Finding out how Bourkevale got its name

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/02/2017 (3123 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Officially addressed at 100 Ferry Rd. in St. James, Bourkevale Park is a six-hectare community park located on the north bank of the Assiniboine River.

It is home to the Bourkevale Community Centre, St. James Lawn Bowling Club, sports fields, skating rinks, off-leash dog area, children’s playground, and a parking lot.

A vibrant community space for sure, but how did it get its name?

Online research revealed that John Palmer Bourke of Ireland arrived in the Red River Settlement in 1813, and worked initially as a storekeeper and later as a clerk for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). In 1835, his family purchased the HBC Experimental Farm (Some references also identify the farm as either Colony Farm, Hayfield Farm, or Hay Field Farm) in St. James, which according to A History of St. James by Mary McCarthy Ferguson, was near the current location of Bourkevale Park.

Red River Métis Farming, 1810-1870 by Norma J. Hall noted that when Bourke died in 1851, the farm continued to be run by his wife Nancy and their children “… who became farmers in their own right, with other accomplishments besides.”

Winnipeg City Archives directed me to A City at Leisure: An Illustrated History of Parks and Recreation Services in Winnipeg 1893-1993 by Catherine Macdonald, which confirmed the neighbourhoods of Bourkevale and others bear “names that go back to the time before 1870 when narrow river lot farms stretched back for two miles from the Assiniboine with a further two miles for the ‘hay allowance’.”

And although one person I asked thought the family might have donated the land, Ferguson’s note that “… the Bourke family lost large pieces of property which had once belonged to them …” casts some doubt on that possibility.

Clearly there is more to this story, including the history and “other accomplishments” of members of the Bourke family, but there is no doubt they were prominent in the St. James area, and it appears the Park is named after the family in one way or another.

If you happen to have more information about this, please email me and let me know.

And if you want to connect with others in the area and explore the park and all it has to offer, come along to a Pancake Breakfast hosted by the Bourkevale Community Centre on Sun. Feb. 26 between 9 and 11 a.m.

By then, I might even have a definitive answer about how Bourkevale Park got its name.

Jenny Gates is a speaker, writer and book editor, and a community correspondent for St. James. Contact her at words@jennygates.com with questions and ideas.