Formed in late 1886 as the Winnipeg Skating Club, the first club meeting was held at the Royal Ice Rink on 13 December 1886. Initial membership drew mostly from the Rowing Club, Tennis Club, and St. George’s Snow Shoe Club. They operated two nights per week out of the Royal Rink, and later at the McIntyre Rink. The club appears to have ceased operation by 1901.
Four years later, a club by the same name was reconstituted. They acquired ice time at the old Winnipeg arena, and later the Winnipeg Amphitheatre prior to completion their Smith Street site in 1924, for which the club formed the Winnipeg Skating Club Company Limited at a 5 September 1924 meeting in the Marlborough Hall.
In 1929, the Winnipeg Winter Club formed from the Skating Club, following their expansion to include other indoor activities. Following incorporation on 7 May 1929, they opened an expanded and improved facility, with initial membership limited to 650 and a limit of 700 shareholders. The expanded site was sold in 1942 to the Royal Canadian Navy for use as a training facility, with the $256,000 proceeds from the sale being reinvested into War Bonds. The Winter Club opened their new home in 1949 at 200 River Avenue, the former site of the Children’s Home of Winnipeg.
When the clubmoved to its current site, the members added bowling and squash to the list of supported sports. In 1951, curling was added when two sheets of ice were made on the figure skating ice. In 1953, four sheets were added to the facility and, in 1966, it was increased to eight sheets of curling ice. The curling area was changed to a hockey rink in 1999.
Period
President
1906-1908
Robert Rogers
1908-1910
?
1910-1911
George M. Patterson
1911-1923
?
1923-1925
Richard Bingham
1925-1929
?
1929-1930
John Crichton “Jack” Green-Armytage (1872-1943)
1930-1931
John Hunter
1931-1932
James Andrew Dowler (1880-1947)
1932-1933
Robert G. Persse (1879-1946)
1933-1934
John Chiene Holden (1876-1950)
1934-1935
Gordon Dudley Ritchie (1884-1944)
1935-1936
Gordon A. Stovel (1894-1942)
1936-1937
William Andrew Travers Sweatman (1879-1941)
1937-1938
Wilfred Victor Sifton (1897-1961)
1938-1939
George Harold McIvor (1894-1991)
1939-1940
Harold St. Clair Scarth (1889-1971)
1940-1941
William Charles Folliott (1889-1943)
1941-1942
Harold A. Smith (1904-1987)
1942-1946
Ernest Burrill Frost (1891-1979)
1946-1947
Bert Verschoyle Richardson (1891-1981)
1947-1948
George Edward Sharpe (1908-1985)
1948-1949
Alexander Robertson (1909-1985)
1949-1950
Albert Clifford Abbott (1897-1983)
1950-1951
Charles William Johnson (?-1969)
1951-1952
Thomas Halder Kirby (1891-1960)
1952-1953
J. Ross Murray
1953-1954
William S. M. Lang (1912-1992)
1954-1955
William Ralph “Speedy” Parliament (1900-1994)
1955-1956
Lachlan Lennox MacNeill (1909-1978)
1956
Nelson Turney Brooks (1913-1957)
1957
Leslie A. Cannon (1911-1996)
1957-1958
Eric N. Wright
1958-1959
Robert Bruce MacNeill (1915-2002)
1959-1960
Ronald Bickle Gay (1907-2003)
1960-1961
William Stanley “Bill” Dunlop (1912-1991)
1961-1962
William Lloyd “Bill” Benson (1920-2012)
1962-1963
Arthur Frederick Sheldon “Shel” Arnett (1910-1981)
1963-1965
T. Hume Gibson (?-1997)
1965-1966
William Arlington Playfair “Bill” Caine (1909-1986)
1966-1967
James William “Jim” Abbott (1915-1998)
1967-1968
Howard Bertram Beaton (1919-1976)
1968-1969
Kenneth Edward Gray (1923-2020)
1969-1970
Robert Ellison “Bob” McMeekin (1918-2006)
1970-1971
Gordon Richard Ternouth
1971-1972
W. Earl Moffatt
1972-1973
Edwin Roy Essery (1923-2010)
1973-1974
Grant Lionel Johnson (1923-2008)
1974-1975
Albert Marvin Wilcox (1909-1985)
1975-1976
William John “Bill” Sparrow (1932-1992)
1976-1977
Robert Clayton Robson (1914-2002)
1977-1978
Kenneth L. MacEachern
1978-1979
D. C. Brock
1979-1980
Austin P. Rathke (1927-2010)
1980-1981
J. K. A. Brown
1981-1982
Gordon Scott Ingram (1926-1997)
1982-1983
