page_title: St. Vital, Winnipeg
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St. Vital, Winnipeg / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Historic St. Vital Fire Hall, Elm Park, St. Vital, Winnipeg
context_page_description: St. Vital is a district of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Located in the south-central part of the city, it is bounded on the north by Carrière Avenue, on the south by the northern limit of the Rural Municipality of Ritchot, on the west by the Red River and on the east by the Seine River, with the exception of the part lying south of the Perimeter Highway, which extends east across the Seine to the boundary of the Rural Municipality of Springfield. The population as of the 2016 census was 67,580.
  St. Vital is a city ward, represented by a member of Winnipeg City Council. With slightly different boundaries, it also comprises the Winnipeg neighbourhood clusters of St. Vital North and St. Vital South.
context_section_description: The community was established by francophone settlers in 1822, and is the second-oldest permanent settlement in Manitoba after Kildonan.  It was named  St. Vital by Archbishop Taché in 1860, in honour of the patron saint of his colleague, Father Vital-Justin Grandin.
  The original Parish of St. Vital consisted in present-day St. Vital in addition to much of Fort Garry, another present-day suburb on the west side of the Red River. The parish was home to many French-speaking settlers, particularly Métis, a heritage that continues to be reflected in the names of many of its institutions and streets
  St. Vital remained a strongly francophone community in the early decades after Manitoba's incorporation as a Canadian province in 1870. Until 1910, every reeve and every councillor was of a francophone background. The anglophone population grew throughout this period, however, and Richard Wilson was elected as St. Vital's first anglophone reeve in 1912. Council business was conducted in English after 1913.  The municipal government became more pro-business after this period, and supported municipal expansion: St. Vital's population increased from only 1,800 at the end of World War I to 11,000 in 1933. By 1951, 63% of St. Vital's population was of British background, and the francophone population had fallen to under 13%.  As of 2006, 17.4% of residents of St. Vital speak either both English and French or French only, while 82% speak English only and 0.6% speak neither English nor French.
  In 1923 St. Vital adopted the Single Transferable Voting system for its municipal elections. This system was in use until St. Vital merged with the City of Winnipeg in 1972.
  In 1926 the municipality faced bankruptcy, as municipal growth outstripped tax revenues. Control of the municipality was assumed by the provincial Municipal and Public Utilities Board for one year.
  From 1920 to 1958, St. Vital was part of the provincial electoral division of St. Boniface.
  St. Vital became involved in a school controversy in 1963–64, when six francophone families took their children out of school to protest bus fees for parochial school students.  The matter was resolved following a three-month standoff.
  The district was seriously affected by the 1950 Red River Flood; at one point, the entire developed area of St. Vital was under water. The neighbourhoods of Kingston Crescent and Elm Park were the hardest hit. The fire hall in Elm Park was protected with sandbags and sheltered dozens of evacuees, as shown in a photo published in the May 1, 1950 edition of Life magazine.
  St. Vital was a separate municipality until 1971. It originally held the status of a rural municipality, and was then incorporated as a town and then eventually a city. Some residents were reluctant to amalgamate with Winnipeg in 1971, and the former municipal government held a mock burial of the city crest.
caption: St. Vital Fire Hall in Elm Park sheltered evacuees during the 1950 Red River Flood. It is still in use as an ambulance station and as a museum.
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