January 12: Neepawa's opera house burns; Shoal Lake incorporates.

January 12, 1993 - Majorie Morley dies. She was the province's first female provincial librarian.

January 14, 1905, Morning Telegram (for full article)

January 12 -13, 1905 - A fire in downtown Neepawa destroys the Jubilee Block which contained 8 businesses, the Bell telephone exchange and the opera house.

Morning Telegram, Oct. 20, 1905 (Manitoba Free Press)

By summer 1905 construction was underway on a new, stand-alone opera house at the same location. Due to faulty architecture the walls of the structure collapsed before the building opened. The Free Press (Oct 20, 1905) reported that it "... now presents a scene more depressing than was left by the fire, which destroyed the structure on the same site last January".

The walls were removed an the project started again.

The Neepawa Opera House was rechristened the Roxy Theatre around 1932. In 1936 interior and exterior renovations were done to give it a period art-deco feel. The Roxy is a provincial heritage site.

For More: Historic Neepawa buildings (pdf); Roxy Theatre home page.

January 12, 1909 - The Village of Shoal Lake is incorporated. It is now a town of 801. For more Shoal Lake history.