Fort Douglas was the Selkirk Settlement (

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

) fort and the first fort associated with the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in today's city of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

. Named for

Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas t ...

, founder of the Selkirk Settlement, the fort was built by Scottish and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

settlers beginning in 1813. Completed in 1815, it was in the immediate vicinity (down river) of the North West Company establishment,

Fort Gibraltar Fort Gibraltar was founded in 1809 by Alexander Macdonell of Greenfield of the North West Company in present-day Manitoba, Canada. It was located at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in or near the area now known as The Forks i ...

. After the Battle of Seven Oaks in 1816, during the conflict between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, the fort was captured by the Métis and employees of the North West Company. The fort was soon retaken by Selkirk's men and there was a short period of relative peace.

lived at the fort during his visit to the Selkirk Settlement (

) in the summer of 1817. It was later used as a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

and was the residence of the Governor of

Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distri ...

. Following the amalgamation of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the North West Company (NWC) in 1821, the HBC's operations were relocated to the NWC's Fort Gibraltar, renamed Fort Garry. Fort Douglas remained the residence of the Governor of Assiniboia until it was mostly destroyed in the great Red River flood of 1826. A second flood in 1852 swept away remnants. Today the site of Fort Douglas is located on Waterfront Drive in downtown Winnipeg, in Fort Douglas Park. As the heart of the Selkirk Settlement and the first significant structure in what is today Winnipeg's historic Exchange District, the site of the fort is the most important historical site in the district. The eminent Canadian historian Professor Chester Martin of the University of Manitoba, in 1924 described the site of Fort Douglas as "perhaps the most historic site in the prairie provinces."

References

Letter from Chester Martin, Department of History, University of Manitoba, to Judge F.W. Howay, 16 April 1924. Library and Archives Canada, RG84, Series A-2-a, Vol. 1389, File HS10-10, Reel T-14155.

External links

Plan of the Settlement on Red River as it was June 1816

The Lord Selkirk Settlement at Red River, Part 2
{{coord, 49.90403, -97.13193, type:landmark_region:CA-MB, display=title History of Winnipeg

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

Hudson's Bay Company forts National Historic Sites in Manitoba North End, Winnipeg