Historic Elmwood Cemetery is a 38-acre site nestled along the Red River and is easily accessible by vehicle through the gate on Beatrice Street, south off Hespeler Avenue. Magnificent old elm trees dot the landscape of this beautifully restored cemetery. It is run as a non-profit organization by The Friends of Elmwood Cemetery. As one of Winnipeg's oldest and largest cemeteries, it is rich in history and many prominent Canadians are interred here.

In December 1901, it was announced that a movement was underway to form a private cemetery corporation within easy access from the City of Winnipeg. Just before the end of 1901, the Elmwood Cemetery Company was incorporated under the Cemeteries Incorporation Act with a paid-up capital of $50,000. Of this, $48,900 had been subscribed from Eastern Canada and $1,100 from Winnipeg area residents.

A total of 38 acres of property was purchased on land that had been known as the McIntosh Garden in what was then the Municipality of Kildonan between Birds Hill Road (present-day Henderson Highway) and the Red River. Mr. Frank H. Nutter, a prominent landscape engineer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, designed the plans for the cemetery. The plans called for a number of winding gravel avenues interspersed with park-like spaces and a large space reserved in the centre of the property for a mortuary chapel and a receiving tomb (or "winter vault").

The grounds were set out to preserve as much as possible the existing large trees on the property which consisted of elm, maple, ash and other hardwood trees, and as a result, the name chosen for the cemetery was the "Elmwood Cemetery". A nursery with greenhouses was established on the grounds to provide for suitable trees, shrubbery and flowers. In the early days purchasers of a plot could also purchase shrubs and flowers from the greenhouses. Mr. Robert Aikins, who resigned from Brookside Cemetery, became the first superintendent of the cemetery. A superintendent's office was established on the north side of the cemetery with the horse stables established opposite the cemetery along the east side of Henderson Highway.

The cemetery was designed to be sufficient for over 25,000 individual interments. The cemetery was created to be entirely non-denominational, the first of its kind in Manitoba. A total of 20% of the sale price of the lots was set aside for a perpetual care fund with the income used to maintain and beautify the grounds with a large portion of the original $50,000 paid-up capital.

The cemetery was created without the consent of the Municipality of Kildonan and the local residents. The Kildonan Council and residents felt the cemetery was forced on the municipality as it was located in a growing area too close to the City of Winnipeg. Messrs. Hespeler, Drewry, Sampson, Walker and others who owned large sections of property near the cemetery felt that the value of their property would be severely diminished in future sales. As a cemetery, the entire 38 acres would be exempt from taxes which would reduce the taxable revenue of the municipality.

A large delegation of residents protested the creation of the cemetery at the Manitoba Legislature, pointing out that if Kildonan was a town or city, it would be able to prevent the creation of a cemetery, but as a Municipality, Kildonan did not have this power. Despite the opposition, the Provincial Government gave its approval for the creation of Elmwood Cemetery.

Elmwood Cemetery opened in July 1902 for its first interment. As of 2014 in excess of 52,000 burials have taken place in the cemetery with a number of the original roads filled in for more plots and most gravesites now containing two or more burials.

By the time Ward One of the Municipality of Kildonan became part of the City of Winnipeg in 1906, the entire area became known as Elmwood. Probably one of the few times a district borrowed its name from the name of a cemetery.

The grounds of Historic Elmwood Cemetery had been allowed to deteriorate over time. Encouraged by the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba, a small but concerned group of private citizens resolved to bring the Cemetery back to its original dignity and grace.

They shared an intensely personal interest in Elmwood Cemetery – with a father, mother, brother, friend or mentor buried there. They formed a not-for-profit organization, "The Friends of Elmwood Cemetery Incorporated" In 1998, the "Friends" acquired the property from the absentee landowner, took over ownership and created a future vision for Historic Elmwood Cemetery.

(Source: Historic Elmwood Cemetery website [2023/08])

Among the many noteworthy people buried in this cemetery are Gordon Bell, Theodore A. Burrows, Thomas A. Crerar, John W. Dafoe, Lewis B. Foote, Frank O. Fowler, E. Cora Hind, Daniel H. McMillan, Bill Norrie, Robert L. Richardson, Dufferin Roblin, Rodmond P. Roblin, Thomas Sharpe, and Thomas Sill.

(Source: Manitoba Historical Society [Adapted])

Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD16-09-11-03-E1

While the neighbourhood of Elmwood is still recognized by the city's residents, it is now fully absorbed into the administrative framework of Greater Winnipeg

A broad cross-section of Manitobans are buried here. Their many stories are told a variety of local history books and newspaper accounts. Free digital versions of many of these are available online in the University of Manitoba Digital Collections. There is also a list of such books organized by district and town name on the Manitoba Historical Society's website on their page entitled "Finding Aid: Manitoba Local History Books".

A list of burials in this cemetery is available from the Manitoba Genealogical Society (reference #1237), transcribed by a member or members in 2001 and updated in 2009. Also available to MGS members is a searchable online database named the "MGS Manitoba Name Index" (or MANI).

Additionally, the "Northeast Winnipeg Historical Society" maintains a website and has published books that chronicle the stories of the lives lived in the area.