Regular blog posts on the history of Selkirk as well as news, events and opportunities to support the Museum.
Discover Selkirk’s growing fame in the entertainment industry! From the paranormal investigations of Ghosts off Grid at the bowling alley to Hollywood productions like Netflix’s Time Cut and Woody Harrelson’s Champions, see how local landmarks shine on the big screen.
Explore the history of the La Vérendrye Trail, a series of Manitoba highways tracing the historic Red and Winnipeg River waterways mapped by French-Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, nearly 300 years ago.
It’s not uncommon to hear people from Selkirk say their favourite part of the city is the waterfront, especially the large York boat statue.
York boats originated in Manitoba in the 1700s. These boats were used for inland travel by the Hudson Bay Company for fur trade. The boats were named after the northern settlement, York Factory. Beginning in the 1820s, and lasting for a century, York boats were the main form of travel on lakes, and sometimes rivers, between the Hudson Bay post in York Factory and other inland trading posts.
Located in the heart of Selkirk, Roxi’s Uptown Café has been a local favourite for almost twenty years. The history of the restaurant, located at 219 Manitoba Avenue, dates back long before it was named Roxi’s.
Before 1853, all colonial mail delivered in Manitoba was orchestrated by the Hudson Bay Company. The HBC called this delivery system packet mail runs. This is because the boats and dogsleds who delivered the mail carried packets. A packet was a package with instructions, correspondence, news, and other documents.
In Manitoba, sled dogs were used during the winters in the 1800s and early 1900s to transport goods and people. As this postcard from Selkirk shows, a small team of dogs could be used to transport a child to school or visit nearby friends.
Two lighthouses, once stationed on Lake Winnipeg, are now found in Selkirk at the Marine Museum of Manitoba.
Early on the morning of Wednesday, November 11th, 2015, a metal monument in the shape of a poppy appeared on the riverbanks of the Red River, in Selkirk.
For countless years, both staff and visitors at the Marine Museum have encountered inexplicable phenomena. Many people have investigated the ghosts at the Marine Museum such as clairvoyants, ghost hunters, and paranormal investigation TV shows.
The oldest cemetery in the city of Selkirk is the Saint Micheal’s Roman Catholic Cemetery on Highway 9. It was established in 1884 and continues to be used today.