History of Winnipeg - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Before incorporation

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...

lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine River and the Red River, known as The Forks, a historic focal point on canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

river routes travelled by Aboriginal peoples

Aboriginal peoples in Canada

Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....

for thousands of years. The name Winnipeg is a transcription of a western Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

word meaning "muddy waters"; the general area was populated for thousands of years by First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

. In prehistory, through oral stories, archaeology, petroglyph

Petroglyph

Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...

s, rock art

Rock art

Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...

, and ancient artifacts, it is known that natives would use the area for camps, hunting, fishing, trading, and further north, agriculture. The first farming in Manitoba appeared to be along the Red River, near Lockport, Manitoba

Lockport, Manitoba

Lockport is a small unincorporated community in Manitoba, Canada located just north of the city of Winnipeg. It is the site of ancient agricultural inhabitation, a migratory bird feeding area as well as a dam and lock of the Red River. The Red River Floodway joins the Red River just down river...

, where maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

(corn) and other seed crops were planted before contact with Europeans. For thousands of years there have been humans living in this region, and there are many archaeological clues about their ways of life. The rivers provided transportation far and wide and linked many peoples-such as the Assiniboine, Ojibway, Anishinaabe

Anishinaabe

Anishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...

, Mandan, Sioux

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

, Cree

Cree

, Lakota, and others—for trade and knowledge sharing. Ancient mound

Mound

A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically...

s were once made near the waterways, similar to that of the mound builders of the south. Lake Winnipeg was considered to be an inland sea, with important river links to the mountains out west, the Great Lakes to the east, and the Arctic Ocean in the north. The Red River linked ancient northern and southern peoples along the Missouri

Missouri River

The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

and Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

s. The first maps of some areas were made on birch bark

Birch bark

Birch bark or birchbark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees of the genus Betula.The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like bark can be easily cut, bent, and sewn, which made it a valuable building, crafting, and writing material, since pre-historic times...

by the Ojibway, which helped fur traders find their way along the rivers and lakes.

Settlement

The first French officer arrived in the area in 1738. Sieur de La Vérendrye

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye was a French Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer. In the 1730s he and his four sons opened up the area west of Lake Superior and thus began the process that added Western Canada to the original New France in the Saint Lawrence basin...

built the first fur trading post

Trading post

A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

on the site (Fort Rouge

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"....

), which was later abandoned. The French traded in the area for several decades before Hudson Bay traders arrived. The first English traders visited the area about the year 1767. 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...

was built by 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...

in 1809, and Fort Douglas

Fort Douglas (Canada)

Fort Douglas was a fort of the Hudson's Bay Company that was built by Scottish and Irish settlers in 1812 in what is today Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was in the immediate vicinity of the North West Company establishment, Fort Gibraltar...

was built by the 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...

(HBC) in 1812. The two companies fought fiercely over trade in the area, and each destroyed some of the other's forts over the course of several battles. In 1821, the Hudson's Bay and North West Companies ended their long rivalry with a merger.

Fort Gibraltar, at the site of present-day Winnipeg, was renamed Fort Garry

Fort Garry

Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company's Fort Gibraltar. Fort Garry was named after Nicholas...

in 1822 and became the leading post in the region for the Hudson’s Bay Company. A flood destroyed the fort in 1826 flood, and it was not rebuilt until 1835. The fort was the residence of the Governor of the company for many years. It became a part of the first major colony and settlement in western Canada.

Beginning in the mid-17th century the 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...

, an ethnic group descended from the mixing of French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

traders and Cree tribes people as well as other First Nations peoples, began settling in the Red River Valley

Red River Valley

The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North. It is significant in the geography of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba for its relatively fertile lands and the population centers of Fargo, Moorhead, Grand Forks, and Winnipeg...

. They were heavily involved in the fur trade as hunters and traders. The first formal settlement in the region, the Red River Colony

Red River Colony

The Red River Colony was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company under what is referred to as the Selkirk Concession. The colony along the Red River of the North was never very successful...

, was created by Lord Selkirk in 1811. He purchased land from the Hudson's Bay Company and surveyed river lots in the early 19th century. For its part the Red River Colony became an important center for fur trapping. Important British trading posts included Fort Alexander

Fort Alexander, Manitoba

Fort Alexander is a community in Manitoba, Canada, located on the Sagkeeng First Nation, on the south bank of the Winnipeg River. The Sagkeeng area, or the mouth of the Winnipeg River, was originally settled with native camps used for fishing, hunting, and trade...

