The History of Charleswood

Early History
The area was originally part of a vast territory known as Rupertsland, granted to the Hudson Bay Company (H.B.C.) in 1670.

Early in the 19th Century, Charleswood was the location of "The Passage" - a natural ford at the foot of Berkley Street, where the Assiniboine River was shallow enough to cross. The Passage was frequently used by buffalo hunters travelling to Pembina, and independent traders wanting to bypass the Forks in defiance of the H.B.C. s monopoly.

In 1857, the H.B.C. surveyed and divided land on both sides of the Assiniboine into narrow river lot farms, extending two miles from the riverbank. (The original river lots were extended to a depth of four miles in 1880.) Among the earliest settlers on these river lot farms were the Beauchemin, Hogue, Morrissette, and Branconnier families.

Around 1865, a river road was cut through the dense woodland along the south bank of the Assiniboine River to Baie St. Paul. A ferry was established at the Passage in 1870 linking Berkley Street with Rouge Road.

R.M. of Assiniboia
In 1869, the H.B.C. ceded the territory to the Dominion of Canada, and the Province of Manitoba was created in 1870. The R.M. of Assiniboia was incorporated in 1880, combining the Parishes of Headingley, St. Charles, St. James and part of St. Boniface on both sides of the Assiniboine. In 1899, a highway (Roblin Boulevard) was surveyed along the south side of the Assiniboine River. The Manitoba Government purchased 117 acres in 1903 for an Agricultural College (later Fort Osborne Barracks). A year later, the City of Winnipeg purchased 283 acres for Assiniboine Park. By 1905, the Tuxedo Park Company had acquired 3,000 acres for a residential subdivision that became the Town of Tuxedo.

These changes required resurveying a portion of the 1899 highway through Tuxedo and part of Charleswood in 1908. That same year, the electric street car line was extended west on Roblin Boulevard to Kelly s store near Beaverdam Creek. Due to shallow water, the ferry at Berkley Street was moved upstream in 1908, linking Xavier Drive and St. Charles Street. The St. Charles Ferry remained in use until the opening of the Perimeter Bridge in 1959.

Two transcontinental railways lines passed through Charleswood, the Canadian Northern (now the C.N.R. Mainline), and the Grand Trunk Pacific (now the abandoned C.N.R. Harte Subdivision). The latter had a railway station at "Pacific Junction" near Elmhurst Road.

R.M. OF Charleswood
As roads improved, and the Assiniboine River became more of a barrier, the Rural Municipality of Charleswood was incorporated in 1912.

The name "Charleswood" has two probable sources of origin. One is that it was named for Charles Kelly who served on the first municipal council. The other is that it is a combination of the Parish name "St. Charles" and the dense woodland that filled the area.

The first Municipal Council met in Patrick Kelly s General Store, built in 1907. After 1914, the council met in Charleswood School, at the present site of Beauchemin Park Place. The red brick school was built to replace a one room log school house. Other early schools were Loudoun (c. 1909) and Chapman (c. 1914), the latter named for Charleswood s first reeve, George Chapman.

In 1922, the first church in the area, St. Mary s Anglican opened, as well as the Odd Fellows Home on Roblin Boulevard and the Manitoba School for the Deaf in Tuxedo. The first United Church opened in 1933.

Prior to World War II, Charleswood was largely rural with residential pockets scattered throughout the mu-
nicipality along gravel and mud roads. The local economy was principally agricultural with dairy and poultry farms, market gardens and mink ranches. During the Great Depression, the "Back to the Land Settlement Act" brought an influx of settlers to the area.

After World War II, Charleswood began to grow rapidly beginning with the development of a Veteran s Land Act Project: "Roblin Park". To meet population growth, new schools, churches, and recreation facilities were built.
During the early 1960 s, a commercial district, "Charleswood Village" developed along Roblin Boulevard between Wexford Street and Alcrest Drive. In 1965, the first permanent Municipal Civic Centre was built at 5006 Roblin Boulevard.

The low density nature of Charleswood began to change with large scale subdivisions like "Westdale" and ‘Riverwest Park" as well as infill along existing streets and vacant backland.

In 1972, after 60 years as a separate municipality, Charleswood was amalgamated with the City of Winnipeg. With the secession of Headingley in 1992, the former municipalities on the north and south sides of the Assiniboine River were reunited after 80 years as the Assiniboia Community. In 1995, they were physically linked with the opening of the Charleswood Bridge.