October 18: Arena opens; Women are persons; CFRY on the air; Chief Buchanan; Safeway arrives.

October 18, 1955 - The Winnipeg Arena opens with a game between the Winnipeg Warriors and Calgary Stampeders. The crowd of 9,671 breaks the attendance record for a WHL game. On March 26, 2006 it was imploded and the site is now home to an office mall.

October 18, 1989 – The official opening of the Keewatin Underpass takes place.

October 18, 1929 – Women are legally recognized as persons under the British North America Act. The five women who launched the “Persons Case”, also known as The Famous Five, are: Justice Emily Murphy; Henrietta Muir Edwards; Louise McKinney; Hon. Irene Parlby and Manitoba’s own Nellie McClung.

McClung was a teacher from Manitou, Manitoba who began to write, fiction at first. her work became increasingly political and was soon recognized as a leader of Western Canada's sufragette antd temperance movements. 

Read McClung's autobiographical The Stream Runs Fast and also see the Persons Case Historica Heritage Minute.

October 18, 1956 – CFRY radio in Portage La Prairie begins broadcasting.

October 18, 1895 - John E. Buchanan is appointed chief of the Winnipeg Fire Department. He  served in that position until 1928.

October 18, 1892 - The Trappist Monastery at St. Norbert formally opens. 

The Trappists, a French order dating back to 1660s, strictly followed the teachings of St. Benedict: charity, obedience and humility. Most fled due to religious persecution in France in late 1800s. They remained at this site until 1975.

October 18, 1929 - Canada's first Safeway stores open in Winnipeg. For more on Safeway in Winnipeg.