Showing 124 results

people and organizations

Old Kildonan (Man.)

  • Corporate body
  • 1921-1971

The Rural Municipality of Old Kildonan, Manitoba was incorporated in 1921 following subdivision of the Rural Municipality of West Kildonan, and dissolved in 1972 when it joined eleven other municipalities in amalgamating with the City of Winnipeg. Its mandate was to provide municipal services to residents of the area. Its immediate predecessor, the Rural Municipality of West Kildonan, was incorporated in 1914 as a result of subdivision of the original Municipality of Kildonan (incorporated 1881, with jurisdiction over land on both the east and west sides of the Red River). Prior to creation of the Province of Manitoba in 1870, the area was administered by the Council of Assiniboia (1835-1870). Following the Dominion Government of Canada’s purchase of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1869, the newly formed Province of Manitoba had jurisdiction over the area and began the process of municipal incorporation. The signing of Treaty 1 with the Chippewa (Anishinabe) and Cree First Nations in 1871 increased settlement in the region and accelerated the process of municipal development. The name “Kildonan” dates from 1817, when the Earl of Selkirk created the Parish of Kildonan while visiting the colony he had established in 1812. The name refers to the Strath of Kildonan on the Sutherland estate in Scotland from whence a number of his settlers had come.

Plunkett, Thomas J.

  • Person
  • 1921-2005

Thomas J. Plunkett was born in Northern Ireland in 1921 and grew up in Montreal. He served with the Air Force during the Second World War and obtained degrees from Sir George Williams (Concordia) University and McGill University. He worked as a consultant and advisor on public administration to municipalities across Canada and internationally, and was the chief advisor on the amalgamation of the Greater Winnipeg Metropolitan Area in 1972. He passed away in Kingston in 2005.

Smaill, William

  • Person
  • 1870-1947

William Smaill was born in Montréal in 1870 and was educated as a chemist and a civil engineer. In 1892, Smaill was living in Acadian Mines, Nova Scotia, but briefly returned to Montréal to marry Jane Robinson Batt, who was from Ireland. In 1894, they had a son, William Hubert, and a daughter, Margaret Kathleen, in 1896. Shortly after this, Smaill and his family moved to Rat Portage (now Kenora), where he worked as a mining engineer and had two more children: Elsie in 1899 and Carlton in 1901.

Smaill was involved in the construction of the Winnipeg Aqueduct that transports safe drinking water from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg. Preliminary work for the aqueduct began in 1914 and included the building of the Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway and the Falcon River Diversion that diverted the waters of Falcon River, which had an unwanted colour, to Snowshoe Bay. The diversion solved the problem of unwanted colouration of the water supply, but had the effect of limiting Kekekoziibii Shoal Lake 40 First Nation's access to the mainland. In September 1914, contracts were awarded to various companies to build portions of the aqueduct. The Northern Construction Company and the Carter Halls Aldinger Company made a joint bid and were awarded contracts 32, 33, and 34 to build over 47 miles of the aqueduct between Indian Bay and the Whitemouth River. The Winnipeg Aqueduct Construction Company, a conglomerate of Northern Construction and Carter Halls Aldiner, was incorporated in January 1915. William Smaill served as the new company’s superintendent, overseeing the construction of its portion of the aqueduct. The aqueduct was completed in March 1919.

Smaill took many photographs of the construction process and believed photography could be used as an engineering tool. He gave a paper to a University of Manitoba engineering class in 1918 titled, “The Uses of the Camera in Engineering Work”. He wrote several other papers on the aqueduct’s construction, including articles for the Excavating Engineer (1915 and 1917) out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the Engineer News Records (1917), out of New York City.

Smaill and his family lived in several places while construction of the aqueduct was underway. These places included Reynolds, Manitoba, the Rural Municipality of Springfield, Manitoba, as well as various camps along the aqueduct’s construction route. Shortly after the aqueduct’s completion, Smaill and his wife moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he was involved in the construction of the Ballantyne Pier and the Second Narrows Bridge. Smaill’s son, William Hubert, also an engineer, served in the First World War as a sapper from 1916 to 1918. Smaill’s other son, Carlton, died in 1921. Smaill passed away in Vancouver in 1947.

South Winnipeg (1923) Limited

  • Corporate body
  • 1911-?

