Historic Places of the Red River FIELD TRIPS: Volume II

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Historic Places of the Red River FIELD TRIPS
Volume II

• Rivers West
• Manitoba Historic Resources
• Historic Places Initiative

Rivers West
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Come Explore
Historic Places along the Red River are great
places to explore they bring history to life!
St. Boniface Museum
HRB
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Lots to see and do

• Here are just a few places to visit
• Lower Fort Garry
• Fort Dufferin
• Neubergthal street village
• Riel House
• St. Norbert Provincial Heritage Park
• Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
  and Mary
• Canadian Pacific Railway Station
• The Exchange District
• Walker Theatre
• St. Boniface Cathedral
• St. Andrews Lock and Dam

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
CPR Station
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Lower Fort Garry
Have you ever been to Lower Fort Garry? There is
so much to see and do there.
Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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Lower Fort Garry
Lower Fort Garry was built between 1830 and 1850
it is a big place. This is the oldest stone fur
trading post in North America!
Parks Canada
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Lower Fort Garry

• The fort has many stories to tell.
• One of the stories is about life in the fur trade
  with trappers, traders and voyageurs.

M. G. Leyson, Grade 6
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Lower Fort Garry

• LFG supplied the fur trade. It was a shipping
  centre like a warehouse for the fur trade.
  Instead of semi trailers they used York boats.
• Goods were shipped to LFG from London and furs
  were sent to London from LFG all by boat.

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Lower Fort Garry

• When you visit LFG you can meet traders and
  people who lived and worked at the fort 150 years
  ago.
• They might ask you to help them with the work.

Parks Canada
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Lower Fort Garry

• In 1871 a very important meeting took place at
  LFG.
• The Ojibwa and Cree met with Canadian
  representatives to sign Treaty One an agreement
  still very important today!

PAM
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Lower Fort Garry

• In 1873 another big event occurred at the fort.
• The North West Mounted Police had just been
  formed and they were on their way west to keep
  peace on the frontier.

PAM
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Lower Fort Garry

• The newly formed police force, later named the
  RCMP, stayed at LFG before going to Fort Dufferin
  to start their famous March West across the wild
  prairies.

PAM
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Lower Fort Garry

• Because of its location on the Red River, the
  fort has played many important roles in our
  history.
• A visit to the fort is full of fun stories of our
  past that you can be part of.

Parks Canada
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Fort Dufferin

• Fort Dufferin is not what you think of as a fort
  it had no walls or turrets. But it played an
  important role in protecting Canada.

PAM
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Fort Dufferin

• In the early 1800s there was no clear border
  between Canada and the USA. People argued over
  land because they didnt know where the border
  was.

PAM
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Fort Dufferin

• In 1872 a group of Britons and Canadians were
  sent to measure and mark the 49th parallel
  between the two countries, from Lake of the Woods
  all the way across the frontier to the Rocky
  Mountains.

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Fort Dufferin

• These were the men of the Boundary Commission.
  They built Fort Dufferin on the edge of the Red
  River at the 49th parallel. It would be their
  camp and home base for the next two years.

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Fort Dufferin

• They had no GPS or modern equipment to determine
  where the border was so they used the stars!
• In the dead of night, they took readings from a
  telescope. The first important reading was taken
  at Fort Dufferin.

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Fort Dufferin

• The work was hard. They had to make their way in
  the wild prairie grassland.
• They faced scorching sun, blizzards, mosquitoes,
  and grass fires too wide to outrun. It was
  difficult to find water, food and firewood across
  the thousand kilometres of wilderness.

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Fort Dufferin

• After the astronomers found the 49th parallel
  with the stars, crews marked the border with
  large mounds.
• They also built a trail, which would later be
  used by the NWMP and tens of thousands of
  pioneers who followed.

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Fort Dufferin

• While the Boundary Commission was out marking the
  border and blazing the trail across the West,
  another group came to use Fort Dufferin.
• Do you know who they were?

