June 20: "999" goes live; Mayor Fowler elected.

June 20, 1922 - Frank Oliver Fowler was elected 33rd Mayor of Winnipeg in a by-election following the June 1922 death of Edward Parnell.

June 20, 1959 - Winnipeg became the first community in North America to create a single emergency number: 999. It was based on London's system that began in the 1930’s. The number was changed to 911 in 1972 prior to other cities in North America rolling out the same service. (Also see.)

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June 19: The Battle at Seven Oaks; Group of Seven's Frank Johnston.

June 19, 1816 - The increasingly bloody territorial tit-for-tat between the HBC and North West Company reached a new low with the Battle at Seven Oaks.

About 60 NWCo employees and Metis under Cuthbert Grant crossed paths with about 26 HBC men under Governor Semple at Seven Oaks. An argument broke out and a gun battle ensued. In the end, Semple and 22 of his men were killed. 

The bloodshed led to the merger of the two companies.

June 19, 1888 - Group of Seven member Francis Hans Johnston was born in Toronto. He moved to Winnipeg in 1921 to be principal of the Winnipeg School of Art. After  1924, he returned to Toronto to teach and left the Group of Seven to exhibit independently.

June 19, 1891 - The Seven Oaks Monument was unveiled on Main Street in West Kildonan. It is the oldest historic marker in the West.

June 19, 1961 - The bank of Montreal branch opened at 810 Notre Dame Avenue. It was soon the scene of a daring bank heist.

June 19, 1980 - The Wanipigow Lake Archaeological Site in the Bissett area was designated a Provincial Heritage Site.

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June 18: Amy Street steam plant; Last streetcar driver; Famous Five statue.

June 18, 1903 - George Frederick Garbutt was born in Winnipeg. “Tick” was a member of The Winnipegs hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics. He died in 1967 in Winnipeg.

June 18, 1924 - City Hydro's Amy Street Steam Plant went into operation. It provided steam heat to downtown Winnipeg buildings through a network of underground pipes. it closed in June 1990 after 66 years of service causing expensive retrofits for many buildings that had to add central heating.

June 18, 1940 - David Caithness, Winnipeg's last horse-drawn streetcar driver, died at the age of 87. For more on Winnipeg's horse-drawn transit.

June 18, 2010 -  Helen Granger Young's Famous Five statue ws unveiled on the Legislature grounds.

© 2023, Christian Cassidy

June 17: Manitoba's last hanging; Ben Moss dies; Duff Roblin born.

June 17, 1917 - Dufferin Roblin was born in Winnipeg. In a twenty-year political career, Roblin was best remembered for championing the construction of the Red River Floodway, Bird's Hill Park, and numerous schools and hospitals. In 2008, he was voted "The Greatest Manitoban" in a Winnipeg Free Press contest. He died on May 30, 2011 at the age of 92.

June 17, 1919 - Winnipeg Police arrested 21 General Strike leaders for Seditious Conspiracy. They are sent to Stony Mountain to await trial or deportation.

June 17, 1952 - Henry Malanik was the last person to be hanged in Manitoba. The 48 year-old plumber shot and killed Detective James (Ted) Sims in July 1950.

June 17, 1962 - Ben Moss, the jeweller, dies. A Romanian immigrant, Ross set up a diamond importing business in 1910. In 1932 his first retail store appeared at 422 Main Street. For more on the history of Ben Moss Jewellers.)

June 17, 1974 - The Medical Arts Building opened on Kennedy Street. It replaced a ca. 1923 building by the same name.

© 2014, Christian Cassidy

June 16: A fierce wind blows.

Calgary Herald, June 16, 1919

June 15 -16, 1919 - What is likely the worst wind storm ever to hit Winnipeg took place. 

Wind gusts of up to 135 kph to ripped the roof off numerous buildings, including the Children's Hospital and McPhillips Street Pumping Station, tore signs off buildings and broke six of Eaton's plate glass windows. Power went out in large sections of the city. 