South Winnipeg Limited was incorporated in Manitoba shortly after 1911 as a result of an agreement signed by Tuxedo Estates Limited, Tuxedo Park Company Limited, Kenaston Realty Company Limited and Warner Land Company Limited in 1911. The principals and major investors in these companies were Frederick W. Heubach and David Finkelstein of Winnipeg, E. C. Kenaston of Hopkins, Minnesota (president of American-Abel Engine and Thresher Company), E. C. Warner of Minneapolis (president of Midland Linseed Oil Company), G. F. Piper of Minneapolis (Piper and Co. Wholesale Grain Merchants), Walter D. Douglas of Cedar Rapids, Iowa (president of American Cereal Co.). South Winnipeg Limited was incorporated for the purpose of amalgamating various properties in and around Tuxedo, with plans to develop and sell this land for industrial and residential purposes. The company was reorganized in 1923 as South Winnipeg (1923) Limited and continued to buy and sell land. It was sold circa 1950 to Sir Denys Lowson, Lord Mayor of London. After Lowson’s death, the company was purchased by a Winnipeg firm.

St. Boniface (Man.)

  • Corporate body
  • 1880-1971

Though its history goes back much further, it wasn't until 1880 that St. Boniface was incorporated as a municipality - after a provincial law made incorporation mandatory. It was reclassified as a town in 1883 and reincorporated as a city in 1908, at which point it was the fifth largest city in Western Canada. Though St. Boniface was and continues to be the home of the largest French community in Western Canada, almost all official correspondence was conducted in English by the end of the First World War. St. Boniface developed as an industrial community, due in part to the presence of multiple rail lines. Industries like meat packing and construction brought workers to the city's eastern edge and companies like Shell, CN, CP, Ladco, and Canada Packers were big employers. In an effort to streamline municipal government, the City of St. Boniface joined eleven other municipalities in amalgamating with the City of Winnipeg in 1972.

St. James - Winnipeg Airport Commission

  • Corporate body
  • 1938-1965

In 1936, after considering a number of sites for the establishment of an airport, the City of Winnipeg and the Rural Municipality of St. James agreed to develop Stevenson Field as a modern municipal airport. Stevenson Field had been operated by the Winnipeg Flying Club on land in the Rural Municipality of St. James since 1929. It was named for Captain F. J. Stevenson, a noted Manitoba flyer who died in a crash in 1928. Private flyers, commercial companies and the RCAF Non-Permanent Squadron used this field. The new airport was to be managed and controlled by a commission.

The St. James - Winnipeg Airport Commission Act was passed by the Legislature of Manitoba in 1938 and the inaugural meeting was held on March 30, 1938. The Commission was a statutory corporation with full control over the operation of the airport, with the added intent to work toward making the airport into a self-sustaining commercial entity. In 1940, the Government of Canada embarked on its Empire Air Training Scheme and Stevenson Airport was placed under the direction of the Minister of Transport for the duration of World War Two. During this time, the Commission continued in an advisory capacity. Following the war, the federal government retained control of the airport and the Commission continued in an advisory role. In 1962, the name "Stevenson Field" was changed to "Winnipeg International Airport". In 1965, the Commission was wound up and its assets distributed. In 1997, Transport Canada transferred control of the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport to the Winnipeg Airports Authority, Inc.

The Commission was comprised of seven members: two were members of the Council of the City of Winnipeg; two were members of the Council of the Rural Municipality of St. James; two were non-Council members (one selected by the City of Winnipeg and one selected by the Rural Municipality of St. James); and one was a representative of the aviation industry in the Greater Winnipeg area appointed by the six other members. Under the terms of incorporation, the Commission was required to report to Council at the end of each year or as required.

St. James (Man.). Parks Board

  • Corporate body
  • [1921?]-[1971?]

The St. James Parks Board managed and operated parks in the City of St. James.

St. James-Assiniboia (Man.)

