Transcona


Transcona is a ward and suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba, located about east of the downtown area.
Until 1972, it was a separate municipality, having been incorporated first as the Town of Transcona on 6 April 1912 and then as the City of Transcona in 1961. The first Council for the Town of Transcona met in 1912 and the first Council for the City of Transcona met on 19 June 1961.
Today, the ward is represented by a member of Winnipeg City Council, and the suburb is part of the Transcona neighbourhood cluster—composed of much larger boundaries including large areas that were part of the Municipality of North Kildonan, and much of the area west of Plessis. It is primarily a working-class residential area with some light industry.

History

Beginning in 1835, the area now known as Transcona was administered by the Council of Assiniboia until 1870, when the Province of Manitoba was created and took jurisdiction over the area, after which they began the process of municipal incorporation.
The community of Transcona came about in 1908 when the Grand Trunk Pacific and National Transcontinental Railway, looking to build a second railway line across Canada, settled on a large area of unoccupied, flat land east of Winnipeg. This land functioned as the centrally located site for repair and maintenance of the GTP and NTR railways.
The land was also intended to be a townsite, so that municipal services could be provided to workers who came for prospective employment for the railway. The name Transcona derived from combining Transcontinental with Strathcona, the name of Lord Strathcona, Donald Smith, a former Manitoban who was instrumental in building the Canadian Pacific Railway not too long before.
In 1910, the Transcona post office opened and the area's population was reported at 1,600 people. The community at the time included two boarding houses, a bakery, butcher shop, a bank, two churches, and a two-room school in the Saunders Block. A year later, on 10 February, the Transcona Board of Trade was inaugurated.
Soon after, on 6 April 1912, the Town of Transcona was officially incorporated. The first Transcona election was held on Monday, 20 May 1912, resulting in Colin J. E. Maxwell as mayor. Six town councillors were also elected: Peter Watt, J. W. Gunn, C. Fieldhouse, Alex Campbell, Ovide Brodeur, and Matt Hall. The first town council met later that year.
During World War I, between 1914 and 1918, more than 400 men from Transcona enlisted in service to their country and the Crown; and the Transcona Shell Company and Eley Cartridge Company manufactured munitions. With the town declaring bankruptcy in 1921, the mayor and council were required to resign, and administration over Transcona was handed to the Manitoba government from that year until 1928, after a Town Council was elected in 1927. During the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, over 800 men and women from Transcona served in uniform, while others worked at the Cordite Plant, on the armoured train, or helped with the Transcona War Efforts Committee.
By 1955, Transcona had a population of 8,000, which grew to 13,000 by 1961. That year, the municipality gained a city charter and became the City of Transcona, whose first council 19 June 1961, with T. F. Copeland as mayor. On 3 October 1966, "The Park City" was officially adopted as the official slogan through a motion passed by Mayor Harry Fuller and Alderman C.J. Perry, Paul E. Martin, William Dzyndra, and M. Sharpe.
In 1972, the City of Transcona and several other municipalities merged with Winnipeg as part of the Unicity project laid out in the 1971 City of Winnipeg Act, whereupon it became a ward of the city and moved to first-past-the-post voting. At the time of its amalgamation into Winnipeg, the mayor was Harry Fuller and its final councillors were D. E. Perry, Walter Phillip, George E. Marshall, Charles J. Perry, William Dryden, and Albert J. Thompson.
Today, the Canadian National Railway is still a major employer in the community. CNR 2747 is now on display at the corner of Plessis Road and Kildare Avenue in the Kiwanis Park courtesy of the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

