When was winnipeg established

It is still a transportation centre, with extensive rail and air links, the head offices of several major Canadian trucking firms and a Canadian Forces Base. However, the economy has diversified with strong manufacturing and export industries which protect it from boom-or-bust cycles and create a stable, albeit slower-growing economy. The public sector is a major employer, and the life sciences, information and communication technology, advanced manufacturing, and aerospace industries have helped create jobs in recent years.

Retail, food services, customer service, and office support are also common occupations. Winnipeg has also retained some of its prominence as a financial and insurance centre. Winnipeg was governed by a mayor and 14 aldermen from seven wards until After the General Strike, the ward system was, in effect, divided into different electoral units based on business interests to prevent labour representatives from gaining control of city government.

The move worked, for although a few radical mayors and aldermen were elected, the so-called "Citizens' League" retained a majority on council. In , the powerful Board of Control, an executive body elected by the entire city rather than by wards, was created. The Board was representative of the urban reform movement of the time, and concentrated power in the hands of a small group of business elite.

The Board was made up of the mayor and four annually elected controllers who carried out the executive work. The board was disbanded in The next attempt at electoral reform took place in the s when Winnipeg first created a metropolitan form of government and then moved to a unified, single level of government.

Although the division of the region into a number of separate jurisdictions made it difficult to provide services and administer community affairs, the first step towards regional government was not taken until the s.

In the Metropolitan Winnipeg Act was passed, creating a new alignment of seven cities, five suburban municipalities and one town. The Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg was given sole authority over planning, zoning, building, flood control and transportation, which made many of the municipalities unhappy. Through the formation of Unicity in the provincial government replaced the area municipalities with a member city council that controlled an urban territory with a population of , With the formation of Unicity Winnipeg became the first large North American city to move beyond the stage of split-level metropolitan government to a single administration.

The original Unicity format has been studied extensively, resulting in further reforms, such as the reduction of the council size from 51 to 30 part-time members including the mayor. In , following the recommendations of the Winnipeg Wards Boundaries Commission, the provincial government further amended the City of Winnipeg Act to significantly redefine the city's political structure.

Ward boundaries were again changed and the council was reduced to 16 full-time members, including the mayor. In the province passed a new City of Winnipeg Charter, which shortened and clarified the Act while giving the city more flexibility and new authorities such as establishing planning commissions and setting up tax increment financing programs.

Winnipeg has seen several notable mayors since the creation of the Unicity. Stephen Juba, who became mayor in , was a populist mayor and held office until when Robert Steen, who Juba supported, was elected. Unfortunately, Steen died of cancer after only two years in office. Norrie was re-elected four times and served as mayor until Norrie spearheaded the redevelopment of the downtown core and was central to the rejuvenation of The Forks and the North Portage neighbourhood.

Thompson was replaced in by Glen Murray, who was the first openly gay mayor in Canada. Murray played an important role in the Big City Mayors' Caucus, and led a campaign to transfer some of the federal gasoline tax to municipalities to support infrastructure programs. In , Murray resigned to run for the federal Liberal Party in the Winnipeg neighbourhood of Charleswood. During his third term, Katz was plagued by controversy including conflict of interest allegations. Katz chose not to run for re-election in , making way for Brian Bowman, a privacy lawyer turned politician, who won with nearly 48 per cent of the popular vote.

Winnipeg has long been a major cultural centre of the Prairie provinces and holds a reputation as a thriving community of literature, sport, religion, music, education and art. It has a vibrant writing community with such internationally recognized authors as Sandra Birdsell. Winnipeg is the home of the acclaimed Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, which has the world's largest collection of contemporary Inuit art.

The city's strong theatre community includes the Manitoba Theatre Centre , one of the most important regional theatres in North America, and Rainbow Stage , Canada's oldest continuously operating outdoor theatre, as well as several other theatre companies and the annual Fringe Festival. The city also hosts several annual festivals, including the Winnipeg Jazz Festival, Folklorama , and the famous Winnipeg Folk Festival , held just north of the city.

A strong film community includes the internationally renowned Winnipeg Film Group. Other amenities include the Assiniboine Park Zoo and an extensive park system. In sports Winnipeg is noted especially for curling and football.

Its rinks won the Canadian curling championship at least 12 times between and , and in and hosted the World Curling Championship. After the season the team was sold and moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Fans were ecstatic, and the city is now again home to the Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg hosted the fifth Pan American Games in and again in Fort Gibraltar renamed Fort Garry honoring Nicholas Garry who came from London to supervise the reorganization of the new company.

Francois Xavier on the White Horse Plain. First meeting of reorganized Council of Assiniboia. Construction of a residence for the Grey Nuns , the first oak house built in western Canada, begins it is still standing today, the oldest building in the city.

Louis Riel Sr. William Cockran begins the settlement at Portage la Prairie. The Red River Settlement is severely affected by one of the largest Red River floods in recorded history. Kildonan Presbyterian Church is built. First post office in the west is opened with William Ross as postmaster.

A two-storey stone building overlooking the Red River north of Winnipeg is constructed as a private school run by Matilda Davis for the daughters of fur traders.

John C. Manitoba becomes the first new province in the Dominion of Canada with the passage of legislation in the Canadian parliament and acceptance of these terms by the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia. Election for the first Legislature of Manitoba, which passes legislation establishing French language and school rights in the province. Treaty 2 is signed at Manitoba House by the Crown and Anishanaabe peoples.

Grey Nuns open the first St. Boniface Hospital , a modest building with four beds. First party of Mennonites arrives from Russia now Ukraine. At a civic election, Francis Cornish is proclaimed first Mayor of Winnipeg.

