Manitoba Provincial Heritage Site No. 79

Virden Canadian Pacific Railway Station
425 - 6th Avenue South,
Virden

During the summer of 1883, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) main line crossed Gopher Creek about 65 kilometres from the present Saskatchewan border. The siding, with a bridge, small station and water tower, was named Virden, after the country estate of The Duke of Manchester, a major CPR shareholder. Within a few years, a thriving community had established itself on the townsite surveyed by the CPR.

By 1899 Virden had grown to such an extent that plans were made to replace the original station with a larger, more modern, facility. Built in 1906, the picturesque design for the new depot was a product of R.B. Pratt, a notable station designer, first with the CPR and then for their rival, Canadian Northern. The Virden station was from a standardized set of plans, used on several other Manitoba stations. The design was distinguished by its remarkable roof, an impressive and complicated composition with dormers and beak-like canopies. The Virden Station is the only one in Manitoba constructed of fieldstone.

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