Historic Sites of Manitoba: Carnegie Monument (Carnegie, Municipality of Riverdale)

A monument in the Municipality of Riverdale commemorates the former community of Carnegie that was situated here. A post office opened in 1903, taking the name of William Carnegie on whose land the office was situated. It is said that Carnegie was the second cousin of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) who funded the construction of three libraries in Winnipeg: Carnegie Library (1905), Cornish Library (1915), and St. John’s Library (1915).

A station on the Lenore Subdivision of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in its heyday Carnegie had two grain elevators, one operated by the Western Canada Flour Mills and the other by the Ogilvie Flour Mills. An outdoor skating rink was built with materials scavenged from a construction site in Brandon. The water to flood the rink came from a well on the Johnston farm about one-half mile away. Within several years, a change room was built and electric lights were added.

The post office closed in 1960 and nothing remains at the site today other than the monument near the abandoned railway line.

A view of Carnegie from the southwest showing section house, blacksmith’s house, blacksmith shop, Johnson (originally Watt’s) general store, Western Canada Four Mills grain elevator, and Ogilvie grain elevator (circa 1935) Source: Bill and Mary Frank (via James Frank) Carnegie hockey team (1930s) Source: Bill and Mary Frank (via James Frank) Carnegie hockey team; Bill Wismer is third from right (1930s) Source: George Johnston Blacksmith’s house at Carnegie, occupied until 1919 by Geoffrey Walter Frank then until the smithy closed in the 1950s by Harry McAuley (before 1919) Source: James Frank Johnson’s (originally Watt’s) general store (1930s) Source: George Johnston Johnson’s (originally Watt’s) general store with proprietor H. T. Johnson and his stepdaughters Alice, Marion, and Jean (circa 1930s) Source: Bill and Mary Frank (via James Frank) Carnegie commemorative monument (May 2013) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.97523, W100.09438 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba

Sources:

Geographic Names of Manitoba, Manitoba Conservation, 2000.

We thank George Johnston (former Brandon resident) and James Frank for providing information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 25 January 2021

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