Towering safely above the high-water mark of Manitoba’s infamous Red River sits Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site, a place of roughhewn Tyndall stone walls and sturdy historic buildings at the eastern edge of the vast Canadian prairies.
Lower Fort Garry is a place of firsts. Here, the first numbered treaty was signed with Treaty No. 1 First Nations. It is also the site of the first training centre for the North-West Mounted Police, Manitoba’s first prison and psychiatric facility, and the first commercial farm in Western Canada.
This is where a young Western Canada began to take shape. History will unfold before your eyes at this restored 19th-century fort, where skilled costumed interpreters evoke the spirit of the past on this Red River Settlement. Meet the governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company within the fort’s historic stone walls, barter with the company clerk or sit under an authentic birch bark dwelling and listen to stories from Indigenous Elders.
With an on-site restaurant, theatre and gift shop, it’ll take you days to fully absorb this majestic site full of grand history and elaborate character.
Lower Fort Garry is a National historic site that was built in 1830 by the Hudsons Bay Company on the western banks of the Red River, 32km north of the original Fort Garry. Lower Fort Garry is where Treaty 1 was signed. The Lower Fort did trade a small amount of furs, its main purpose was as a supply depot for the Red River settlement and the surrounding Cree, Anishinaabe, Métis, and European (mostly Orkney Scot) populations. The site is now well-preserved, offering museums, displays and tours. It is a wonderful place to visit and to learn about our history.
