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Timeline of Winnipeg history

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This is a timeline of the history of Winnipeg.

18th century

  • 1738 – The first French officer arrived in the area. Sieur de La Vérendrye built the first fur trading post on the site (Fort Rouge), which was later abandoned. The French traded in the area for several decades before Hudson's Bay Company traders arrived.
  • 1767 – The first English traders visited the area about the year 1767.

19th century

  • 1800s – Lord Selkirk was involved with the first permanent settlement (Red River Colony), the purchase of land from the Hudson's Bay Company, and a survey of river lots in the early 19th century.
  • 1809 – Fort Gibraltar was built by the North West Company.
  • 1812 – Fort Douglas was built by the Hudson's Bay Company.
  • 1818 – The Catholic Church sent two missionaries, Norbert Provencher and Sévère Dumoulin, to the forks of the Assiniboine River and the Red River of the North. Their objective was to establish a permanent mission and to convert local Indigenous peoples.
  • 1821 – The Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company ended their long rivalry with a merger. The two companies fought fiercely over trade in the area, and each destroyed some of the other's forts throughout several battles.
  • 1822 – Fort Gibraltar, at the site of present-day Winnipeg, was renamed Fort Garry and became the leading post in the region for the Hudson's Bay Company.
  • 1826 – 1826 Red River flood destroys Fort Gibraltar, and it was not rebuilt until 1835. The fort was the residence of the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company for many years.
  • 1869–70 – Winnipeg was the site of the Red River Rebellion, a conflict between the local provisional government of Métis, led by Louis Riel, and the newcomers from eastern Canada. General Garnet Wolseley was sent to put down the rebellion. This rebellion led directly to the Manitoba Act and Manitoba's entry into the Confederation as Canada's fifth province in 1870.
  • 1873 – On November 8, Winnipeg was incorporated as a city.
  • 1874 – On January 5, Francis Evans Cornish, former mayor of London, Ontario, defeated Winnipeg Free Press editor and owner William F. Luxton 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 and one mayor; this number of elected officials remained constant until 1920.
  • 1875 – Construction of a new City Hall commenced. 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.
  • 1876 – The post office officially adopted the name "Winnipeg".
  • 1877 – The first locomotive in Winnipeg, the Countess of Dufferin, arrived via steamboat in 1877.
  • 1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway completed the first direct rail link from eastern Canada, opening the door to mass immigration and settlement of Winnipeg and the Canadian Prairies. The history of Winnipeg's rail heritage and the Countess of Dufferin may be seen at the Winnipeg Railway Museum.
  • 1881 – The city's population grew from 25,000 in 1891 to more than 179,000 in 1921.
  • 1882 – Winnipeg Transit founded.
  • 1882 – Winnipeg Fire Department established.
  • 1886 – A new City Hall building was constructed. It was a "gingerbread" building, built with Victorian grandeur, and symbolized Winnipeg's coming of age at the end of the 19th century. 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.

20th century

21st century

See also

Notes

  1. The Forks National Historic Site of Canada. "Parks Canada". Archived from the original on December 6, 2007. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
  2. Narrative of an expedition to the source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, &c., &c. performed in the year 1823, by order of the Hon. J.C. Calhoun, secretary of war, under the command of Stephan H. Long, major U.S.T. E. / Author: Colhoun, James Edward.
  3. Plessis, Joseph-Octave. "Instructions pour MM. Joseph Norbert Provencher et Joseph Nic. Sev. Dumoulin, prêtres nommés missionnaires pour les territoires Indiens, situés au Nord et à l’Ouest du Canada", 20 April 1818. Microfilm 219, Société Historique de Saint-Boniface.
  4. U Guelph. "U Guelph". Archived from the original on June 29, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  5. Planetware. "Winnipeg, Manitoba". Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  6. "History". The Forks. Archived from the original on February 9, 2009. Retrieved May 3, 2009.
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