  • Corporate body
  • 1908-1971

The City of St. James-Assiniboia, Manitoba, was incorporated in 1968, the product of a merger between the City of St. James and the Rural Municipality of Assiniboia, and was dissolved in 1972 when it joined eleven other municipalities in amalgamation with the City of Winnipeg. The City of St. James grew out of the Rural Municipality of St. James, which had been partitioned out of the Municipality of Assiniboia and incorporated in 1921 (in effect, separating the urban and rural parts of the Municipality of Assiniboia, with St. James representing the urban portion). The Rural Municipality of St. James, became the City of St. James in 1956 and merged with the Town of Brooklands in 1967. The mandate was to provide municipal services to citizens of the area.

The name “St. James” originated in 1853 when the Church of England received a grant of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company and formed the Parish of St. James. Prior to creation of the Province of Manitoba in 1870, the area was administered by the Council of Assiniboia (1835-1870). Following the Dominion Government of Canada’s purchase of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1869, the newly formed Province of Manitoba had jurisdiction over the area and began the process of municipal incorporation. Once Treaty 1 was signed in 1871, settlement in the region increased, as did the process of municipal development. The name “St. James” continues as an electoral ward within the City of Winnipeg.

St. Vital (Man.)

  • Corporate body
  • 1880-1971

The Rural Municipality and City of St. Vital dates to 1880 when the RM of St. Boniface was incorporated. After the Town of St. Boniface was formed in 1883, the RM of St. Boniface continued to operate as its own government and in 1903 changed its name to St. Vital to avoid confusion. The name likely derives from one of the earliest schools in the area built by Bishop Taché and named after his coadjutor Bishop Vital Grandin. The municipality experienced a series of boundary changes beginning in 1891 when it was reduced to the east and extended in the west and south. Further alterations were made in 1912 when the community on the west side of the Red River separated to form the RM of Fort Garry, and then in 1914, when a large tract of land was annexed to the City of St. Boniface and land annexed from the RM of Ritchot. It was bounded on the west and east by the Red and Seine Rivers, Carriere Avenue on the north and Grande Pointe on the south. It included parts of the Parishes of St. Boniface, St. Vital, and St. Norbert. In 1960, St. Vital became part of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. With the passing of An Act to provide a Charter for the City of St. Vital, it achieved city status on June 9, 1962.

Councils consisted of a Reeve or Mayor and, in most instances, six councillors. The municipality derived authority from provincial legislation and was subject to the provisions of The Municipal Act, The Metropolitan Winnipeg Act and The Greater Winnipeg Gas Distribution Act. It briefly lost its mandate to govern between 1925 and 1927 when the Winnipeg Suburban Municipal Board stepped in due to financial difficulties. Standing committees and delegations changed from year to year in response to municipal growth. Council members notably participated in the St. Vital Advisory Planning Commission, St. Vital Library Board, and St. Vital Parks Board. Departments within the municipality included Administration, Public Works, Police and Fire. In 1952, Police and Fire went from being one department into two. Shortly after St. Vital became a city in 1962, the position of Secretary-Treasurer was split into City Clerk and City Treasurer.

The City of St. Vital ceased to exist in 1972, when Chapter 105 of the Statutes of Manitoba came into force unifying twelve area municipalities and the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg into one city government. Following amalgamation, the Community of St. Vital was created as part of the new municipal structure.

The Bike Dump

  • Corporate body
  • 2005-

The Bike Dump is a volunteer-run community bicycle education space that was founded in 2005 to make cycling and repair knowledge accessible to everyone. It provides tools and a shop for cyclists to refurbish and recycle discarded bicycles.

The W.R.E.N.C.H.

  • Corporate body
  • 2010-

The W.R.E.N.C.H. (Winnipeg Repair Education and Cycling Hub) is a registered charity that was founded in 2010 to provide community bike programing to schools, community members, and other organizations with the aim of supporting and promoting the use of active transportation options that are sustainable and affordable. In addition to operating its own bike repair shop that opened its doors in 2011 and reclaiming discarded bikes, it supports other bike shops in schools and around the community.

Thompson, Susan A.

  • Person
  • 1947-

Susan A. Thompson was the 40th mayor and first woman mayor of the City of Winnipeg. She was born in Winnipeg on 12 April 1947. Spending most of her youth in the city, she graduated from the University of Winnipeg Collegiate in 1967 and earned her BA from the same university in 1971.

