First CP Railway Station 1903

While the company was completing the extension of the CPR line from Selkirk to Winnipeg Beach, the station, shelter, pump house, and water tower were being built between the beach and Railway Ave., across from the William Robinson store. This station was located on what we now know as the main waterfront street in Winnipeg Beach. The station shelter and water tower incorporated standard CPR designs. Passengers would disembark amid the main commercial district, and the amusement area around the first dancing pavilion, the CPR Pier and the beach, and Lake Winnipeg. Children from Winnipeg who had never seen a lake would wait excitedly to see the water through the train windows as it pulled into the station. The first excursion to the beach arrived on June 6, 1903. Early amusement facilities consisted of ladies’ and gents’ bathhouses, with bathing suits rented by hour or day, bowling alley, rifle range, toboggan slides into the lake, boat rentals, and merry-go-round, all generating additional revenue for the CPR.

Source: Heritage Manitoba

Researcher: Wally Johannson