May 17th, 2020:

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in Colour Photos Book 9 – My Top 7 Picks

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in Colour Photos Book 9

Lockport is a small community in Manitoba located twenty-eight kilometers north of the city of Winnipeg. The community is a part of both the Rural Municipalities of St. Andrews (west of the river), and St. Clements (east of the river). Lockport is an ancient settlement, predating European history by thousands of years. It is one of the oldest known settlements in Canada. Flocks of the North American White Pelican are often seen.

The Red River Floodway joins the Red River just north of the dam. The bridge and locks at Lockport (completed in 1910), submerged the St. Andrews Rapids (a natural obstruction to the south) in order to make the Red River navigable through to Lake Winnipeg.

We enjoyed lunch at the Half Moon Restaurant.

South along River Road is St Andrews Church and Rectory. The Church is the oldest operating church in Western Canada. Kennedy House, also located on River Road, was built by Captain William Kennedy in 1866.

Architectural Photos, Lockport, Manitoba
3 St. Andrews Road – Parish Church of St. Andrew – established 1828 – The church was built in 1844-49 in the Gothic Revival style. The walls were constructed from local limestone from the river bank. St. Andrew’s Church is the oldest church in continuous use in Western Canada.
Architectural Photos, Lockport, Manitoba
River Road – The Kennedy House – Eleanor called it “Maple Grove” – cobblestone house built in 1866 with large windows, French doors, and modified Gothic gables. Eleanor and William lived here with their children William and Mary. William farmed and kept a trading store on the adjacent north lot. The Kennedy House, in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, was built in 1866 for Captain William Kennedy using stones quarried from the Red River banks at nearby St. Andrews Rapids. The Gothic Revival style of the Kennedy House is architecturally distinctive, compared to the other old stone houses built in the Red River Settlement, which reflect Georgian influences. By contemporary Eastern Canadian or British standards Kennedy House was simple and unadorned. By Red River Settlement standards, however, it was very fashionable. William Kennedy (1814-1890) was an Arctic explorer, missionary, and a Hudson’s Bay Company employee. He was born at Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan River in April 1814, the son of Alexander Kennedy, a Hudson’s Bay Company Chief Factor, and an aboriginal woman, Agathas Margaret (Mary) Bear. When he was thirteen, he was sent to Orkney for his education. In 1836 he entered the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company and was stationed on the Ungava Coast. He left the Company’s service in 1848 and went to Canada West where he engaged in his own business, and began to lobby for the expansion of Canada into the north-west. As a lad at Cumberland House he had met Sir John Franklin, and in 1850 he offered his services to Lady Franklin to help in the search for the Franklin expedition. He commanded two of the Franklin search expeditions and discovered the Arctic passage known as Bellot Strait. He was the first to use dogs and sleds from an exploring ship. In 1853, he presented a paper on these adventures to the Royal Geographical Society in London, England, and wrote a book entitled A Short Narrative of the Second Voyage of The Prince Albert in search of Sir John Franklin. In 1856, with George Brown’s support, he resumed his efforts to link the Red River Settlement and Canada West by a northern route. About 1860 he settled at Fairford, on Lake Manitoba, as an Anglican missionary and teacher to the Indians. In 1861 he settled at St. Andrew’s on the Red, where he was for a time employed by the Hudson’s Bay Company as a storekeeper at Lower Fort Garry. He was an early advocate of a railway to Hudson’s Bay. About 1859, he married Eleanor E. Cripps and they had two children. Crippled by rheumatism for most of his remaining years he lived a very retired life at St. Andrew’s. He died at his home on January 25, 1890.
Architectural Photos, Lockport, Manitoba
St. Andrews Lock and Dam
Architectural Photos, Lockport, Manitoba
Half Moon Restaurant Mural
Architectural Photos, Lockport, Manitoba
St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church at Gonor – The history of the St. Nicholas Parish begins in the year 1896-1897 when immigrants from Bukowina, Ukraine settled in the Gonor district. The Gonor district was already established by a Jesuit Missionary, called Father de Gonnor, who through his efforts, assisted la Verendrye, the explorer, and some years later, the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1877. As the Ukrainian settlers emigrated to Canada, one of the terminal depots was in East Selkirk, and from this point they traveled and walked to settle along the bank of the Red River in the Gonor district. Faith, physical strength, and hope, were their assets, and the church and religion were very important in the lives of these early pioneers. They desired a church building where they could open up their hearts to God. These early settlers made plans for the construction of the first church in 1904. The church and belfry were made of logs, which were brought in from the area. In April 1944, both the original church building and manse were destroyed by an accidental grass fire. The original belfry containing the bell from Bukowina was saved and is still in use today. The present church is about 1,100 square feet in area, is built of lumber and it is in the form of Byzantine architecture. Mr. Anton Prychun, a resident of Tyndall, Manitoba, was the master builder. All labor, with the exception of the head carpenter and painter, was provided free of charge. The church was painted and decorated in the following manner: The ceiling has sky-blue oil paint spangled with white stars. The dome has cherubim angels on and between clouds on a sky-blue background. The altar is painted in a similar manner. The walls are a cream color and a border is stenciled in a Ukrainian motif throughout the church. The Ikonastos consists of the picture of Jesus crucified at Golgotha, the Last Supper, and the twelve apostles and is painted and decorated in the Eastern Ukrainian Greek Orthodox style.
Architectural Photos, Lockport, Manitoba
6297 Henderson Highway – Ukrainian Parish of Catholic Holy Trinity, St. Clements – 1952 – Around 1890, a large influx of Ukrainian settlers was emigrating to Canada which led to the establishment of Ukrainian Catholic parishes. The first Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church was started in 1899, in the traditional Byzantine, rite style, in the form of a cross. The current church of brick and stucco structure, with its two radiant stainless-steel domes, which could be seen from miles around, was built 1952-1953.
Architectural Photos, Lockport, Manitoba
5635 Henderson Highway – St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Narol was founded in 1911 by immigrants from the Brody area in Galicia. Like most Rusins/Western Ukrainians, these pioneers had been Greek Catholic in their homeland, which at that time belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Upon their arrival in Canada, the people reunited with the Orthodox Church of their forebears, becoming a part of the Russian Orthodox Mission.