First Icelandic party of settlers arrives, inadvertently bringing a smallpox epidemic to residents on the west side of Lake Winnipeg. University of Manitoba receives its Charter. First steam locomotive, The Countess of Dufferin , arrives at St. Boniface aboard a barge towed down the Red River. First shipment of wheat to an Ontario branch of the Ogilvie Milling Company , which establishes its own large-scale milling operation at Winnipeg in Completion of a railway between St.

Boniface and St. Paul, Minnesota establishes the first rail outlet between prairie Canada and eastern North America. First telephone exchange installed in Winnipeg by telegraph operator Horace McDougall.

Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba is founded. Contract for building the Canadian Pacific Railway is signed. Great land boom in Winnipeg and Manitoba. City of Brandon is incorporated and the Brandon Agricultural Society is formed, leading to the first of what would become the Manitoba Summer Fair and eventually the Manitoba Winter Fair in The arrival of Jewish refugees from Tsarist Russia lays the foundation for Winnipeg's Jewish community.

First Assembly of the Knights of Labour is established in Winnipeg leading to establishment of the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council the following year. Manitoba loses the Manitoba-Ontario border dispute and the present-day boundary at Lake of the Woods is established.

Journalist John P. Robertson is appointed the first Legislative Librarian of Manitoba. Louis Riel is executed at Regina and buried in the St. Boniface Cathedral Cemetery. Commercial fishers ship over , pounds of Manitoba fish to markets as far away as New York and Chicago. Winnipeg Press Club is formed, now the oldest media club in Canada.

Premier Norquay is forced to resign over railway matters. The Brandon Experimental Farm is established to research new agricultural methods and products for the prairies. First golf course in Manitoba opens at Stony Mountain. Beginning of the Manitoba Schools Question; agitation begins to end the dual Catholic and Protestant education system called for in the Manitoba Schools Act of With the contentious Manitoba Schools Question, the dual system of publicly-funded Roman Catholic and Protestant schools established under the Manitoba Act of is abolished.

The first of three referendums on Prohibition is held in Manitoba, with overwhelming support for it, but no action is taken. Cora Hind publishes her first pieces in the Manitoba Free Press , starting a journalistic career that would see her become the most influential agricultural reporter in Canada.

Twenty farmers at Wawanesa invest twenty dollars each and the Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company is formed. Charles Hislop , first Labour member of the Winnipeg city council is elected. Winnipeg Victorias capture the Stanley Cup. A compromise is reached between prime minister Wilfrid Laurier and premier Thomas Greenway that partially resolves the contentious issue of religious schooling in Manitoba, and opens another source of conflict, bilingual and multilingual instruction in schools.

Immigration policy of Clifford Sifton opens up Manitoba and the west to eastern and central European immigrants. Neepawa becomes the first municipality in North America to own its telephone system.

Margaret Scott begins her work as an urban missionary in Winnipeg, leading to establishment of the Margaret Scott Nursing Mission. Brandon College, predecessor of Brandon University , is established and chartered two years later.

First school for bilingual French and English teachers is established at St. Winnipeg Philatelic Society , the oldest in western Canada, is formed.

Brandon becomes the first municipality in Manitoba to generate hydroelectric power. In a federal by-election, Arthur Puttee , editor of the paper The Voice , is elected to Parliament on a Labour platform. First motor car, owned by Edgar Boteler Kenrick , appears on the streets of Winnipeg. Photographer Lewis B.

Foote arrives in Winnipeg and goes on to take numerous iconic views of the city. Construction of the Union Bank Building , the first skyscraper in western Canada, is completed. First group of science professors is hired to teach at the University of Manitoba. Overfishing of Lake Manitoba prompts the federal government to close it to summer commercial fishing, a prohibition that continues today.

Department store of Timothy Eaton Company opens in Winnipeg. The first hydroelectricity from Pinawa reaches Winnipeg. Members of the St. Alexandre Ayotte arranges for bison to be moved from Montana to Alberta and from there across the West, including to Manitoba. Representatives of the three main Winnipeg newspapers meet and establish what is later known as Canadian Press. Following a legal challenge, it is repealed in Official opening of Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg after the first land acquisition in Charles Gordon , minister of St.

First boat passes through the St. Manitoba Government Elevators is created by the Roblin administration as a means to help farmers market their grain. First tuberculosis patient is admitted to the Ninette Sanatorium. First publicly-owned hydroelectric development comes from Pointe du Bois , challenging the monopoly of the Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company. The federal government announces it will continue construction of the Hudson Bay Railway from The Pas in and a boom commences.

Scottish machinist R. Construction begins on an aqueduct from Shoal Lake to supply Winnipeg with a pure source of water, on land taken from the Anishanaabe people of Shoal Lake Construction of the new Legislative Building commences.

Economic recession sets in, wheat market drops, real estate prices fall, construction slows, causing widespread unemployment in most of Manitoba. Maude Bissett becomes the first woman to teach at the University of Manitoba , instructing in Greek and Latin until Copper-zinc deposits that would become the core of the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company operations at Flin Flon are claimed by Tom Creighton and his prospecting partners. The Roblin administration falls over the Legislative Building scandal and T.

Norris becomes Premier. A tree nursery is established at the future site of the Morden Experimental Farm. Broad public sympathy for a strike by civic workers contributes to formation of the Citizens Committee of to oppose the strike. The University of Winnipeg is a provincially and privately funded post-secondary institution with undergraduate and select graduate programs, as well as Collegiate and continuing education divisions.

The University of Winnipeg is large enough to offer over courses in more than 40 subject areas from Indigenous Governance to Women's Studies, yet small enough to make sure students connect with the University's award-winning professors.

We also offer Masters degree programs in the arts, science and business. At the heart of the plan was the University's commitment to providing students with an eco-friendly, relevant learning environment while sharing resources and space with the surrounding neighbourhood.