Winnipeg’s Van Kirk Gardens

A good friend of mine knows that I collect postcards, and he recently gave me a magnificent set of postcards depicting Winnipeg’s Van Kirk Gardens. (Thank you, James.)

Seeing these wonderful postcards immediately took me back to the Fall of 1955. I had decided I wanted to see the world but to do this, I needed a nest egg. So, after two days in grade 12, I made my way to Winnipeg and I left job applications everywhere. Sadly, there were no takers. My father suggested I come to the family’s fishing station at Albert’s Point, since the shore-hand had gotten ill. So off I went to help out for a few months. 

At the end of October, with some new jingles in my pocket, I returned to check out the city job scene. This time, I was in luck and Quinton’s Dry Cleaners offered to teach me the business so I could eventually become a Route Salesman. The Quinton Family were great people. My fellow workers were very helpful and wanted me to succeed because they thought I should earn some money and then return to school. However, the outrageous stories and adventures that the other drivers shared provided many reasons for sticking around. (Please see my previous story on Stanley Zedd.)

My territory for Quinton’s was Downtown Winnipeg: Maryland to Main Street and Portage Avenue to the River. Anchored by Eaton’s and The Bay, there were a lot of old buildings waiting to be redeveloped and many, many apartment blocks. At one time or another, I think that my job took me into every one.

One of the most interesting characters I ever met on my route was Ralph Harrison Van Kirk. He had left his native Iowa as a young man, and came to Winnipeg in 1918. He was an interior designer par excellence. No doubt he was drawn to Winnipeg by the thriving art scene and Eaton’s famous store and window displays, although he did work all over North America. He had a factory at 363 Broadway and he lived on Linton Avenue. Both the Free Press and the Tribune wrote many stories about the amazing rock garden at this home.  

By 1950, Van Kirk had become frustrated by the ugliness of the vacant lot next to his business on Broadway and Carlton and he decided to make it into a free park for all to enjoy. The park featured miniature reproductions of historic European buildings. Many of the buildings had functioning lights, including a lighthouse, and at night, it was a magical place. The garden was known unofficially as the “Fairy Gardens” and it was reported to attract up to 2000 visitors a day during the summer months. The Wishing Well exhibit yielded an average of $1000 a year. ($10,000 in today’s money.) Van Kirk was a Mason and a Shriner and he organized the Shrine’s Oriental Band, acting as its leader for many years. He donated all of the money collected at the Fairy Gardens to The Winnipeg Shrine Hospital.         

My Quinton’s route took me to his business. He would always ask me when was I going to join the Masonic Lodge. His business prospered and the popularity of the Gardens grew. But the City of Winnipeg wanted to redevelop the land between Portage and Broadway and in 1961, they doubled his taxes. Van Kirk had invested over $35,000 of his own money into the garden project plus an additional $2,000 annually for upkeep. He appealed to the City for assistance in keeping the beautiful garden open, but his appeal fell on deaf ears at City Hall. 

Van Kirk could not afford the new taxes and eventually gave up his fight, donating most of the garden sculptures, replicas and plants to the City. His only request was that the relocated gardens would retain the Van Kirk name. Sadly, it is unclear what became of the exquisite displays. The City accepted them in 1965 but apparently in 1967, they were still in storage somewhere. All, except for Althea Church. The church was an exact replica of one in Stafford On Avon, and Van Kirk gave it to a fellow Shriner. Some years later, I was able to acquire the church and it was prominently displayed in my father’s museum in Gimli, giving visitors the chance to marvel at its beauty and craftsmanship.

I did become a Mason and a Shriner, and I was very proud to be in attendance at the old Shrine House on Wellington Crescent when the Nobles honoured Ralph Harrison Van Kirk. During the course of the evening, I had the distinct honour of talking with him and shaking his hand. I was so grateful to have had the opportunity to see him again and, sadly, he passed the following year. He was absolutely one of a kind. 

Ken Kristjanson
November 2022 

I am very grateful to Gord Goldsborough of the Manitoba Historical Society and Rob McInnes, for their help with the research on this story. Rob McInnes also thanked R. Vance Martel, Christopher Lloyd Jones and Robert M. Ginter to their contributions to his research.