, operated by the Hudson's Bay Company, and Fort Bas-de-la-Rivière, operated by the North West Company. Additionally as settlers from the U.S. established posts in what is now Minnesota

History of Minnesota

The history of the U.S. state of Minnesota is shaped by its original Native American residents, European exploration and settlement, and the emergence of industries made possible by the state's natural resources. Minnesota achieved prominence through fur trading, logging, and farming, and later...

, illegal trade routes known as the Red River Trails

Red River Trails

The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony and Fort Garry in British North America with the head of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States...

developed between the Red River Colony and Saint Paul

History of Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the second largest city in the state of Minnesota in the United States, the county seat of Ramsey County, and the state capital of Minnesota...

.

In 1869–70, Winnipeg was the site of 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...

, a conflict between the local provisional government of Métis, led 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 the newcomers from eastern Canada. General Garnet Wolseley

Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley

Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, KP, GCB, OM, GCMG, VD, PC was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He served in Burma, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, China, Canada, and widely throughout Africa—including his Ashanti campaign and the Nile Expedition...

was sent to put down the rebellion. This rebellion led directly to Manitoba's entry into the Confederation as Canada's fifth province

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

in 1870, and on November 8, 1873, Winnipeg was incorporated as a city. In 1876, three years after the city's incorporation, the post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

officially adopted the name "Winnipeg."

Railway boomtown

The first locomotive in Winnipeg, the Countess of Dufferin
Countess of Dufferin
The Countess of Dufferin was the first steam locomotive to operate in the Canadian prairie provinces and is named after Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Countess of Dufferin , the wife of the Earl of Dufferin, a Governor General of Canada. The locomotive was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works...

, arrived via steamboat in 1877. The Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

completed the first direct rail link from eastern Canada in 1881, opening the door to mass immigration and settlement of Winnipeg and the Canadian Prairies

Canadian Prairies

The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...

. The history of Winnipeg's rail heritage and the Countess of Dufferin may be seen at the Winnipeg Railway Museum

Winnipeg Railway Museum

The Winnipeg Railway Museum is a non-profit organization operated by volunteers from the Midwestern Rail Association. The museum is located on tracks 1 and 2 within Winnipeg's Via Rail operated Union Station in Manitoba, Canada.- Overview :...

.

Winnipeg experienced a boom during the 1890s and the first two decades of the 20th century, and the city's population grew from 25,000 in 1891 to more than 179,000 in 1921. The only large city on the prairie in 1891, Winnipeg was until the second decade of the twentieth century the leading commercial center of the prairie provinces. In succeeding decades as other prairie centers such as Calgary, Edmonton, and Regina become centers of trade, Winnipeg's relative role was reduced, although it remained preeminent. As immigration increased during this period, Winnipeg took on its distinctive multicultural

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...

character. The Manitoba Legislative Building

Manitoba Legislative Building

The Manitoba Legislative Building is the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, in central Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was originally named the Manitoba Parliament Building, not Legislative. The neoclassical building was completed in 1920 and stands seventy-seven meters tall...

reflects the optimism of the boom years. Built mainly of Tyndall Stone

Tyndall Stone

Tyndall stone is a dolomitic limestone quarried from the Selkirk member of the Ordovician Red River Formation, in the vicinity of Tyndall, Manitoba, Canada. It was first used in 1832 for building Lower Fort Garry, and has since become popular for building purposes throughout Canada and the United...

and opened in 1920, its dome supports a bronze statue finished in gold leaf titled, "Eternal Youth and the Spirit of Enterprise" (commonly known as the "Golden Boy

Golden Boy (Manitoba)

The Golden Boy statue is 5.25 metres tall from the toe to the top of the torch and 4.27 metres from head to toe. It weighs 1650 kg , and the top of his torch is 77 metres above ground...

"). The Manitoba Legislature

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...

was built in the neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

style that is common to many other North American state and provincial legislative buildings of the 19th century and early 20th century. The Legislature was built to accommodate representatives for three million people, which was the expected population of Manitoba at the time.

Winnipeg faced financial difficulty when the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

opened in 1914. The canal reduced reliance on Canada's rail system for international trade, and the increase in ship traffic helped Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

surpass Winnipeg to become Canada's third-largest city in the 1960s.

