The Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia

The Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from The Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia, History Museum, 3180 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB.
(1)

🍂 **When summer ended in St. James… you paid attention.**In the 1850s, there was no calendar notification telling you au...
08/25/2026

🍂 **When summer ended in St. James… you paid attention.**

In the 1850s, there was no calendar notification telling you autumn was coming.

You felt it.

The evenings grew cooler. The daylight began slipping away a little earlier. Fields and gardens had to be harvested. Food needed to be preserved. Wood needed to be gathered. Homes had to be made ready.

Because on the banks of the Assiniboine, winter wasn’t just another season.

**It was something you prepared for.**

For the Métis families and other residents of the Red River Settlement, late summer was a busy turning point — a time of harvesting, fishing, hunting, trading, storing food and making sure there would be enough to carry a household through the long Manitoba winter.

And yet we can imagine there must have been something familiar about these final days of August too.

One more warm evening.

One more sunset over the prairie.

One more night with the door open before the cold arrived.

Nearly 175 years later, summer still seems to disappear the same way:

**slowly… and then all at once.**

So enjoy these last warm days.

People along the Assiniboine have probably been doing exactly that for a very long time. 🌾☀️🍂

**The Woman Behind the Brown House: Charlotte Omand Brown**When we tell the story of the Brown House, it’s easy to focus...
08/14/2026

**The Woman Behind the Brown House: Charlotte Omand Brown**

When we tell the story of the Brown House, it’s easy to focus on the name over the door: William Brown. But this was **Charlotte’s home too — and her story is an important part of Manitoba’s history.**

Charlotte Omand Brown was a **Métis woman with English and Anishinaabe family roots**, part of a prominent Métis family in the Red River region. She married former Hudson’s Bay Company employee William Brown, and together they raised **six children**.

Around 1856, the family established their home on an Assiniboine River lot in Headingley. The Red River frame house that survives today began as a much simpler dwelling and became the centre of a busy farming household.

It’s worth imagining that house not simply as an old building, but as a **home** — children growing up, meals being prepared, fires keeping the Manitoba winter outside, work to be done every day, and generations of family life unfolding within those walls.

Charlotte reminds us of something important about local history: the stories of women — and particularly Métis and Indigenous women — can sometimes disappear behind the names traditionally attached to buildings and properties.

Today, when you walk through the Brown House at the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia, you’re walking through **Charlotte’s story as much as William’s.**

And perhaps we should remember it that way. ❤️

08/11/2026

Have you ever used an expression without realizing just how old it is? In this video, we’ll uncover the story behind a phrase you probably say all the time—even though it no longer really matches the technology we use today.

We’ll explore how language quietly preserves little pieces of history, carrying expressions forward long after the original objects have disappeared.

We’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Did anything in this post bring back memories, thoughts, or experiences from your own life? Did you find this information interesting?

We always enjoy hearing different perspectives and personal stories.

🏡 **Imagine calling this home in 1856.**One of the treasures here at the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia is th...
08/10/2026

🏡 **Imagine calling this home in 1856.**

One of the treasures here at the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia is the **William Brown House** — a remarkable Red River frame home originally built in Headingley in 1856.

William Brown lived here with his wife, **Charlotte Omand Brown**, whose family story reflects both Scottish and Indigenous roots in the Red River community.

Think about everything these walls would have witnessed: wood fires on bitter winter mornings, meals prepared without electricity or running water, muddy spring thaws, children coming and going, and countless ordinary conversations that nobody could have known would one day become part of Manitoba history.

The house remained in Headingley for more than a century before being moved to the Museum grounds at **3180 Portage Avenue in 1973**, helping preserve an increasingly rare example of the Red River frame style of construction.

That’s one of the wonderful things about visiting a historic house.

History suddenly stops being a date in a book.

You can stand in the room. You can see the walls. You can imagine the fire crackling, the boots by the door and someone looking out the window at a Manitoba winter nearly 170 years ago.

**The William Brown House isn’t just an old building. It’s a little piece of everyday life that somehow survived.**

Come see it for yourself at the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia. ❤️

Mid-summer in St. James meant long days, hard work, and a little time to enjoy the beauty of the season. ☀️🌾In the 1800s...
08/06/2026

Mid-summer in St. James meant long days, hard work, and a little time to enjoy the beauty of the season. ☀️🌾

In the 1800s, this was the height of summer life in the St. James area. Gardens were growing fast, hay fields were busy, and families made the most of every sunny day. Along the Assiniboine River, Indigenous, MĂŠtis, and settler communities all lived closely with the rhythms of the land, travelling, working, gathering, and sharing in the richness of the season.

