Memorable Manitobans: Firmin Wyndels (c1888-1929)

Building contractor.

Born at Neuville en Ferrain, France around 1888, of Belgian parents, he came to Winnipeg in 1909 where he was President and General Manager of the Wyndels Construction Company which designed and built a number of homes, schools, and churches in Manitoba. On 8 January 1917, he married Marie Madeleine Bossuyt (1897-1964) at Fort Garry and they had six children: Zoe Wyndels (1917-1994), Constant Firmin Albert Wyndels (1918-1995), Raymonde Wyndels (1920-2001, wife of James H. Loudfoot), Jeanne Elizabeth Wyndels (1920-2014, wife of James Grant Dykes), Dennis Victor Wyndels (1928-2012), Firmin Wyndels (1929-1992). He died at the St. Boniface Hospital on 14 September 1929 and was buried in the St. Boniface Cathedral Cemetery.

Some of his construction works in Manitoba included:

Building

Location

Year

Value

Status

Fort Garry Catholic Church

Monaghan Avenue, Fort Garry

1914

Unknown

Demolished (?)

Vershae Vershaere House

Dubuc Street, St. Boniface

1916

$1,000

 

Belgian Sacred Heart Church

501 Plinguet Street, St. Boniface

1917

$9,000

Demolished (1994)

Scheppers Agricultural College / Sacred Heart College

Swan Lake, Municipality of Lorne

1920

$80,000

Demolished (1938)

Farmers Packing Company Building

Dupuy Avenue at Marion Street, St. Boniface

1921

$24,000

Demolished (?)

Western Wheel & Foundries Building

Messier Street, St. Boniface

1921

$6,200

 

Carter Store Building

St. Joseph & Provencher, St. Boniface

1921

$5,000

 

Constant House

Kitson Street, St. Boniface

1921

$2,500

 

Dr. Collins House

149 Dollard Boulevard, St. Boniface

1922

$10,000

 

Imperial Oil Garage

Provencher & Tache, St. Boniface

1922

$5,000

 

McRuer Drug Store

Provencher Boulevard, St. Boniface

1922

$10,000

 

Imperial Oil Buildings

Selkirk

1922

Unknown

 

House (brick & stucco)

422 Rue Valade, St. Boniface

1922

$10,000

 

Dominion Wheel & Foundries Building

Messier Street, St. Boniface

1923

$7,000

 

House (brick & stucco)

137 Monck Avenue, Norwood

1924

$6,000

 

House (brick & stucco)

172 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$6,000

 

House (brick & stucco)

178 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$5,900

 

House (brick & stucco)

184 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$5,300

 

House (brick & stucco)

188 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$5,300

 

House (brick & stucco)

190 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$4,800

 

House (brick & stucco)

194 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$5,600

 

House (brick & stucco)

206 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$5,500

 

House (brick & stucco)

210 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$5,000

 

House (brick & stucco)

214 Ferndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$6,200

 

House (brick & stucco)

198 Lawndale Avenue, Norwood

1925

$4,000

 

Beilleul Store

523 Marion Street, St. Boniface

1926

$5,000

 

Pierson Store

Tache Avenue, St. Boniface

1926

$3,500

 

Dominion Wheel & Foundries Building

Messier Street, St. Boniface

1926

$20,000

 

House (stucco)

562 Morenie Street, St. Boniface

1927

$4,000

 

Farmers Packing Company Building

Dupuy Avenue at Marion Street, St. Boniface

1927

$50,000

 

Modern Dairy Cold Storage Building

209 La Verendrye Street, St. Boniface

1927

$4,000

 

Holy Cross School

300 Dubuc Street, St. Boniface

1928

$28,000

 

House (brick & stucco)

514 Ritchot Street, St. Boniface

1928

$5,000

 

Modern Dairy Building

738 St. Joseph Street, St. Boniface

1929

$50,000

 

See also:

Firmin Wyndels: The Belgian Builder by James Wyndels, University of Ottawa, 2016.

Sources:

Marriage and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1921 Canada census, Ancestry.

“Modern Dairy’s new home will be model plant,” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 June 1929, page 6.

“Deaths and funerals,” Manitoba Free Press, 17 September 1929, page 12.

Obituary, Manitoba Free Press, 17 September 1929, page 22.

Obituary, La Liberte, 18 September 1929, page 8.

“Jeanne Elizabeth Wyndels marries Lieut. J. G. Dykes,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 March 1944, page 8.

The Belgians in Manitoba by Keith Wilson and James B. Wyndels, Winnipeg: Peguis Publishers, 1976.

Death registration [Firmin Wyndels], British Columbia Vital Statistics.

Obituary [Constant Firmin Albert Wyndels], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 February 1995, page 14.

Obituary [James Herbert Loudfoot], Winnipeg Free Press, 29 January 2004, page 23.

Joseph Van Belleghem: A Biography by James B. Wyndels, Ottawa: J. Merriam Print, 2004, page 7.

Obituary [Dennis Victor Wyndels], Winnipeg Free Press, 4 October 2012.

Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and James Wyndels.

Page revised: 19 March 2022

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