Winnipeg General Strike

Following World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, owing to a postwar recession, appalling labour conditions, and the presence of radical union organizers and a large influx of returning soldiers, 35,000 Winnipeggers walked off the job in May 1919 in what came to be known as the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. After many arrests, deportations, and incidents of violence, the strike ended on June 21, 1919, when the Riot Act

Riot Act

The Riot Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that authorised local authorities to declare any group of twelve or more people to be unlawfully assembled, and thus have to disperse or face punitive action...

was read and a group of Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...

(RCMP) officers charged a group of strikers. Two strikers were killed and at least thirty others were injured, resulting in the day's being known as Bloody Saturday; the lasting effect was a polarized population. One of the leaders of the strike, J. S. Woodsworth

J. S. Woodsworth

James Shaver Woodsworth was a pioneer in the Canadian social democratic movement. Following more than two decades ministering to the poor and the working class, J. S...

, went on to found Canada's first major socialist party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...

(CCF), which would later become the New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

The Great Depression and World War II

The stock market crash of 1929 only hastened an already steep decline in Winnipeg; the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

resulted in massive unemployment, which was worsened by drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

and depressed agricultural prices. The Depression ended when World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

started in 1939. The first Canadian to see battle was Winnipegger Selby Roger Henderson who enlisted in the RAF just before the start of the war. He participated in the attack on enemy ships at Wilhelmshaven, Germany on September 4, 1939.

The Winnipeg Grenadiers

The Winnipeg Grenadiers

The Winnipeg Grenadiers was an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army formed on 1st April 1908 under General Order No. 20. Initially it was raised with Headquarters at Morden, Manitoba and companies at: ‘A’ Company at Morden, ‘B’ Company at Morden, ‘C’ Company at Manitou, ‘D’ Company at Carmen,‘E’...

were among the first Canadians to engage in combat against Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

in the Battle of Hong Kong

Battle of Hong Kong

The Battle of Hong Kong took place during the Pacific campaign of World War II. It began on 8 December 1941 and ended on 25 December 1941 with Hong Kong, then a Crown colony, surrendering to the Empire of Japan.-Background:...

during World War II. Those in the battalion that didn't die in the conflict were captured and brutalized in prisoner of war camps.

In Winnipeg, the established armouries of Minto, Tuxedo (Fort Osborne), and McGregor were so crowded that the military had to take over other buildings to increase capacity. In 1942, the Government of Canada's Victory Loan Campaign staged a mock Nazi invasion of Winnipeg to increase awareness of the stakes of the war in Europe. The very realistic invasion included Nazi aircraft and troops overwhelming Canadian forces within the city. Air raid sirens sounded and the city was blacked out. The event was covered by North American media and featured in the film "If Day

If Day

If Day was a simulated Nazi invasion of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and surrounding areas on February 19, 1942, during the Second World War. It was organized by the Greater Winnipeg Victory Loan organization, which was led by prominent Winnipeg businessman J. D. Perrin...

".

Winnipeg played a large part in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , known in some countries as the Empire Air Training Scheme , was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War...

(BCATP). The mandate of the BCATP was to train flight crews away from the battle zones in Europe. Pilots, navigators, bombardiers, wireless operators, air gunners, and flight engineers all passed through Winnipeg on their way to the various air schools across western Canada; Winnipeg served as a headquarters for Command No. 2.

After World War II and the 1950 flood

The end of World War II brought a new sense of optimism in Winnipeg. Pent-up demand brought a boom in housing development, but building activity came to a halt due to the 1950 Red River Flood, the largest flood to hit Winnipeg since 1861; the flood held waters above flood stage for 51 days. On May 8, 1950, eight dikes collapsed, four of the city's eleven bridges were destroyed, and nearly 100,000 people had to be evacuated, making it Canada's largest evacuation in history. Premier Douglas Campbell

Douglas Lloyd Campbell

Douglas Lloyd Campbell, OC was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served as the 13th Premier of Manitoba from 1948 to 1958...

called for federal assistance, and Canadian Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent

Louis St. Laurent

Louis Stephen St. Laurent, PC, CC, QC , was the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 15 November 1948, to 21 June 1957....

declared a state of emergency. Soldiers from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...

regiment staffed the relief effort for the duration of the flood. The federal government estimated damages at over $26-million, although the province insisted it was at least double that.

