June 26: General Strike called off; Wesley College's cornerstone; Muir's The Maple Leaf Forever.

June 26, 1894 - The cornerstone is laid for Wesley Hall on Portage Avenue. Mr. H. A. Massey, chairman of the Massey Harris Company in Toronto and the largest single contributor to the project, was to do the honour but failing health kept him in Toronto. 

Reverend J. W. Sparling filled in and the silver trowel used to lay the cornerstone was sent to Massey as a memento.

June 26, 1906 - Not really a Manitoba story but Alexander Muir died on this date.

He came to Canada from Scotland as a child and became a songwriter, poet and school headmaster. While serving with the Queen's Own Rifles he wrote a little ditty called The Maple Leaf Forever.

June 26, 1919 - The Winnipeg General Strike is officially called off. The metal workers return to work without receiving their pay increase. Leaders were fired, deported or imprisoned.

This is an excerpt of an open letter from Mayor Gray that appeared in the Manitoba Free Press on June 23, 1919:

Any foreigners who make any threats of any kind or in any way intimidate or worry would-be workers in the slightest degree can expect immediate deportation to Russia or wherever they come from. We intend to purge the city of any lawless element and prosecute to the full rigor of the law. On the other hand, all law-abiding citizens can feel free to go about their business in the full realization that British law will protect them to the limit. No further open-air meetings, either in parks, streets or public places, will be permitted until further notice.

Read how the day played out in the media at my 1919 Strike blog !

June 26, 1987- The following buildings are designated Provincial Heritage Sites:

Merchants Bank Building, 1043 Rosser Avenue, Brandon;
Margaret Laurence House ,312 First Avenue, Neepawa;
Garry Telephone Exchange Building, 474 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg;
Firth House, (Former E.H.G.G. Hay House), 546 River Road, R.M. of St. Andrews.