Embarking on a successful career in retail, Thompson worked for Eaton’s and the Hudson’s Bay Company in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Montreal. Called home in 1980 after her father’s illness, she bought the family business Birt Saddlery, a long standing and well known local business, and embarked on a successful career as an independent businesswoman. In that capacity, she worked hard to break many barriers for women in business, eventually becoming active in a number of business organizations such as Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

In 1992, Thompson threw her hat in the mayoral ring, winning the election in October of that year. She won a second term in 1995 and was instrumental in guiding forces in the fight against the Flood of the Century in 1997. Thompson did not seek a third term in 1998. Instead, in 1999, she was appointed as the Counsul General for Canada in Minnesota, the first woman to hold that position since it was instituted 30 years earlier. During her tenure as the Counsul General, Thompson actively promoted Canadian business and political interests with our southern neighbours.

Returning to Winnipeg in 2003, Thompson became the first and founding President and CEO of the University of Winnipeg Foundation, a position she held until 2011. The University of Winnipeg Foundation serves the University of Winnipeg in the areas of Students scholarships and bursaries, Capital projects, and academic enhancements.

Transcona (Man.)

  • Corporate body
  • 1912-1971

The Town of Transcona, Manitoba was founded in 1912, was granted a City Charter in 1961 and was dissolved in 1972 when it joined eleven other municipalities in amalgamation with the City of Winnipeg. Its mandate was to provide municipal services, primarily to immigrants attracted by employment opportunities following the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1907) and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway shops (1908). It’s immediate predecessor was a Board of Trade, set up in 1911 to govern the growing settlement. Prior to creation of the Province of Manitoba in 1870, the area was administered by the Council of Assiniboia (1835-1870). Following the Dominion Government of Canada’s purchase of land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1869, the newly formed Province of Manitoba had jurisdiction over the area and began the process of municipal incorporation. In 1921, Transcona declared bankruptcy and the area was administred by the Manitoba government until 1928. The name “Transcona” is derived from the National Transcontinental Railway and continues today as an electoral ward within the City of Winnipeg.

Tuxedo (Man.)

  • Corporate body
  • 1913-1971

The former Town of Tuxedo began as a real estate venture when Frederick William Huebach identified the area for development and founded the Tuxedo Park Company Limited in 1905. The original Town Plan for Tuxedo was designed by landscape architect Rickson A. Outhet of Montreal in 1905. The Outhet plan was never implemented. In 1910, after acquiring additional land, Heubach commissioned the Olmsted brothers (sons of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City) to create a new plan for Tuxedo. On January 24, 1913, the Tuxedo Park Company Limited incorporated the Town of Tuxedo and Heubach became its first Mayor.

The Town of Tuxedo Council consisted of a mayor and four councilors. The Town managed its own police and fire departments and the Tuxedo Public Recreation Commission. It was part of the St. James-St. Vital-Fort Garry-Charlewood-Assiniboia-Tuxedo Health Unit. There were three public schools located within the Town, managed by the Assiniboine South School Division No. 3.

The Town of Tuxedo ceased to exist in 1972, when Chapter 105 of the Statutes of Manitoba came into force unifying twelve area municipalities and the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg into one city government.

Tuxedo Park Company, Ltd.

  • Corporate body
  • 1905-[after 1930]

Between 1903 and 1905, Winnipeg real estate agent Frederick W. Huebach began to purchase land for the Tuxedo Park Company, Limited, the controlling investors of which were located in the United States: E. C. Kenaston, E. C. Warner and Walter D. Douglas. Huebach was a managing director of the firm. In 1905, the company acquired farmland owned by Mary and Archibald Wright. This significant purchase, as well as several smaller land purchases, increased the amount of land intended for development to approximately 3,000 acres. Huebach planned to see the area transformed into a “Suburb Beautiful”, and approached architect and engineer Rickson A. Outhet at his Tuxedo Park, New York office to create an appropriate plan. Outhet visited Winnipeg in 1906 to survey the land and complete work on this commission (Manitoba Free Press, April 17, 1906). In 1910, Huebach and associates created the South Winnipeg Company and engaged the Olmsted brothers to plan the subdivision west of the Agricultural College. This plan included details of a site intended for a university. West of the proposed university site lay an area referred to as “Rydal” or “West Rydal”, which was laid out for residential development. While plans to develop the area were delayed for a variety of reasons, investors continued to support the venture and a number of companies were created to manage land transactions and investment: Tuxedo (Winnipeg) Syndicate, Limited; South Winnipeg Limited (later South Winnipeg 1923 Limited); Norwood (Winnipeg) Syndicate, Limited; Warner Land Company; Tuxedo Estates, Limited; Kenaston Realty Company; Univrsity Estates, Limited; Assiniboine Estates, Limited; Assiniboine Investments, Limited; South Assiniboine Estates, Limited; West Rydal Limited; and The Canadian Agency.