Mid-summer also brought moments of joy: children playing outdoors, neighbours visiting, and evenings stretching out under golden prairie skies. Before autumn’s work began in earnest, summer offered a brief and beautiful chance to enjoy the warmth, the harvest to come, and life along the river.

When you visit the St. James-Assiniboia Museum, you can step into that world and imagine what a Manitoba mid-summer felt like more than 150 years ago.

August in St. James, 1850s 🌾☀️In the 1850s, August in the St. James area was a month of hard work, warmth, and beauty. A...
08/04/2026

August in St. James, 1850s 🌾☀️

In the 1850s, August in the St. James area was a month of hard work, warmth, and beauty. Along the Assiniboine River, the land was alive with tall grasses, ripening gardens, and the sounds of late summer. For Indigenous families, Métis communities, and settler households alike, this was a time to gather, prepare, and make the most of the season’s abundance.

Gardens were heavy with vegetables, hay was being cut and stored, berries were gathered, and families worked to preserve food for the colder months ahead. River travel was still important, and the trails would have been busy with people moving through the region, trading, visiting, and working the land.

But August was not only about labour. It was also a time to pause and enjoy the gifts of summer — long golden evenings, the breeze off the river, and moments of community after a full day’s work.

When we imagine St. James in the 1850s, we can picture a place deeply connected to the rhythms of the land, where August meant both effort and abundance, and where every warm day was something to be cherished before autumn arrived.

08/04/2026

Did you ever wonder why we say “as the crow flies”when talking about distance? In this video, I uncovered the history of this old expression, tracing it back to farmer’s fields in Britain, folklore and even a classic Charles Dickens novel.

☀️ **Take a Little Trip Back in Time This Summer**Summer doesn’t always have to mean travelling hundreds of kilometres, ...
07/27/2026

☀️ **Take a Little Trip Back in Time This Summer**

Summer doesn’t always have to mean travelling hundreds of kilometres, fighting traffic or asking, “Are we there yet?” every twelve minutes.

Sometimes, a wonderful adventure is waiting right in your own neighbourhood.

Step onto the grounds of the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia and discover what life was like here long before shopping malls, smartphones and air conditioning.

Explore our historic 1856 Red River frame house, visit the old Municipal Hall, wander through the exhibits and imagine the generations of Indigenous people, MĂŠtis families, settlers, farmers, workers and community builders whose stories shaped St. James-Assiniboia.

Bring the family, bring a friend—or come enjoy a peaceful afternoon on your own.

History isn’t only something that happened somewhere else.

**It happened right here.**

📍 Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia
3180 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg

Come spend a little of your summer with the people who spent theirs here before us. 🌿🏡

🏛️ **Welcome to St. James in 1911!**The building we now know as the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia was brand ...
07/23/2026

🏛️ **Welcome to St. James in 1911!**

The building we now know as the Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia was brand new—and it wasn’t a museum yet. It was the **Municipality of Assiniboia Municipal Hall**, a place where local officials met, debated community matters and made decisions about the future of the growing district.

Outside its doors, St. James looked very different. Much of the area was still rural, with farms, open fields and long stretches of prairie. Horses and wagons remained part of everyday transportation, and Portage Avenue certainly didn’t have today’s traffic—although we suspect someone was already complaining about the road!

The community had deep Indigenous and Red River MĂŠtis roots, alongside generations of settler families who farmed, operated businesses and built homes near the Assiniboine River. By 1911, St. James was gradually changing from a rural parish into a busier, more organized municipality.

More than a century later, the old Municipal Hall is still serving the community—but instead of planning its future, it now helps preserve its past.

The museum officially opened inside the historic building in 1970. Today, when you walk through its doors, you are entering a building that has witnessed over 115 years of St. James history.

📍 Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia
3180 Portage Avenue

Free event. Refreshments. Bring a chair/ blanket (umbrella)Happening Saturday/ July 11, 2026 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on the...
07/10/2026

Free event. Refreshments. Bring a chair/ blanket (umbrella)

Happening Saturday/ July 11, 2026 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on the Assiniboia Residental School Grounds/ 615 Academy Rd.

This event is co-sponsored by the ďżźAssiniboia Residential School Legecy Group and the St. Ann Social Awareness Committee.

See attached poster for more details.

Address

3180 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB
R3K0Y5

Telephone

+12048888706

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to The Historical Museum of St. James-Assiniboia:

Shortcuts

Share

Category