Brandon

Manitoba's "Wheat City" of Brandon came very close to being called Grand Valley. Settlers rushed into the area in 1882, and speculators began to boost prices for private gain. In indignation the engineers, who came to erect a railway station, went on two miles in order to purchase land at a more reasonable rate. The site of the station is the present heart of the "Wheat City". The new site took the name of the Hudson's Bay trading post, Brandon House, which was originally built at the junction of the Souris and Assiniboine rivers in 1793. Brandon House was named in honor of the Duke of Brandon, an ancestor of Lord Selkirk.

Although the above is the accepted version on how Brandon came to be named, there is a colorful local legend. According to this legend, an officer's wife from Portage la Prairie and a young Scotch [sic] aristocrat became romantically involved. Young Lord Brandon was discovered with his love by the very irate husband and forced to flee for his life. He took refuge in the hills that stand near the Little Souris and Assiniboine. There he lived out the rest of his days as a hermit. Because of his residence there, the hills became known as the Brandon Hills and later this name was transferred to the new settlement.

Source: Ham, Penny (1980): Place Names of Manitoba, Western Producer Prairie Books, Saskatoon, p. 16.

Related Sites:

• City of Brandon

Thompson

Manitoba's "instant city" developed in 1956. Out of the muskeg rose a modern metropolis, which was named for the president of the International Nickel Company, John F. Thompson. This company, together with the provincial government was responsible for the development of the nickel-bearings ores - a few miles southwest at Moak Lake and nearby Mystery Lake. Named "The Thompson Project" and located two miles from the mine, the development completed in 1961, was a model town capable of accommodating an anticipated population of 8 000. A CNR branch line, linking Thompson with the Hudson Bay Railway at Sipiwesk, was completed in 1957.

Source: Ham, Penny (1980): Place Names of Manitoba, Western Producer Prairie Books, Saskatoon, pp. 127-128.

Related Site:

• City of Thompson

Selkirk

Named for Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk (1771-1820), who established the Red River Settlement (1812) at the forks of the Red and the Assiniboine and thus founded civilization of the European type in Manitoba. Selkirk might well be called The Father of Manitoba.

Source: Ham, Penny (1980): Place Names of Manitoba, Western Producer Prairie Books, Saskatoon, p. 119.

Related Site:

• City of Selkirk