Point Douglas "Living History" Project

Beginning this summer, historical places such as Barber House, Schultz’s later home at 2 Beaconsfield St. and other spots of intrigue will be marked by historical plaques and markers. The “Living History of Point Douglas” project of the Point Douglas Resident’s Committee has been awarded $20,000 by the Winnipeg Foundation, along with contributions from other supporters, to capture and recount the neighborhood’s dramatic history. Tasks will also include a compilation project of oral histories.

“We’re just ecstatic,” said PDRC president Sel Burrows. “Point Douglas will begin to transform with the many visible things we want to put in place to show our history, and more importantly, to show the example of who we are, not only to us but to the world”.

When completed in a few months, the network of historical plaques will offer a magical journey, taking residents and visitors alike into the significant historic drama of the neighborhood. The project will be hiring Point Douglas residents to canvas homes for permission to place dramatic linear art along houses and structures to reflect where the waters rose during the disastrous 1950 flood, as well as application of date-of-construction plaques. “There is still dried river mud in the walls of my house to the second floor where the flood water rose,” said Sel Burrows of his Grove Street residence. “Like the sod homes of the early prairie settlers, I figure it’s good insulation.”

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