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In 1911, the new Canada Cement Company, formed from the amalgamation of ten smaller companies, began construction of a manufacturing plant at this site in south Winnipeg. Its purpose was to use materials quarried at sites around Manitoba to make Portland cement. The site was chosen due to large deposits of suitable clay immediately west of the plant that were quarried over time, forming five large pits up to 60 feet deep. Other cement ingredients were quarried elsewhere in Manitoba and transported to the plant. High-calcium limestone was quarried at Steep Rock and a smaller quarry at Lily Bay (used between 1971 to 1974). Silica sand came from a quarry at Beausejour operated by the Alsip Brick, Tile and Lumber Company. Gypsum came from a quarry at Gypsumville (in the Interlake), underground mines at Amaranth (west side of Lake Manitoba) or Silver Plains (south of Winnipeg), or a quarry at Harcus (on the west side of Lake Manitoba). Iron oxide came from Ontario.
The cement plant, which employed 85 to 100 people at its height, was built at a cost of $3,000,000 and the original buildings included a rock and clay storage building (measuring 200 feet by 600 feet), a dryer building and kiln (70 feet by 300 feet), a raw grinding mill (100 feet by 150 feet), a machine shop and storehouse (36 feet by 135 feet), a clinker storage building (70 feet by 198 feet), a clinker grinding mill (60 feet by 166 feet), two stock houses (120 feet by 200 feet), a three-storey office building (30 feet by 42 feet), a bag building (50 feet by 150 feet), a packing building (50 feet by 150 feet), and a coal grinding mill (50 feet by 50 feet). The plant became operational in April 1913 with electricity provided by an on-site Winnipeg Electric Company substation.
Retrofitted between 1927 and 1928 to use a different manufacturing process, the plant consisted of two 287-foot, gas-fueled kilns, each ten feet in diameter to fire the ingredients at temperatures up to 2900 °F (1600 °C). In 1955, the plant was expanded to permit the construction of two 450-foot tall, twelve-foot diameter kilns, the first that year and the second in 1964. Between 1957 and 1972, the facility produced an annual average of 445,000 tons of finished cement, which typically consisted of 74.8% limestone and gypsum, 20% clay, 4.6% sand, and 0.6% iron oxide.
In May 1970, the company became Canada Cement Lafarge Limited after it was purchased by a French cement firm. Over time, the spent quarries filled with water to become lakes now forming part of FortWhyte Alive. From 1965 to 1992, output from the active clay quarry was also sold to Inland Cement for the production of cement at its nearby plant. In 1987, the cement plant closed and quarrying of local clay ceased. The site is now used as a transport distribution hub.
Canada Cement Plant (1913)
Source: Manitoba Free Press, 26 April 1913, page 13.
Canada Cement Plant (1913)
Source: Manitoba Free Press, 26 April 1913, page 13.
Canada Cement Plant (1927)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg - Buildings - Business - Canada Cement Co. #1
Canada Cement Plant (1947)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg - Buildings - Business - Canada Cement Co. #4
Canada Cement Plant (1950)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg - Buildings - Business - Canada Cement Co. #5
Aerial view of the Canada Cement Plant (1956)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Winnipeg - Buildings - Business - Canada Cement Co. #6
Aerial view of the former Canada Cement plant (August 2017)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Aerial view of the former Canada Cement plant (left background) and its clay quarries (right foreground), now lakes at FortWhyte Alive (June 2015)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Location (lat/long): N49.82162, W97.21525
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Canada Cement Company
Manitoba Business: Winnipeg Electric Railway Company / Winnipeg Electric Company
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Portland Cement Association Monument (Steep Rock, RM of Grahamdale)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: British-American Cement Plant (Sturgeon Road, RM of Rosser)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Inland Cement Plant (1191 Kenaston Boulevard, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba
“Views of the new $3,000,000 plant in course of erection by the Canada Cement Company,” Manitoba Free Press, 26 April 1913, page 13.
“High-calcium limestone deposits of Manitoba” by B. B. Bannatyne, Manitoba Department of Mines, Resources and Environmental Management, Publication 75-1, 1975.
“Industrial minerals in Manitoba” by James D. Bamburak, Geological Services Branch, Manitoba Energy and Mines, 29 September 1998.
We thank Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and James Bamburak.
Page revised: 6 October 2023
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