David Anderson Ritchie (1917-2010)
1983-1984
R. C. Isaak
1984-1985
W. Terry Wright
1985-1986
John Leonard Condra (1932-2010)
1986-1987
L. E. Lamont
1987-1988
Robert R. Scurfield
1988-1989
Susan Fenwick
1989-1990
Dave Johnston
1990-1991
Fred Harris
1991-1992
Ken Sutherland
1992-1993
Donna Law
1993-1994
Peter Donald
1994-1995
Thomas William “Tom” Fullan (1948-2011)
1995-1996
Karin Boyd
1996-1997
Robert E. Caswill
1997-1998
Jill Chambers
1998-2000
Kenneth W. Wilk
2000-2001
Ross Gage
2002-2003
Cindy Davidson
2003
Jim Venn
2003-2005
Gestur Kristjansson
2005-2006
Kristan Pearson
2006-2007
Greg Thompson
2007-2009
Patrick O'Connor
2009-2011
David F. Wilson
2011-2013
Ann Kolstad
2013-2015
Laurel Read
2016-2020
William “Bill” Sommers
?
John Derek Riley (1922-2018)
?
Frank Daniel MacCharles (c1887-1964)
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Children’s Home of Winnipeg / Children’s Home School (198 River Avenue, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Hudson Bay House / Winnipeg Skating Club / Winnipeg Winter Club / HMCS Chippawa / Naval Museum of Manitoba (51 Smith Street, Winnipeg)
“City and Province [ice-skating club],” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 14 December 1886, page 4.
“City and Province [The skating club],” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 21 December 1886, page 4.
“Local sport [Winnipeg skating club],” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 27 October 1887, page 1.
“The Royal Rink,” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 27 October 1887, page 4.
“City and country [Winnipeg Skating Club],” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 3 November 1887, page 4.
“City and general [Winnipeg Skating Club],” Manitoba Morning Free Press, 1 February 1900, page 6.
“Skating,” Manitoba Morning Free Press, 1 February 1901, page 5.
“[A skating club],” Winnipeg Tribune, 6 October 1905, page 5.
“The Skating club,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 November 1905, page 5.
“Winnipeg Skating Club,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 December 1905, page 8.
“[Winnipeg Skating Club],” Winnipeg Tribune, 1 November 1906, page 12.
“Winnipeg Skating Club,” Winnipeg Tribune, 14 January 1907, page 4.
“Skating,” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 November 1907, page 6.
“Skating Club officers,” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 November 1910, page 12.
“Skating Club names officers,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 29 March 1924, page 10.
“Skating Club plans new home,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 September 1924, page 3.
“Four companies ask for incorporation [Winnipeg Skating Club Limited],” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 September 1924, page 6.
“Winnipeg Skating Club Limited,” Manitoba Free Press, 16 September 1924, page 16.
“Skating Club to ask for tenders on $30,000 rink,” Winnipeg Tribune, 8 October 1924, page 1.
“Application to legislature,” Winnipeg Tribune, 1 May 1929, page 19.
“$200,000 Winnipeg Winter Club to be built at once,” Winnipeg Tribune, 20 June 1929, page 3.
“Winnipeg now has one of the finest club buildings,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 December 1929, page 14.
“Informal opening tonight of Winter Club’s new home,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 December 1929, page 12.
“President,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 June 1938, page 7.
“Ottawa offers to buy Winter Club for Navy,” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 October 1942, page 1 and 10.
“Winter Club purchase approved,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 October 1942, page 13.
The Winnipeg Winter Club Incorporation Act, Royal Statues of Manitoba, 1990.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Rick Mutton.
Page revised: 7 November 2024