HRB
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Fort Dufferin

• It was the North West Mounted Police. They were
  here to train and get ready to start their March
  West.
• They stayed for two weeks before striking out on
  the Boundary Commission Trail.

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Fort Dufferin

• Two years after the Boundary Commission started,
  they reached the Rocky Mountains. On August 18,
  1874 they began their trip back to Fort Dufferin
  it took 43 days.
• After that the fort was sold to the government to
  become an immigration station.

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Neubergthal

• The next group to use Fort Dufferin were the many
  pioneers coming to settle prairie homesteads.
• Among them were thousands of Mennonites making
  the long trip from Russia.

HRB
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Neubergthal

• The Canadian government wanted the Mennonites to
  come to the West because they were very good
  farmers.
• The government promised the Mennonites two blocks
  of land one on the east side of the Red River
  and one on the west side.

Mennonite West Reserve
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Neubergthal

• All across the West Reserve the Mennonites built
  little villages with their family and friends.
• They are called street villages because they are
  laid out along one street.

HRB
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Neubergthal

• A common sight in the street village is the
  housebarn. Can you guess what that is?

It is a house with a barn attached a good idea
for cold Manitoba winters. You dont have to go
outdoors to feed the animals.
HRB
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Neubergthal

• Neubergthal is a street village close to Altona.
• The whole village is a National Historic Site.
• Would you like to live in a National Historic
  Site? What do you think it would be like?

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Neubergthal

• Would you like to live in a housebarn and bake
  fresh bread and cookies in a Russian bake oven?
• Maybe you would like to help feed the animals in
  the barn?
• Visit Neubergthal National Historic Site and you
  may be able to do both.

Town of Altona website
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Riel House

• Along the Red River in south St. Vital sits the
  house of Louis Riels mother Julie. This was the
  second house built for Julie on this long river
  lot. It was built in 1891 and remained the family
  home until 1968.

Parks Canada
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Riel House

• It was in this house that Louis Riel lay in state
  after his execution and here his youngest
  children, Jean-Louis and Angelique, lived after
  Louis died.

HRB
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Riel House

• Today Louis Riel is considered one of the
  nations founding fathers both the founder of
  Manitoba and a Father of Confederation.

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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Riel House

• Riel and his provisional government of 1869-1870
  were not always seen as the heroes they are
  today.
• During the Northwest Rebellion (1885) in
  Saskatchewan, Riel and the Métis were seen by
  some as traitors because they fought for the
  rights of the people living there.

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Riel House

• Louis Riel was executed in Regina in 1885 for
  leading the Northwest Rebellion in Saskatchewan.
  His body was returned to Manitoba and lay in
  state at Riel House for two days before being
  buried at St. Boniface Cathedral.
• That is why Riel House is now a National Historic
  Site.

PAM
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Riel House

• How many things can you think of that are named
  after Louis Riel?

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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Riel House

• When you visit Riel House you can do lots churn
  butter, make bannock, create a fléché and play
  games just like Jean-Louis and Angelique did.

Parks Canada
Parks Canada
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St. Norbert Provincial Park

• Across the Red River and just to the south of
  Riel House is St. Norbert.
• Nestled between the Red and La Salle rivers is a
  wee park that tells the story of Métis and French
  settlers. Do you know its name?

HRB
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St. Norbert Provincial Park

• Right it is St. Norbert Provincial Park! It is
  a fun place to go to find out more about the
  Métis and some of the early French settlers in
  the area. They have houses to explore, games to
  play and trails to follow.

A. Knispel
Fort Garry Historical Society
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St. Norbert Provincial Park

• One house you will explore is Bohémier House. It
  was built for a family from Quebec that came to
  live in Manitoba in 1883.
• Why do you think they might have come here?

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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St. Norbert Provincial Park

• Another place to explore is Turenne House.
• Or maybe you will be put to work in its big
  vegetable garden!

HRB
HRB
Fort Garry Historical Society
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St. Norbert Provincial Park

• Both houses have strange artifacts or historic
  objects. Be sure to ask your guide what they were
  used for in the olden days.

