Winnipeg Manitoba

We’ve been to Winnipeg before but didn’t take in the sights. So, now was our chance. Winnipeg sits on the vast Manitoba plains, as flat as can be. So renowned architect Etienne Gaboury took it on himself to build some mountains in Winnipeg. Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church is one of the many mountains French born Gaboury was responsible for. He built another “mountain” in his design of the main downtown bridge across the Red River.

Another mountain Gaboury was the architect of is the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. We got to tour the mint and learn about what has turned into big business. Built in Winnipeg in order to minimize shipping costs (Winnipeg is just about in the dead center of Canada), the mint actually makes coins for over 170 countries throughout the world. During a brief time when the US mint was having a material supply problem the Winnipeg mint even made some coin blanks for the US.

We visited the remains of Upper Fort Gary, another of the string of early Hudson Bay Company trading posts. All that remains is the East gate of the fort, but considering that it was built in the early 1800’s, it’s still pretty impressive. It lies in the shadow of the historic Hotel Fort Gary, where the wealthy and famous were put up after arriving in Winnipeg at Union Station, across the street.

We grabbed lunch getting an hour long panoramic view of all of Winnipeg. The saucer shaped structure on the top of the high rise in the last picture is the Prairie 360 restaurant. It has a revolving seating area that lets you dine and get a private tour of the town. Since the only mountains anywhere near are the ones designed by Gaboury, you get an unobstructed, spectacular view.

We toured the Manitoba Legislative Building, completed in 1920. We learned that it was designed by Frank Worthington Simon, a notable Free Mason of the times. As we toured the impressive stone building, our guide pointed out all the mysterious Free Mason symbolism that was built into the structure. There were hundreds of such symbols that otherwise would just look like interesting decorations. 

On the dome of the Legislative Building is one of the objects most recognized by Winnipeggers. Known as the Golden Boy, this statue of Mercury shows up in most tourism related brochures, and on post cards anywhere you look. The sun gave us a nice show of it this day.

We visited the gravesite of Louis Riel, in the shadow of the ruins of the St. Boniface Cathedral. Louis Riel was a Metis who campaigned tirelessly for the preservation of lands, rights and the culture of the Metis. He is credited for creating the movement that resulted in the granting of Manitoba the status of a province of Canada in 1870.

Sadly, his activities that resulted in Manitoba being admitted as a province ended up not serving him well. His activities to preserve the lands, culture and rights of the Metis got him arrested and tried for treason against the Nation of Canada. He was found guilty and hung on May 20, 1885. This statue of Riel used to sit outside the Legislative Building, but locals found it to risqué and so it was moved to Assiniboine Park. Interestingly, it was sculpted by Etienne Gaboury.

Not only did we visit all the historical Hudson Bay Company trading forts, we decided to peek into the original Hudson Bay Company department store in downtown Winnipeg. The store used to have 8 floors cram packed with merchandise for sale. Now, with the advent of online competition, 6 of the floors are empty and only the first two are open to shoppers. It’s still cool though to think that this is the first company ever to be incorporated, by British Royal Charter, on May 2, 1670!

Talk to you soon!