Selkirk has been and still is home to some extraordinary people over the years. Some gave their lives for a better tomorrow, others traveled the world, created recreation, and gave transportation. Learn how these great individuals shaped our beautiful city into what it is today.
Coming to Selkirk The Purvis Family is responsible for one of the oldest Selkirk based businesses. It all began when William Robert Purvis and his two brothers immigrated to Kincardine, Ontario from Arbroath, Scotland in 1851. At first, William was the lighthouse keeper at Great Duck Island, but by 1882 he had started to fish…
Richard Henry Gilhuly is best known by the community as the owner of Gilhuly’s Drug Store. He was born in Carleton Place, Ontario in 1857, and moved to Selkirk in his mid-twenties. To begin his career, he took a job in 1881 as an assistant in James Colcleugh’s store on Eveline Street. Shortly afterwards in…
William “Bill” Earl Gordon was born July 27th, 1890 in Drayton, Ontario. His father, William Henry Gordon was an analytical man and a lawyer, which set the foundation for William’s career as an accountant and financial advisor, as well as in politics. Early Life At the age of three, William’s family moved to Wiarton, Ontario…
Harold W. Newton immigrated to Selkirk from Lincolnshire where he took up work as the Farm Superintendent at the Manitoba Asylum (now Selkirk Mental Health Centre). He was one of six men who lived in a home called “Bachelor Hall” until he married Edith Hayward. The two met at Clandeboye but shared their British heritage. Together they…
William Gibbs is best known for being one of two bakers in Selkirk during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Gibbs name is remembered by the community for Gibbs’ Drug Store which William’s sons, Harry and Frederick started and continued in 1890. William was born to the town baker in Taunton, England in 1845.…
Coming to Selkirk Alphonse Langlois was born in Terrebonne, Quebec in 1844. He married a French Arcadian woman, Marie Cartier, from New Brunswick. The large family moved from Quebec to Nova Scotia before relocating to Crookston, Minnesota in 1860. Several years later they travelled down the Red River in 1884 on a raft to St.…
Finding her Passion Amy Clemons, the great-great granddaughter of Chief Peguis was born in St. Peters, in 1906. She attended Elkhorn Residential School for five years of her education. “My people didn’t want to let me go away to school but I thought I would like going to a residential school and I really did…
Elsie (Hourie) Bear was born on December 13, 1921, into a Métis family and community of Grand Marais. Her father, Peter Hourie was a Métis man from Matlock who found work as a fisherman and cutting cordwood. Her mother, Mary was also Métis and carried on the family work of midwifery. Together with Elsie’s grandmother,…
The famous fiddler, Melvin (Mel) Joseph Clifford Bedard, was born on February 8th, 1929. Mel’s mother came from Little Black River Indian Reservation, now Black River First Nation and his father came from Quebec, just north of Montreal. They migrated to Selkirk in 1899 where Mel was born. When Mel was five, the family moved…
The Friendship Centre Movement Friendship Centres began in the 1950s as a response to the growing number of Indigenous people moving from reserves to urban areas. The movement evolved out of the increased need for specialized services to help Indigenous people in the transition. Initially, Friendship Centres only offered referrals and counselling services, but have…