Fort Garry Historical Society
Fort Garry Historical Society
Fort Garry Historical Society
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St. Norbert Provincial Park

• There is lots to do and see at St. Norbert Park!

Fort Garry Historical Society
Fort Garry Historical Society
A. Knispel
Fort Garry Historical Society
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Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary

• The convent at St. Pierre-Jolys was built in
  1900. It is the third oldest convent still
  standing in Manitoba.
• It was a school as well as a place for the
  sisters to live. Would you like to go to school
  here?

HRB
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Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary

• Archbishop Taché asked the Sisters of the Holy
  Names of Jesus and Mary, in Montreal, to come to
  Manitoba to help the Grey Nuns teach school and
  take care of people.
• It was a long trip here, but they were welcomed
  by the Grey Nuns and put to work.

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Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary

• The sisters settled into teaching like here at
  the convent.
• Girls who went to school at the convent lived
  here, on the top floor.
• Boys didnt live here they just came to school
  every day from home.
• Would you rather live here or travel here every
  day?

HRB
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Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary

• In the middle of the convents mansard roof is a
  small bell tower can you see it?
• On the second floor there is a little chapel,
  with two stained-glass windows.
• The attic on the top level is where the girls
  lived when going to school.

HRB
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Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary

• The convent has been the centre of the community
  since it was built more than 100 years ago.
• The building is now a museum that tells the story
  of the important role the sisters played in
  education, health care and social services in
  Manitoba.

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Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary

• Up and down the Red River, sisters travelled or
  lived in small towns to take care of the people,
  to teach school, to help the sick and elderly.
• What do you think their life would be like?

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Convent of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus
and Mary

• On your field trip to the convent museum you can
  see where the children went to school and the
  sisters lived.
• You can also visit Goulet House and Cabane a
  Sucre on the museum grounds. Do you know what
  Cabane a Sucre means?

HRB
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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

• When settlers were coming west it took a long
  time to get here.
• Just like the Mennonites and the sisters at the
  convent, they had to take lots of different forms
  of transportation.
• Then in the late 1880s the railway was completed
  across eastern Canada to Manitoba.

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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

• By 1900, Winnipeg was booming. It was the fastest
  growing city in North America and was called the
  Gateway to the West.
• Thousands of people were arriving in the city
  daily.

PAM
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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

• Winnipeg needed a new train station one that
  was very grand to fit the citys reputation as
  Gateway to the West.
• The new CPR station was completed in 1905.

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

• The new station was impressive outside and
  inside.
• It was a monument to the success of the CPR. It
  showed the wealth of Winnipeg and impressed those
  who walked through its doors.

HRB
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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

• Would you be impressed if you were a poor
  immigrant child coming to Canada 100 years ago?
• Would this look like a palace to you?

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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

• The station was part of a complex, which included
  the luxurious Royal Alexandra Hotel.
• The Royal Alexandra Hotel, a city landmark, was
  demolished in 1971.

HRB
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Canadian Pacific Railway Station

• The building continued to operate as a railway
  station until 1978. The CPR left the station in
  1990.  
• Today it is a provincial and national historic
  site because of its architecture and history.
• The CPR station is now home to the Aboriginal
  Centre of Winnipeg.

Parks Canada
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The Exchange District

• From 1880 to 1913 Winnipeg was Canadas fastest
  growing city.
• In 1905, construction in Winnipeg was greater
  than any other city in North America.
• Some thought Winnipeg would become the capital of
  Canada!

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• Winnipegs rise as a major city was tied to two
  things.
• One was supplying the growing population of
  immigrants settling in Manitoba. They needed
  everything from clothes to ploughs.
• The second was the change from subsistence
  farming to commercial agriculture and exporting
  wheat.

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• The Exchange District was the hub of Winnipegs
  business. Within an area of twenty blocks, west
  from the Red River and north from Portage Avenue,
  were banks, warehouses, and Canadas first
  skyscrapers!

