GIMLI HERITAGE WALKING TOURS – Long Tour Text and Audio
Approximately 50 Minutes

1. Jonasson House

48 Third Avenue.
This fine 1911 heritage home is an important Gimli structure. It is associated with three well-known early citizens. Einar Jonasson Sr. was a practitioner of homeopathic medicine, the community’s health officer and one of its founding citizens. Einar Jonasson Jr. served as secretary-treasurer of the town for 28 years and this house served as his office (complete with a safe). Einar was also mayor of the community from 1924 to 1926 and, at one time, he served in the provincial legislature. Later, Dr. Frank Scribner lived in the house and used part of it for his medical practice. This attractive structure employs eye-catching exterior modifications that complement an engaging design. It is an excellent example of the many houses in Manitoba that were built using plans found in catalogues.

2. Thorson Cottage

50 Fourth Avenue.
The Thorson Cottage, dating from 1918, recalls the development of summer cottages in town in the early decades of the 20th century. Originally owned by Stefan Thorson, who served a term as mayor, it was purchased in 1925 by Jacob Greenberg, a merchant and businessman. The Ludlow family owned it for many years before the Blicq family purchased it, in 1997, and began a restoration. They eventually turned it into their four-season home. This cottage is said to have been built by Hjalmar Thorsteinson, a well-remembered early carpenter whose hands touched many Gimli buildings. This cottage is in very good condition and has a high level of historic integrity.

3. Paulson/Barlow House

44 Fourth Avenue.
Built in 1931 for C.P. Paulson, an early mayor of the village of Gimli, this attractive home features front and back dormers and a gabled roof porch over the main entrance. The gracious interior has maple floors, a brick fireplace and French doors. Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir dined here in 1936 during a tour of the Interlake region. The story is told that Mr. Paulson fed him ducks, which he shot in the marsh behind his home. The house was owned by the Stevens family for many years and more recently, by the Barlow family. In 2023, it was renamed the Barlow House, in recognition of William Barlow, a former mayor and councillor who worked tirelessly for his community and the environment.

4. Tergesen House

38 Fourth Avenue.
With its grand columns on the outside and its hand-painted murals on the inside (in the study and on the living room ceiling), the Tergesen house stands as a testament to the ambitions and optimism of the New Iceland community at the turn of the century. Built in 1911 by one of Gimli’s founding families, the home enjoyed steam heat, a plumbing system powered by a windmill and electrical wiring, all of it installed long before modern conveniences came to the rest of the community. It is the early residence of Hans Pjetur Tergesen, a pioneer merchant whose well-known general store in town is still operated by the family. The Tergesen house is also still owned and occupied by members of the family.

5. Spruce Lodge

21 Fourth Avenue.
The ‘Spruce Lodge’ family cottage, built in 1921, is in very good, original condition. This cottage, with its typical hipped-roof form, informal floor plan and its ingenious details, is distinguished by notable variations on the theme: a graceful sloping roof and unusual vertical strapping on the exterior that give the cottage a more refined quality. In the early years, mothers and children arrived at Gimli cottages like this one in June, planning to stay for the summer, while fathers travelled from Winnipeg on the ‘Weekend Special’ train arriving on Friday evenings to join their families.

6. Gimli Dance Pavilion

Fourth Avenue and Amisk Drive.
From about 1900 until after World War II, prairie dance halls were popular venues for recreation and socializing. The Gimli Dance Pavilion (1911) is one of two still in use in Manitoba. Designed by Olafur Thorsteinson, a local carpenter, talented craftsman and musician, the Pavilion is in almost original condition. It is still a valuable gathering place for the community, hosting weddings, parties and many events including serving as a venue for the annual Icelandic Festival of Manitoba. The Gimli Waltz is said to have been written by Oli Thorsteinson. It has been played here, at Old Timers’ Dances, countless times over the last century.

7. Icelandic Pioneer Cemetery

Near the corner of Highway 231 and Provincial Road 222.
The Icelandic Pioneer Cemetery is the first Icelandic cemetery established in Manitoba and the oldest Icelandic public cemetery in Canada. It remains an important link to the Icelandic pioneers who settled along the western shore of Lake Winnipeg and it is also significant as a burial and memorial site for victims of the 1876-77 smallpox epidemic, a great tragedy that decimated settlers and Indigenous peoples in the Interlake region. The well-kept, landscaped cemetery is a poignant historical landmark that recognizes the struggles of early Icelandic immigrants in the Gimli area.

8. Erindale Cottage

21 Third Avenue.
The ‘Erindale Cottage’ ( also known as the Truesdale Cottage) was built in 1918 by a professional carpenter who brought kiln-dried lumber from British Columbia for two identical cottages in town. Its first owner, Rhodes Scholar Skuli Johnson, served as a Classics Professor at Wesley College, then the University of Manitoba. Successive generations of the Johnson family have owned and enjoyed ‘Erindale.’ This classic Gimli cottage has a well-preserved hipped roof and boasts a very high level of integrity to the original design and fabrication, including the original chimney.

9. Josephson House

23 Third Avenue.
This modest, but lovely 1913 house is believed to be an Aladdin Home built from a design found in a company catalogue. Aladdin homes came with plans. Materials were delivered by rail from British Columbia. Each board was numbered to aid in construction. An early photograph shows the house standing alone, on a lot on the north end of town. The original owners, Jon and Anna Josephson boarded teachers who were working at the nearby Gimli Public School.

10. Thorson/Kristjanson House

32 Lake Street (Facing the beach).
Built in 1914, the Thorson/Kristjanson House is a touchstone for the people of Gimli. It is associated with Stefan Thorson (the original owner and one-time mayor of Gimli), Cartoon Charlie (a well-known comic artist who was responsible for early versions of Walt Disney characters, including Snow White), and more recently the late Leo Kristjanson, former President of the University of Saskatchewan and a tireless advocate for Gimli’s built heritage. It has been home to the Hannes Kristjanson family and the famous Kristjanson children – leaders in education and public administration – for many decades.

11. Gimli Public Beach

For more than a century, Gimli’s wide, sandy beach has drawn summer visitors to town. The arrival of the railway in 1906 turned the village into a popular destination for Winnipeggers looking for some rest and relaxation and an escape from the sweltering city during the glorious weeks of Manitoba’s short summers. Just an hour’s drive north from Winnipeg, today it remains a popular destination.