To protect the city from future flood damage, the Red River Basin Investigation recommended a system of flood control measures, including multiple diking systems and a floodway to divert the Red River around Winnipeg; this prompted construction of the Red River Floodway

Red River Floodway

The Red River Floodway is an artificial flood control waterway in Western Canada, first used in 1969. It is a long channel which, during flood periods, takes part of the Red River's flow around the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba to the east and discharges it back into the Red River below the dam at...

under Premier Dufferin Roblin

Dufferin Roblin

Dufferin "Duff" Roblin, PC, CC, OM was a Canadian businessman and politician. Known as "Duff," he served as the 14th Premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. Roblin was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the government of Brian Mulroney, he served as...

Recent history

Prior to 1972, Winnipeg was the largest of thirteen cities and towns in a metropolitan area around the Red and Assiniboine rivers. Unicity

Unicity

The term Unicity refers to reforms in the structure of the metropolitan government of Winnipeg in 1972. Unicity, an ambitious experiment in local government reform, established the City of Winnipeg as one unified city; until that point, the greater Winnipeg area had been composed of several...

was created on July 27, 1971, and took effect with the first elections in 1972. The City of Winnipeg Act

City of Winnipeg Act

The City of Winnipeg Act was enacted on July 21, 1971 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The act incorporated the municipalities of Charleswood, Fort Garry, North Kildonan, Old Kildonan, Tuxedo, East Kildonan, West Kildonan, St. Vital, Transcona, St. Boniface, St. James-Assiniboia, Winnipeg and the...

incorporated the current city of Winnipeg; the municipalities of Transcona, St. Boniface

Saint Boniface, Manitoba

Saint Boniface is a city ward of Winnipeg, home to much of the Franco-Manitoban community. It features such landmarks as the Cathédrale de Saint Boniface , Boulevard Provencher, the Provencher Bridge, Esplanade Riel, St. Boniface Hospital, the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface and the Royal...

, St. Vital, West Kildonan

West Kildonan

West Kildonan is a residential suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba, lying on the west side of the Red River, and immediately north of the old City of Winnipeg in the north-central part of the city...

, East Kildonan, Tuxedo, Old Kildonan

Old Kildonan

Old Kildonan is a city ward of Winnipeg, Manitoba, represented by a member of Winnipeg City Council. Before the City of Winnipeg Act of 1972, it was an independent rural municipality...

, North Kildonan

North Kildonan

-History:Originally there was only one large rural municipality known as Kildonan. In 1914, it was divided into the Rural Municipality of West Kildonan and the R.M. of East Kildonan. A petition to the provincial government led to a further division of East Kildonan.On January 1, 1925, the...

, Fort Garry, Charleswood, and the City of St. James, were amalgamated with the Old City of Winnipeg.

In 1979, the Eaton's

Eaton's

The T. Eaton Co. Limited was once Canada's largest department store retailer. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an Irish immigrant. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying offices across the globe, and a catalogue...

catalogue building was converted into the first downtown mall in the city. It was called Eaton Place, but would change its name to Cityplace

Cityplace (Winnipeg)

Cityplace is an office and retail complex situated in Downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. It consists mainly of the former Eaton's company mail-order warehouse building that occupies the block bounded by Hargrave and Donald Streets, and Graham and St. Mary Avenues...

following the controversial demolition of the empty Eaton's store in 2002.

Immediately following the 1979 energy crisis

1979 energy crisis

The 1979 oil crisis in the United States occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Amid massive protests, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, fled his country in early 1979 and the Ayatollah Khomeini soon became the new leader of Iran. Protests severely disrupted the Iranian oil...

, Winnipeg experienced a severe economic downturn in advance of the early 1980s recession

Early 1980s recession

The early 1980s recession describes the severe global economic recession affecting much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States and Japan exited recession relatively early, but high unemployment would continue to affect other OECD nations through at least 1985...

. Throughout the recession, the city incurred closures of prominent businesses such as the Winnipeg Tribune

Winnipeg Tribune

The Winnipeg Tribune was a metropolitan daily newspaper serving Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from January 28, 1890 to August 27, 1980. The paper was founded by R.L. Richardson and D.L. McIntyre who acquired the press and premises of the old Winnipeg Sun newspaper. It was often viewed as a liberal...

and the Swift's

Swift & Company

Swift & Company is an American food procession company a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS S.A. , a Brazilian company that is the world's largest processor of fresh beef and pork, with more than US$30 billion in annual sales as of 2010. It is also the largest beef processor in Australia.Swift &...

and Canada Packers

Canada Packers

Canada Packers was the largest meat packing and meat processing company in Canada, located in Ontario. It is now part of Maple Leaf Foods through a merger with Maple Leaf Mills....

meat packing plants

Meat packing industry

The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock...

