Historic Sites of Manitoba: Bannerman Town Site (Bannerman, Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain)

This site in the Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain was known as Bannerman, named for Henry Campbell-Bannerman (1836-1908), Prime Minister of Britain from 1905 to 1908. Established in 1906 as a station on the Great Northern Railway spur line from North Dakota to Brandon, at its height the community had a customs office and quarantine station, post office, several stores, livery stable, harness shop, hotel, two saw mills, lumber yard, grain elevator, puffed wheat factory, dance hall, pool hall and barber shop, church, and jail. Its population peaked at 250 people and declined when the rail line was abandoned in 1936 and the rails were removed the following year. The railway station was moved to Lena then, some years later, to Killarney where it was renovated into private residences. The grain elevator was demolished but its annex was moved to Killarney where it was still in use as of the late 1980s.

Postcard view of Bannerman

Postcard view of Bannerman (no date)
Source: Boissevain-Morton Library and Archives

Postcard view of Bannerman railway station

Postcard view of Bannerman railway station (no date)
Source: Boissevain-Morton Library and Archives

Postcard view of Bannerman Hotel

Postcard view of Bannerman Hotel (no date)
Source: Boissevain-Morton Library and Archives

Remnants of the railway water tower at the former site of Bannerman

Remnants of a railway water tower at the former site of Bannerman (May 2017)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.03972, W99.80409
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“Controlled aggression: James J. Hill and the Brandon, Saskatchewan and Hudson’s Bay Railway” by J. Everitt, R. Kempthorne and C. Schafer, North Dakota History, volume 56, number 2, pages 3-19, 1989.

Geographic Names of Manitoba, Manitoba Conservation, 2000.

Bannerman, Turtle Mountain - Souris Plains Heritage Association.

We thank Charlie Baldock and Ken Storie for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 12 April 2020

Historic Sites of Manitoba

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