Historic Sites of Manitoba: Marine Museum of Manitoba (490 Eveline, Selkirk)

The Marine Museum of Manitoba (Selkirk) Inc. was established in 1972-1973 in the City of Selkirk. Its mandate relates to the marine life of Lake Winnipeg and the Red River, including a fine collection of ships, artifacts, and items. Its collections cover the period from 1850 to present.

The Marine Museum consists of six historic ships joined together with walkways. Displays on each ship describe their owners, uses, pictures, newspaper articles, and interesting anecdotes. Nautical exhibits are located throughout the ships, including features on the history of fishing on Lake Winnipeg, the fishes of Lake Winnipeg, boat motors through the ages, and the history and rudder of the SS Alpha, an old Manitoba steamboat.

The museum’s oldest ship is the passenger and freight steamship SS Keenora (1897) that sailed on Lake of the Woods, the Red River, and Lake Winnipeg. The next oldest ship is the CGS Bradbury (1915) that was owned by the federal government. Over her lifetime, the ship was used as fishing patrol vessel, a lighthouse and dredge tender, and an icebreaker. The other four ships include the Chickama II (1942), Lady Canadian (1944), Peguis II (1955), and the Joe Simpson (1963) named for the Selkirk hockey player, “Bullet” Joe Simpson. An authentic Lake Winnipeg lighthouse as well as various smaller boats and ship parts are displayed around the grounds.

There is a pair of lighthouses on the grounds. One of them dates from 1898, built by keeper Danial Matheson on Black Island in Lake Winnipeg. The other lighthouse was built in 1914 at the mouth of the Red River at Lake Winnipeg.

Aerial view of Marine Museum of Manitoba (June 2019) Source: George Penner Marine Museum of Manitoba (September 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Black Island lighthouse, built in 1898 (March 2019) Source: George Penner Red River lighthouse, built in 1914 (March 2019) Source: George Penner Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.14679, W96.86511 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

On the Road to Manitoba Museums by Maria Zbigniewicz

Marine Museum of Manitoba

Sources:

We thank George Penner for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 15 September 2020

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