THE CHURCHES. 



In the old days services had been held 

 in the court house which was outside the 

 walls at Fort Garry. In 1868 or '69 use 

 was made of Red River hall, which, as we 

 have said, stood on Main street. Here 

 Archdeacon McLean of St. John's held 

 service. The place being unsuitable, in due 

 time a small log church, Holy Trinity, was 

 erected on the corner of Portage avenue 

 and Garrv street. In 1868 Rev. Dr. Black, 

 of Kildonan, succeeded in partially erect- 

 ing what he named Knox church 

 on the corner of Portage avenue and Fort 

 street. Holv Trinity and Knox were 

 on neighboring plots. Old residents 

 will remember there was a pond between 

 the two small churches as they stood in 

 1871. It is related that Governor McTav- 

 ish, when pointing out the site of each, 

 said jocularly, and you see there 

 is "a gulf fixed " between them. 

 Before the end of 1873 both these 

 churches had been greatly enlarged 

 to meet the growth of population. In 

 1868 Rev. Dr. Young came to Red River to 

 begin the Methodist church in the settle- 

 ment. In 1871 his house had been erected 

 on the east side of Main street, somewhat 

 south of where the Manitoba hotel now 

 stands. Alongside of it he opened, on 

 Sept. 17, 1871, the new Grace church. 

 This was a neat structure, and 

 occupied a fine position on Main street. 

 These churches represented the religious 

 life of Winnipeg, unless mention be made 

 of services held by the Roman Catholic 

 church in their small girls' school, near 

 what is now the east end of Thistle street. 

 It seemed then an impossibility that such 

 religious development should take place 

 as we see around us to-day. 



TO BE A CITY. 



The diminuitive Trade Review on its 

 appearance in the beginning of 1872 in a 

 vigorous editorial advocated the incor- 

 poration of Winnipeg. To quote 

 the words of its editor, "that arti- 

 cle caused the death of the Trade 



Review, "The reason of this was 

 that the Manitoban office,where the lively 

 little sheet was published was controlled 

 by the chief land holders of the place, and 

 they refused to print the noisy disturber. 

 However the agitation continued. The 

 incorporation of the place became the battle 

 cry for the opponents of the old regime 

 If trade was dull, or amusements scarce a 

 mass meeting of the ci izens was called, 

 and resolutions were passed and com- 

 mittees appointed to gain the end in view. 

 These populargatherings werecalled every 

 few weeks and kept up the agitation. At 

 length after much newspaper discussion a 

 bill was brought before the legislature in 

 February, 1872. The legislators mangled 

 the bill and proposed "Garry" and "Sel- 

 kirk" instead of Winnipeg as the name of 

 the new town. Again the mass meetings 

 began, and the popular clamor 

 against the house was loud. The upper 

 house, the legislative council of seven was, 

 it is said, intimidated. The bill was 

 hrown out. The speaker of the house, at 

 prominent medical gentleman and a most 

 inoffensive citizen, was that evening 

 mobbed and coated with tar, to the dis 

 gust of all order-loving citizens. A 

 special session of the legislature was 

 called in November, 1873, and at this the 

 bill of incorporation was passed 

 giving Winnipeg the rank of "city" from 

 the beginning. Then came the civic elec- 

 tion. The first mayor was Mr. F. 

 Cornish, a well known lawyer, who de- 

 feated Mr. W. F. Luxton. Thus began 

 the city of Winnipeg in January, 

 1874. Manyhave been its joysand sorrows 

 hopes and fears, since that date. The story 

 of these mustbe reserved for other papers 

 and other occasions. Suffice it to say that 

 the citizens of Winnipeg, in their many 

 vicissitudes, have always assured them- 

 selves that theirs is "no mean city." 



Note— (The treatment of the Riel rebel- 

 lion and the Fenian raid is omitted as 

 these are rather provincial than civic 



events.) 