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• Winnipeg was the leader in the fields of finance,
  manufacturing, wholesale distribution and
  international grain trade.
• The Winnipeg Grain Exchange was the largest in
  the world!

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• The bank buildings exhibited the wealth of
  Winnipeg and the West.
• The Union Bank and Confederation buildings are
  the first skyscrapers built in Canada!

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• Winnipeg came to be called the Chicago of the
  North because the two cities shared similarities
  in their growth, prosperity and architecture.
  Both were major commercial, financial,
  manufacturing and transportation centres.

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• Great events happened in the Exchange District.
  One of them was the Winnipeg General Strike in
  Market Square.

HRB
Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• Winnipegs economic boom did not last. Wheat
  prices fell and so did mass immigration causing
  a drop in Winnipegs retail and wholesale
  business.
• The opening of the Panama Canal ended Winnipegs
  role as a transportation and shipment centre. Do
  you know where Panama is?

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• Then came the bust years.
• Since the 1920s there was little demand to
  replace buildings in the Exchange District.
• This is a good thing can you guess why?

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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The Exchange District

• It is good because we didnt tear down all our
  heritage buildings some of which are very
  special so today it is a National Historic
  Site. It tells us the story of the boom years.
• Do you know why else it is good?

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The Exchange District

• The second reason is because now our Exchange
  District is a great place to make movies.
• Can you name any movies filmed here?

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The Walker Theatre

• On February 18, 1907 the lights dimmed, the crowd
  settled and the curtain rose on the first of many
  live performances at the newly built Walker
  Theatre.

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The Walker Theatre

• Named after owner Corliss Powers Walker, the
  theatre was perhaps the finest of the many
  theatres that sprang up to provide entertainment
  to the growing population in Winnipeg.

HRB
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The Walker Theatre

• Modelled after theatres in Chicago, the Walker
  featured
• a magnificent vaulted ceiling
• a huge stage framed by an impressive proscenium
  arch
• side loges and two balconies

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The Walker Theatre

• The top balcony, reached by a separate exterior
  entrance, was furnished with wooden benches. The
  Gods, as they were called, provided inexpensive
  seating. Corliss Walker tried to make cultural
  performances available to rich and poor alike.

View from The Gods
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The Walker Theatre

• Imagine sitting comfortably in the loge waiting
  to see the top performers of the day. You could
  hear the buzz of the crowd as they anticipated
  the performance and visited with friends and
  neighbours.
• Which performers would you like to see here?

HRB
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The Walker Theatre

• While the finest New York shows were memorable,
  it was the social and political events held here
  that had lasting impact.
• On January 28, 1914, Nellie McClung and others,
  including Walkers wife and daughter, put on a
  show called A Mock Parliament. The event helped
  women win the right to vote in Manitoba.

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The Walker Theatre

• On Sunday December 22, 1918, a political meeting
  of the Winnipeg Trade Council and the Socialist
  Party of Canada took place at the Walker Theatre.
  
• This was one of the mass meetings of Winnipeg
  workers leading up the 1919 Winnipeg General
  Strike.

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The Walker Theatre

• You can still see shows at the Walker but it is
  now named after a famous Winnipeg performer
  Burton Cummings!

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St. Boniface Cathedral

• Across the river from The Forks you can see an
  impressive site the St. Boniface Cathedral.
• It is one of the most recognized landmarks in the
  city of Winnipeg.

Stan Milosevic www.manitobaphotos.com
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St. Boniface Cathedral

• The cathedral has a long and sometimes sad story.
  
• It started as a small log chapel beside the river
  in 1818. But there are no pictures of that first
  chapel.
• By 1832 Father Provencher and his followers
  needed a bigger space. They built this church
  with two spires.