The cleanup was made all the worse as it was during the Winnipeg General Strike and city services were being handled by volunteers. 

June 15: Selkirk incorporates, park police officer down.

June 15, 1882 - The town of Selkirk, Manitoba is incorporated. For more about the history of Selkirk.

June 15, 1927 - Constable David George White (71) of the Winnipeg Park Police was run over by a car while patrolling Assiniboine Park on his bike. He died of his injuries three days later, becoming the force's only officer killed in the line of duty. For more on the history of the Park Police.

© Christian Cassidy

June 14: The Happy Gang; Let there be light; Stanley Cup tragedy.

June 14, 1873 - Manitoba's first electric arc light was demonstrated in Winnipeg on June 14 and 15 at the CPR crossing at Higgins and Main. The demonstration was put on by a New York businessman “for the purpose of exhibiting the electric light with which he hopes to obtain a contract for illuminating the streets of the city."See more at the A History of Electrical Power in Manitoba.

June 14, 1934 - Chicago Black Hawk goalie Chuck Gardiner died of a brain hemorrhage at St. Boniface Hospital just weeks after winning the 1934 Stanley Cup. Gardiner, just 30 years old, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945.

June 14, 1937 – The Happy Gang began their 22-year run on CBC Radio. The Gang's host and pianist Bert Pearl was born Bert Shapira in Winnipeg in 1913. In 1982, he was awarded the Order of the Buffalo Hunt. Pearl died in Los Angeles in 1986.

June 14, 1962 - The Bank of Montreal on Notre Dame Street at Beverley is the scene of one of the city's largest bank robberies.

© Christian Cassidy

June 13: The Mall Centre opened; remembering Andrew Mynarski.

June 13, 1906 - Clifford Thomas "Cliff" Crowley was born in Winnipeg. Crowley was a member of The Winnipegs hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics. He died in 1948.

June 13, 1912 - In a money referendum, Brandonites voted 93 per cent in favour of their city borrowing $300,000 to fund a municipal street railway system.

June 13, 1944 - Winnipegger Andrew Charles (Andy) Mynarski V.C. died at the age of 27. He was the first RCAF member to receive the Victoria Cross in WWII. To read his V.C. citation.

June 13, 1964 - The Mall Centre, which contained Winnipeg's new bus depot, opened. It is now the U of W AnX.

June 13, 1984 - The Archway Warehouse, Jail and Powder Magazine remains in Norway House was designated a Provincial Heritage Site.

June 13, 1985 - Nearly 4,000 Manitoba laws were declared invalid by a Supreme Court ruling. The laws, written in English only, must be translated into French.

June 12: Polo Park Race Track opened.

Top: Manitoba Free Press, June 12, 1925
Bottom: U of M, Tribune Collection

June 12, 1925 - Jim Speers' Polo Park Race Track opened. The grandstand held 4,500 people and another 11,000 could watch from the lawns. In 1939, it hosted a Royal visit by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. In 1954, it was sold off and the land was redeveloped into Polo Park Shopping Centre.

June 11: Remembering Annie Bond; drafting Teemu; plane crash at Logan and McPhillips.

June 11, 1943 - Annie A. Bond died.  The former British military nurse settled in Winnipeg in 1903 and was the driving force behind the establishment of Winnipeg's Children's Hospital in 1909. For more about Bond and her hospital.

June 11, 1988 - The Winnipeg Jets selected Teemu Selanne as their first pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft.

June 11, 2002 - A light plane with six passengers aboard ran out of fuel and crashed at the intersection of Logan and McPhillips. One passenger dies from his injuries.

June 11, 2011 - The U of W's Richardson College for the Environment and Science opened.

June 10: "Specials" replace police; First Jewish settlers; Kelekis' chip shop.

June 10, 1882 - The first group of Jewish settlers arrive in Manitoba.

