Vaughn Street Jail

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2013 (4558 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s oldest public building, this 132-year old former gaol once held children as young as five — a thief was a thief in the 1880s — along with drunks, vagrants and murderers.

Built in 1881, the foreboding structure is associated with a variety of characters from history.

Among its ghosts is Earle “the Strangler” Nelson, a serial rapist and murderer and the last man hanged from a gallows that stood in what today is a makeshift parking lot. Executed Friday Jan. 13, 1928, the American fugitive killed 14-year-old Lola Cowan, who was selling paper flowers to help feed her family, and also pregnant Elmwood mother Emily Patterson. He raped his victims after they were dead and stuffed their bodies under beds.

The jail held the rabble-rousers of the Winnipeg General Strike, including John Queen, who was elected an MLA while behind bars for sedition and later became mayor of Winnipeg, and Helen “Ma” Armstrong, a women’s union leader who organized a blockade of the Eaton’s store and was held for four days on charges of inciting violence.

Big Bear and Poundmaker — two legendary aboriginal leaders of the North-West Rebellion in Saskatchewan — were believed to have been held here after their 1885 trial in Regina before being taken to Stony Mountain Penitentiary.

Other interesting facts about the former jail’s past include a turn-of-the-century judge who advocated for Canada’s first juvenile court, a hangman who fell into disrepute in Canada after decapitating the condemned, and a legal stenographer who nurtured and nursed sick and dying women and children in the cells.

During the tour you will hear tales of famous Canadians from both sides of the bars, inmate treatment, 19th century law, see a ball and chain, wear an inmate’s uniform and see photo images of criminals and the inside of this now nearly abandoned gaol located in the heart of downtown.

Three main points of interest: it is the oldest provincially owned building still standing within city limits; significant local and Canadian historical figures have connections to it; and this historically significant, 132-year-old site is still not protected by a heritage designation.

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