St. Boniface 1839
PAM
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St. Boniface Cathedral

• Sadly the beautiful church with two spires burned
  down in 1860. But Bishop Provencher, Bishop Taché
  and their flock did not give up. They built
  another church two years later

Painting by William Napier in 1858
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St. Boniface Cathedral

• This church, with one spire, served the people
  for many years. The population was growing
  steadily so by the early 1900s a new, bigger
  church was needed.
• Also, this church was having problems the
  ringing bells caused so much vibration the walls
  were cracking.

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St. Boniface Cathedral

• In 1905 they began to build again. This time they
  built the new cathedral behind the existing one.
  You can see both in this picture.
• You can also see the Grey Nuns Convent, now the
  St. Boniface Museum, in the foreground.

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St. Boniface Cathedral

• This was to be the most magnificent of all the
  cathedrals. It was a work of art.

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St. Boniface Cathedral

• The cathedral was loved for its beautiful
  architecture inside and out. But 60 years after
  being built

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St. Boniface Cathedral

• disaster struck!
• On July 22, 1968 the cathedral went up in flames,
  again.

University of Manitoba Archives
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St. Boniface Cathedral

• Little was left of the cathedral but a shell.
• Still, the people of St. Boniface would face the
  challenge and build their cathedral again! This
  time they would ask one of their greatest
  architects to design a cathedral within the ruins
  of the old one.

Travel Manitoba
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St. Boniface Cathedral

• The great St. Boniface architect Etienne
  Gaboury built the new cathedral, sheltered
  inside the walls of the ruins.

Heritage Winnipeg
Archiseek.com
Venite
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St. Boniface Cathedral

• On your visit to the cathedral you will see the
  burned out ruins and the new church sheltered
  inside.
• You can also explore the cemetery where many
  famous Manitobans are buried, including Louis
  Riel.

G. Hebert
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• At one time the Red River was like the
  Trans-Canada Highway. Instead of semi trailers,
  boats moved goods up and down the river.
• But there was a bad stretch of river called Grand
  Rapids at St. Andrews.

PAM
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• No matter what kind of boat you had canoe,
  barge, York boat or steamer they were broken to
  bits in the rapids. Cargo and lives were lost
  trying to run those treacherous rapids.

PAM
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• So at either end of the rapids, cargos were
  unloaded, put onto ox carts or wagons and hauled
  to the other end of the rapids, then reloaded
  onto another boat.
• It was a lot of work and slowed down
  transportation terribly.

Rivers West
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• The only solution they could find was to build a
  dam at the north end of the rapids. The dam would
  hold the water back so it would be deeper over
  the rapids and boats could travel safely.

S
N
PAM
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• The trouble was how to build it so in the spring
  the ice on the river did not clog up at the dam.
  Ice jams would cause more problems.
• A special kind of dam was built called a
  curtain dam that would allow ice to flow
  through it.

Public Works Canada
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• It works by using big wooden curtains like
  window blinds. They roll down in front of the dam
  to hold the water back from flowing through the
  dam.

Public Works Canada
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• A lock would also be needed to let boats get
  around the dam. Do you know how a lock works?
• Hint On one side of the dam the water is higher
  than on the other side, so how would they adjust
  for water levels?

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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• A boat would pull into the lock, like a big
  swimming pool. The water in the lock would be
  either pumped in or drained out depending on
  which way the boat was going. Then the boat could
  pull out of the lock at the same water level as
  the river.

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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• It was hard work to build a dam in 1905.

Building the lock
Public Works Canada
Public Works Canada
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• They had no heavy equipment so most of the work
  was done by men and horses.

Public Works Canada
Public Works Canada
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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• In 1910, St. Andrews Lock and Dam were finally
  finished. The opening was a big event. Prime
  Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier was there to
  celebrate the opening.

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St. Andrews Lock Dam

• The St. Andrews Lock and Dam is an amazing
  engineering achievement. It is the largest
  curtain dam ever constructed and possibly the
  last surviving one in the world.
• Today it is a National Historic Site and a great
  place to fish!

HRB
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Come Explore

• Historic places along the Red River are rich in
  our history. Each place has its own story to
  tell. Come explore them and listen to what tales
  they might tell you.

Rivers West