. In 1981, Winnipeg was one of the first cities in Canada to sign a tripartite agreement to redevelop its downtown area. The three levels of government—federal, provincial and municipal—have contributed over $271-million to the development needs of downtown Winnipeg over the past 20 years. The funding was instrumental in attracting Portage Place

Portage Place

Portage Place is a mixed-use shopping centre located on the north side of Portage Avenue, between Vaughan and Carlton Streets in Downtown Winnipeg...

mall, which comprises the headquarters of Investors Group

IGM Financial

IGM Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company, with $133.5 billion in total assets under management as at May 31, 2011.Its activities are carried out principally by Investors Group, through a network of approximately 4,600 Consultants, by Mackenzie Financial Corporation through a...

, the offices of Air Canada

Air Canada

Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...

, and several apartment complexes.

In 1989, the reclamation and redevelopment of the CNR

Canadian National Railway

The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

rail yard

Rail yard

A rail yard, or railroad yard, is a complex series of railroad tracks for storing, sorting, or loading/unloading, railroad cars and/or locomotives. Railroad yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock stored off the mainline, so that they do not obstruct the flow of traffic....

s at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers turned The Forks into Winnipeg's most popular tourist attraction.

In 1993, feeling that their community needs were not being fulfilled, the residents of Headingley

Headingley, Manitoba

Headingley is a rural municipality in Manitoba, Canada. It is located directly west of Winnipeg and has a population of 2,726 people as of the 2006 census. The Trans-Canada Highway and the Assiniboine River run through the municipality. The portion located on the south bank of the Assiniboine is...

seceded from Winnipeg and officially became incorporated as a municipality.

In 1996 Winnipeg's National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

team (the Winnipeg Jets) left for Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

.

During the 1997 Red River Flood, the floodway was pushed to its limits. The Red River Floodway Expansion is set to be completed in late 2010 at a final cost of more than $665,000,000 CAD

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

Political history

The first elections for city government in Winnipeg were held shortly after incorporation in 1873. On January 5, 1874, Francis Evans Cornish

Francis Evans Cornish

Francis Evans Cornish, QC was a politician in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. He served as Mayor of London, Ontario, in the early 1860s, became the first Mayor of Winnipeg in 1874, and was for a time a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.Cornish was born in London,...

, former mayor of London, Ontario, defeated Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....

editor and owner William F. Luxton

William F. Luxton

William Fisher Luxton was a Canadian teacher, newspaper editor and publisher, politician, and office holder....

by a margin of 383 votes to 179. There were only 382 eligible voters in the city at the time, but property owners were allowed to vote in every civic poll in which they owned property. Until 1955, mayors could only serve one term. City government consisted of 13 aldermen

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

and one mayor; this number of elected officials remained constant until 1920.

Construction of a new City Hall commenced in 1875. The building proved to be a structural nightmare, and eventually had to be held up by props and beams. The building was eventually demolished so that a new City Hall could be built in 1883.

A new City Hall building was constructed in 1886. It was a "gingerbread" building, built in Victorian

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

grandeur, and symbolized Winnipeg's coming of age at the end of the 19th century. The building stood for nearly 80 years. There was a plan to replace it around the World War I era (during the construction of the Manitoba Legislative Building.), but the war delayed that process. In 1958, falling plaster almost hit visitors to the City Hall building. The tower eventually had to be removed, and in 1962, the whole building was torn down.

The Winnipeg City Council

Winnipeg City Council

The Winnipeg City Council is the governing body of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors.-2006-2010:Council elected in the 2006 election:-2010-2014:...

embraced the idea of a "Civic Centre" as a replacement for the old city hall. The concept originally called for an administrative building and a council building, with a courtyard in between. Eventually, a police headquarters and remand centre (the Public Safety Building) and parkade

Parking

Parking is the act of stopping a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied for more than a brief time. Parking on one or both sides of a road is commonly permitted, though often with restrictions...

were added to the plans. The four buildings were completed in 1964 in the brutalist

Brutalist architecture

Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...

style, at a cost of $8.2 million. The Civic Centre and the Manitoba Centennial Centre

Manitoba Centennial Centre

The Manitoba Centennial Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada was an urban renewal program that began in 1960. The Centennial Concert Hall, as part of the Centennial Centre, was built as a Canadian Centennial project. The concert hall cost $8 million. The venue presently has a seating capacity of...

were connected by underground tunnels in 1967.

External links

1905 Magazine Article with photos

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