Manitoba Communities: West Kildonan (Unincorporated City)

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In 1914 the Municipality of Kildonan, which spanned both sides of the Red River, was split into the Rural Municipalities of West Kildonan and East Kildonan. The first council met on 16 March 1914 and consisted of Reeve Edmund Partridge and councillors John H Gunn, W. C. Smith, Isaac Colish, and Thomas Sly. In 1921 the municipality was further split into Old Kildonan to the south and West Kildonan to the north and residents of West Kildonan voted in favour of town status. In 1961 council requested city status from the province.

A characteristic of the municipality was its residential nature. Council actively promoted development of new residential and retail areas and the population rose from 6,500 at the end of the Second World War to 19,000 by 1960, giving it one of the highest populations per square mile ratio of the suburban municipalities. It took a strong stand against any industrial development and by 1961 just 5 percent of its three square mile footprint was industrial use.

Like many of the surrounding municipalities, West Kildonan was wary of closer ties with the City of Winnipeg. In June 1971 an open letter endorsed by the entire council urged citizens to contact elected officials about the coming merger stating that “there is no doubt that there will be a substantial increase in your taxes in the years to come, far higher than you would normally expect from normal increases in operating costs and services provided to you.”

Present Status	City of Winnipeg (1 January 1972)
Incorporation History	Municipality of Kildonan and St. John (1876) Rural Municipality of Kildonan (1880) Divided into East Kildonan and West Kildonan (1914) Divided into Old Kildonan and West Kildonan (1921) Town of West Kildonan (1921) City of West Kildonan (1961) Amalgamation of Assiniboia, Brooklands, Charleswood, East Kildonan, Fort Garry, North Kildonan, Old Kildonan, St. Boniface, St. James, St. Vital, Transcona, Tuxedo, West Kildonan, and Winnipeg (1 January 1972)
Land Area (square km)	?

Population

Year	Total
1901	668
1911	1767
1921	4641
1931	6132
1941	6110
1951	10754
1956	15256
1961	20077
1966	22240
1971	23959

Reeves and Mayors

Term	Reeve/Mayor
1914	Formed from subdivision of RM of Kildonan
1915-1918	Edmund Partridge (1868-1955)
1919	John H. Gunn (?-?)
1920-1923	Charles Albert Tanner (1887-1970)
1924	Edmund Partridge (1868-1955)
1925	George Rae Davidson (1890-1982)
1926-1945	Edmund Partridge (1868-1955)
1946-1951	Cecil Joseph Henry Lyon (1902-1968)
1952-1953	John Frederick Archibald “Jack” Partridge (1912-1966)
1954-1957	Arthur Edgar Wright (1907-1977)
1958-1967	Chaim Nachman Kushner (1905-1997)
1967-1969	Saul Miller (1917-1993)
1969-1971	Daniel Abraham “Abe” Yanofsky (1925-2000)
1972	Merged into Winnipeg

Councillors

Councillor	Term(s)
Isaac Colish (1878-1977)	1914-1920

Police Chiefs:

Term	Police Chief
?-?	?

Fire Chiefs:

Term	Fire Chief
1930	William Watson

Sources:

“Fire prevention week will open on Oct. 5,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 September 1930, page 9.

Manitoba Gazette, 1887-1959. Manitoba Legislative Library.

“W. K.—working man’s Tuxedo,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 July 1960, page 1.

“W. K. to seek city status,” Winnipeg Free Press, 26 January 1961, page 30.

“W. K. solicits views on midi-city bill,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 June 1971, page 28.

“West Kildonan, Scotland linked with 1,300-year-old name,” Winnipeg Free Press, 31 December 1971, page 20.

West Kildonan – Pathways, City of Winnipeg Archives.

Municipality of West Kildonan Council History, 1914-1919.

This page was prepared by Christian Cassidy and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 November 2017