Frederick William Heubach was born in Ottawa in 1859 and arrived in Winnipeg in 1879. He was employed first as an accountant with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and then as Manager of the Winnipeg Industrial Development Exhibition Association. In 1902, he partnered with W. J. Christie, an established real estate broker, until incorporating his own business in 1905. Huebach died in 1914.

Wallace, John

  • Person
  • [ca. 1920]-[after 1996]

John Wallace was a corporal in a branch of the Canadian military during and sometime before the Second World War. He lived in Fort Osborne Barracks before the War.

Weir, Alice

  • Person
  • 1903-2003

Alice Mabel Weir was born in Kenora, Ontario, 1903. Her father, William A. Weir, was a banker who helped open the first Imperial Bank in Kenora. The Weirs moved to Winnipeg in 1910, where her father became the manager of the Clearing House.

Her career in dance started when Weir was in Quebec City. After moving to Winnipeg, she continued studying ballet as well as other performing arts, including piano and violin. Weir started teaching ballet when she was 18 years old. Her parents supported her in this endeavor and converted space in their home on Wardlaw Avenue to accommodate her ballet school. The living room and dining room of their home were transformed into her studio. Weir’s mother became her greatest supporter, creating costumes for her students’ recitals.

Alice taught dance because of a passion for dancing. She travelled to study with some of the great contemporaries of the time like Leon Leonidoff, director of Radio City Music Hall (New York). She also studied in Paris and London.

Alice and her pupils performed at different locations throughout Winnipeg, putting on recitals at the Royal Alexandra Hotel, the Walker Theatre, Eaton’s Grill Room, and the Winter Club to name a few.

In 1927, Weir started dance classes in Dauphin, Manitoba. In 1928, she moved her Winnipeg dance studio out of her parents’ home to McMillan Avenue. She married Julian A. Robins in 1932 and retired from teaching the same year. They had six children together. She died in 2003.

West Kildonan (Man.)

  • Corporate body
  • 1914-1971

Following the Provincial Act of 1880, the Province of Manitoba was split into rural municipalities. The areas surrounding the City of Winnipeg were divided into three municipalities: Assiniboia, St. Boniface, and Kildonan. In 1914, the Municipality of Kildonan was split between the river into East and West Kildonan and the Rural Municipality of West Kildonan was incorporated. The first Council for the Rural Municipality was held in 1914 with Edmund Partridge as Reeve. In 1921 West Kildonan was incorporated as a town until it was incorporated as a City on April 25, 1961 with C.N. Cushner as Mayor. The City was dissolved in 1972 when it joined eleven other municipalities in amalgamation with the City of Winnipeg.

Western Canada Fire Underwriters' Association

  • Corporate body
  • 1917-1955

The Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association (CFUA) was founded in 1883 by thirty participating fire insurance companies “to establish tariffs of rates for all cities, towns and villages, making due allowance for construction and the fire appliances of each, and to make rules for the due regulation of business generally”. To reflect changes and growth in the mandate of the CFUA, the Association underwent several name changes over the years, changing its name to the Canada Underwriters’ Association in 1936 and to the Insurers’ Advisory Organization in 1975.

In 1911, the CFUA struck an agreement with the Charles E. Goad Company by which the Company was to create and revise fire insurance plans exclusively for the Association. This arrangement was terminated in 1917 and soon after the CFUA established its own plan department, known as the Underwriters’ Survey Bureau, Limited. In 1931, the Bureau purchased all assets of the Goad Company, including the copyright to insurance plans. The CFUA’s Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association Plan Department created fire insurance plans for the Prairie Provinces until the centralization of plan production in 1960. After completing the revision of the Winnipeg plan in 1975, the Association decided to cease development of fire insurance plans due to increasing costs and limited demand. The Insurers’ Advisory Organization is still in existence today.

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