A small waiting station, at Grosse Isle in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood, now part of a community museum, was built on the CPR Arborg Subdivision line at Gunton around 1944. It is an example of the facilities built at railway stops that were not busy enough to warrant full-fledged stations. It recalls the era when rural Manitobans relied on scheduled railway passenger service for transport. The nearby Ridgeway House, completed in 1886, planned by an unidentified Swiss builder and associated for more than a century after 1898 with the family of Rockwood-area pioneer John Ridgeway, is an interesting local landmark. The former Emerson CNR station was moved to the museum sometime between 2013 and 2015.
The museum is a municipally-designated heritage site as of 2006.
Gunton Waiting Station at the Grosse Isle Museum (August 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Gunton Waiting Station at the Grosse Isle Museum (May 2023)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Ridgeway Heritage House (July 2016)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Ridgeway Heritage House (May 2023)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of the Ridgeway Heritage House (August 2019)
Source: George Penner
Ceremony at the reopening of the former East Rosser School at the museum (September 2016)
Source: Gerry Norberg
East Rosser School at the Grosse Isle Museum (May 2023)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of the former East Rosser School at the museum (August 2019)
Source: George Penner
Former Canadian National Railway station from Emerson at the museum (August 2014)
Source: George Penner
Former Canadian National Railway station from Emerson at the museum (July 2016)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Prairie Dog Central at the former Canadian National Railway station from Emerson at the museum (August 2019)
Source: George Penner
The former Grosse Isle United Church at the museum (August 2019)
Source: George Penner
The former Grosse Isle United Church at the museum (May 2023)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of the former Grosse Isle United Church at the museum (August 2019)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.06530, W97.44363
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Prairie Dog Central Railway (Prairie Dog Trail, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: East Rosser School No. 594 (RM of Rosser)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Grosse Isle United Church and Settler Monument (Grosse Isle, RM of Rockwood)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Railway Stations
Ridgeway House and Gunton Waiting Station, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch.
We thank Gerry Norberg and George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 28 October 2023
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