December 3 - "Bloody Jack's" last robbery; Tec Voc opens; Wagon Wheel Lunch opens; Sally Ann's new Citadel.

December 3, 1920 - The first Winnipeg Civic Election using proportional representation is held.

December 3, 1913 - John Larry “Bloody Jack” Krafchenko enters the Bank of Montreal in his home town of Plum Coulee, Manitoba over the noon hour. He robs the bank at gunpoint of $4,200 cash and, while fleeing, shoots bank manager Henry Medly Arnold dead.

Krafchenko, already wanted in a number of countries for various crimes, set off the “...most dramatic episode in the history of crime in Manitoba”. He was caught in Winnipeg in January 1914 but escaped custody thanks to the help of a crooked cop. He was caught a few days later, tried in Morden, and sentenced to hang.

For more detailed accounts of one one of Manitoba’s most infamous criminals see here, here and here.

December 3, 1951 - Lieutenant-Governor R.F. McWilliams cuts the ribbon in front of 2,000 onlookers at the official opening of Tech-Voc High School. 

The $2.3 m school took three years to build and was said to be unique in North America as it combined "equal parts art and industry.” There were ten “schools of craft” ranging from the needle trade and radio production to auto/engine repair and graphic arts. Students got hands-on practical experience half the time, while the other half taking high school education.  

It was an immediate success. In its first year of operation, (it opened in September – the official opening took until December), it boasted 850 day students and 789 evening students.

Carved over one of its side entrances is the motto “Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist."

December 3, 1951 - Wagon Wheel Lunch opens in the Norlyn Building. It served its final clubhouse sandwich on July 13, 2012, when the building was closed and eventually demolished.

December 3, 1961 - The Salvation Army Citadel on Colony Street opens. In 1999 the University of Winnipeg purchased the building and in March 2009 it reopened as the new home of the University's theatre department.

December 3, 1956 - The International Nickel Company (INCO) signs an agreement with the province of Manitoba to build a nickel mine and town site called Thompson. It is named for INCO's then-chairman John Thompson.