort Garry" lives on through various institutions and businesses. An area or division of Winnipeg running along the Red River south of the original fort is called Fort Garry. The hotel beside the fort is called the Fort Garry Hotel
Fort Garry Hotel
The Fort Garry Hotel is a historic hotel in Downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and one of Canada's grand railway hotels. Built in 1913 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, it is located one block from the railway's Union Station, and was the tallest structure in the city when it was completed.Like...

, which was originally constructed for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historical Canadian railway.A wholly owned subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway , the GTPR was constructed by GTR using loans provided by the Government of Canada. The company was formed in 1903 with a mandate to build west from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the...

 company. The two streets on either side of the hotel are Fort Street and Garry Street. Many companies have adopted the name, such as Fort Garry Industries and the Fort Garry Brewing Company
Fort Garry Brewing Company
The Fort Garry Brewing Company Ltd brews beer in Winnipeg, Canada. The company was bought by the Hoeschen family in 1930, and operated by them until it was sold to Molson in 1960. In 1994, Richard D...

. It was designated a site of national historic significance in 1924. The Fort Garry Horse
The Fort Garry Horse
The Fort Garry Horse is a Canadian Army Reserve Armoured Regiment based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is currently part of Land Force Western Area's 38 Canadian Brigade Group.- History :...

 has been a component of the Winnipeg military garrison throughout the 20th and into the 21st Centuries.

Work has begun on a project to establish a heritage park in the area surrounding what remains of the Upper Fort Garry. In the spring of 2010, a bill passed the House in the Manitoba Legislature, entitled The Upper Fort Garry Heritage Provincial Park Act.

Future Heritage Park

In 2007, a development company, Crystal Developers, sought to build an apartment complex next to the fort's original "footprint". However, the Friends of Upper Fort Garry, a group dedicated to developing an historical interpretive park at the site, was convened to oppose them. The plan called for an interpretive centre just outside the old fort's walls, and a large surface parking lot that would have been placed closer to the walls than the apartment itself. After a City of Winnipeg-imposed deadline to raise funds to build a park on the site was nearing, Crystal Developers decided to grant the Friends an additional two years to finish raising the needed funds. Crystal ultimately bowed out of its proposed development plans. Two years later the City of Winnipeg approved the construction by Crystal Developers of a 25-storey apartment tower just west of the original location, on Assiniboine Ave.

Enough funds were raised by the Friends to purchase the buildings already on the site of their proposed heritage park, including a Petro-Canada gas station. The only building that was allowed to stay untouched was the current home of the Manitoba Club, which started as an organization in 1874, only one year after the incorporation of Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

. The existing Manitoba Club
Manitoba Club
Established in 1874, the Manitoba Club is the oldest private club in western Canada. The Manitoba Club was originally established as a gentleman's club in 1874....

 building was completed in 1905. The historic Fort Garry Hotel
Fort Garry Hotel
The Fort Garry Hotel is a historic hotel in Downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and one of Canada's grand railway hotels. Built in 1913 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, it is located one block from the railway's Union Station, and was the tallest structure in the city when it was completed.Like...

 across the street was built shortly thereafter, in 1913.

The plans for the future heritage park at the site of Upper Fort Garry were officially unveiled in May 2010.

From the Hansard Records of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, dated Monday, June 14, 2010, it is clear that the boundaries of the proposed Upper Fort Garry Heritage Provincial Park, described in Bill 27–The Upper Fort Garry Heritage Provincial Park Act then under consideration, would not include the Manitoba Club building. In the meeting referenced above, Mr. Jerry Gray (Friends of Upper Fort Garry), referring to the future park boundaries, states that the property is "bordered by Main Street on the east side, Assiniboine on the south side and Fort Street on the west side and then goes up to the back where the gate property is." Evidently, the Manitoba Club property on Broadway is excluded from the proposed heritage park, aside from being located on the same city block. According to the records of the Thirty-Ninth Legislature, Bill 27 received Royal Assent on June 17, 2010, by Proclamation of the Lieutenant-Governor Philip S. Lee.

See also

  • Council of Keewatin
    Council of Keewatin
    The Council of Keewatin was an unelected legislative body and territorial government for the now-defunct District of Keewatin in Canada. The District of Keewatin was created by the passage of the Keewatin Act on April 12, 1876 from a portion of Canada's North West Territories...

  • Fort Rouge (fortification)
    Fort Rouge (fortification)
    Fort Rouge was a fort located on the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, Canada, on the site of what is now the city of Winnipeg. Its exact location is unknown. Its name in English means "red fort"....

  • History of Winnipeg
    History of Winnipeg
    -Before incorporation:Winnipeg lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine River and the Red River, known as The Forks, a historic focal point on canoe river routes travelled by Aboriginal peoples for thousands of years. The name Winnipeg is a transcription of a western Cree word meaning "muddy...

  • Temporary North-West Council
    Temporary North-West Council
    The Temporary North-West Council more formally known as the Council of the Northwest Territories and by its short name as the North-West Council lasted from the creation of Northwest Territories, Canada, in 1870 until it was dissolved in 1876...

  • Coat of arms of Winnipeg
    Coat of arms of Winnipeg
    The coat of arms of Winnipeg is the full armorial achievement as used by the municipal government as an official symbol. This arms was granted in 1972 by the College of Arms in England and replaced an early coat of arms....


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