June 10, 1919 - Just one day after replacing the police force with special constables, there are riots in the streets of Winnipeg. The rising tensions made big news not just at home but across North America, including the June 11 New York Times:

"Riot and violence broke loose on the streets of Winnipeg today. For three hours the strikers fought a pitched battle with the special constabulary in the heart of the city, at Main Street and Portage Avenue, while from windows and roofs of office buildings for three blocks Winnipeg looked on."

June 10, 1930 - The teams of the Manitoba Rugby Football Union merge to create 'The Winnipegs', forerunner to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

June 10, 1944 - Chris Kelekis opens his first chip shop at Main Street and Flora Avenue. A second location at Main Street and Aberdeen Avenue closed in 2013. (See: Farewell to C. Kelekis'.)

June 9: M.S. Lord Selkirk II launched; St. Vital Library opened; Pinawa power.

June 9, 1906 – The first power is generated by the old Pinawa Generating Station. It was the first station on the Winnipeg River and remained in service until September 1951. The area is now a provincial park.)

June 9, 1919 - Most of the Winnipeg's police force, including the chief, is dismissed for not swearing an oath to never join a union or participate in a strike. They were replaced by 'special constables'. For more.

June 9, 1922 – Edward Parnell, Winnipeg’s 32nd mayor, dies in office.

June 9, 1953 - Though it had been open to the public since April, the St. Vital Library was officially opened by Premier Duff Roblin.

June 9, 1969 - The M.S. Lord Selkirk II is launched in Selkirk by Lieutenant Governor Richard Bowles and Mrs. Roland Michener, wife of the Governor General. For more about the ship and her fate.

June 8: Time Building destroyed by fire.

June 8, 1954 - The Time Building on Portage Avenue at Hargrave Street is destroyed by fire. Fanned by high winds, the burning embers destroyed two more buildings and seriously damaged two others. Firefighters struggled to keep the entire downtown from burning. More about the fire. 

June 7: Police chief busted; Schreyer leads CCF; Window Park opens.

June 7, 1875 - The morals squad of the Winnipeg Police raided a Sherbrook Street brothel. In the room of Miss Ella Lewis, they found a customer in a state of undress. It was none other than police chief James S. Ingram.

Two days later, those arrested in the raid appeared before a newly elected magistrate and mayor Capt. William Kennedy. Ella Lewis and Fannie Ellesworth were charged with ‘keeping a house of ill fame' and fined $20 each. Ingram and another customer named William McEwan were fined $8.00 each,  (Source: Manitoba Free Press, June 9, 1875). As expected, Ingram tendered his resignation and it was accepted by council. he would go on to be Calgary''s first chief of police.

(Image: City of Winnipeg Archives)

June 7, 1954 - Winds gusting up to 75 mph (120 kph) cut off power to thousands of homes and disrupted streetcar and trolley service. Miles MacDonnell Collegiate and parts of Children's Hospital had their roofs blown off. The following day, the wind would be a major factor in spreading the Time Building fire, (see tomorrow's date for more details).

June 7, 1969 - Russell Paulley, one time mayor of Transcona, is succeeded as leader of the Manitoba CCF by Ed Schreyer.

June 7, 1985 - Window Park on Portage Avenue at Carlton Street officially opens.

June 6: Samuel Hooper, provincial architect; D-Day begins.

June 6, 1904 - Samuel Hooper was appointed Manitoba's first Provincial Architect. He designed dozens of buildings for the province, including the Winnipeg Land Titles Building, Brandon Court House, and the Vaughan Street Jail. (Also see here and here.)

June 6, 1944 - D-Day, the Invasion of Normandy, began.

June 6, 1958 - The official opening of Winnipeg's new Dominion Post Office on Graham Avenue took place.

The ceremony was meant to show the old and new modes of postal service.

Postmaster General of Canada William Hamilton and Winnipeg Postmaster George Foord left Ross House, Winnipeg's first post office, in a 120 year-old former Wells Cargo coach owned by the Winnipeg Free Press. The federal Minister of Trade departed the airport by RCAF helicopter and landed on the helipad on the roof of the new building. They met at the front doors of the building for the ribbon cutting.

The building is now Winnipeg's Police headquarters.