Timeline

1907 – Canadian Pacific builds additional railway tracks near district in the Municipality of Kildonan
1908 – Grand Trunk Pacific decides on Transcona as location for railway shops and buys of land. Name of Transcona adopted for future town. Townsite was originally to be created in what is now the South Transcona area, but this area was low-lying and subject to flooding and so the main townsite was moved north of the shops.
1909 – Haney, Quinlan and Robertson start work on excavation for the foundation of the new shops
1910 – first steel pillar is raised in the new shop building, and the post office opened
1911 – first Board of Trade is organized.
1912 – Town of Transcona receives its charter, and on November 12 municipal offices and Fire Hall opened for Public Inspection. The first electric light and power installed from Pointe du Bois generating station of Winnipeg Hydro. Central School officially opened but classes do not begin until 1913.
1913 – Transcona Shops opened, on April 10 the Transcona mayor presented Morley Donaldson, vice-president of GTP, with golden key as memento of shop opening. CPR builds grain elevator and opens yards near Transcona in the Municipality of Springfield and the Municipality of Kildonan. In October, the grain elevator tilts due to failure of its foundations, becoming a textbook example of the importance of soil mechanics. It is later restored.
1914 – Sewage system installed
1915–1918 – Transcona Shops manufacture munitions for the war; apparently part of the machine shop was converted to a shell shop.
1919 – Shoal Lake water connection for Town. Transcona athletic organization
1919 – Biggest sports field in Transcona's history held
1921 – Having run out of money, the town council dissolves, and the town is run until 1928 by provincially appointed administrators
1926 – First locomotive built in CNR shops
1929 – New post office built
1930 – Transcona Horticultural Society organized
1933 – Effects of the Great Depression hit Transcona. At the peak the town is paying the rent for 192 families.
1942 – is commissioned, a named for the town. The vessel participates in anti-submarine combat in the North Atlantic in December 1944.
1950 – The Red River floods. Some Winnipeg residents are temporarily sheltered in Transcona churches.
1961 – Becomes City of Transcona
1972 – Amalgamated with the City of Winnipeg along with 11 other communities

Former reeves and mayors

Prior to its amalgamation into Winnipeg in 1972, Transcona was led by a reeve or mayor.
TermReeve/mayor
1912–13Colin John Edward Maxwell
1913–14Peter Watt
1915Ernest Hector Bate
1916Peter Watt
1917–18George C. Jones
1919–20David Henry Brewster
1921Alexander R. Lyon
1922–27George P. Campbell
1928James Williamson
1929–31William Haigh
1932Evelyn Foster Shannon
1933George Edward Olive
1934–37Evelyn Foster Shannon
1938–45George Edward Olive
1946–49Andrew Russell "Russ" Paulley
1950–51R. G. Matheson
1952–53Andrew Russell Paulley
1954–57J. S. Johnston
1958–59Paul Emile Martin
1960–61Thomas F. Copeland
1962–71Harry Fuller

Places and government

Transcona is part of the Elmwood—Transcona federal electoral district. In the Manitoba Legislature, Transcona falls in parts of two constituencies; the representatives are Jelynn Dela Cruz and Shannon Corbett of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba.
Among its attractions, Transcona is home to the Transcona Historical Museum, the only designated historic building in the neighbourhood; Kildonan Place, the city's third largest mall; Kilcona Park; and Club Regent Casino.

Neighbourhoods

The city ward of Transcona includes the neighbourhoods of Melrose, Victoria West, Kern Park, Radisson, Kildare-Redonda, Canterbury Park, Meadows, Mission Gardens, Peguis, Grassie, Transcona South, Griffin, North Transcona Yards, Transcona Yards, Regent, Transcona North, Dugald, St. Boniface Industrial Park, Symington Yards, and Southland Park.
Though the majority of the area consists of houses built several decades ago, there are newer developments located in the east and northwest sections of the community including Canterbury Park, Lakeside Meadows, and Mission Gardens. Transcona's future expansion is limited by the presence of the Red River Floodway and the Perimeter Highway.

Education and demographics

As of the 2016 census, the Transcona neighbourhood cluster was home to 36,285 people.
In 1959, the Transcona-Springfield School Division was created, supported jointly by the Town of Transcona and the Rural Municipality of Springfield for high school education only, and administered by a school board of nine officials. The Transcona School District No. 39 remained for elementary and junior high students. The School Division and Transcona School District merged in 1967. In 2002, the Transcona part of the former Transcona-Springfield School Division and the River East School Division were united as the River East Transcona School Division.

Elementary schools