Manitoba's Uncommon Sites and Sights
Spotlight #2 --- Vaughn St. Jail in Winnipeg -- constructed 1881These pictures were taken during the 'Doors Open Winnipeg' event in 2004.
Please send your contributions to paul-armstrong@mts.netYour comments will appear at the bottom of this page
under 'Viewers' Comments" or beside the image.
Image #1 -- This is one of the guides, Kristen Verin-Treusch, playing the role of a jailor. -- She is the owner and operator of the Muddy Water Tour Company and she initiated the Friends of the Vaughn Street Jail.
Image #2 -- Examine the 'tools of the trade' on the jailor's belt.
Image #3 -- Another of the guides is __??
Image #4 -- __??__ was also a guide.
Image #5 -- We do not have a name or picture for our other guide. Can somebody help us out?
Image #6 -- This is the cell of a condemned prisoner. Most cells are smaller and without a table.
Image #7 -- A prisoner's bed/couch/chair.
Image #8 -- The bolt on an individual cell.
Image #9 -- For what purpose might this room have been used?
Image #10 -- These are the master handles to lock down several cells.
Image #11 -- Our jailor/guide reminds us to behave ourselves or else...
Image #12 -- This is the dome of the building from outside.
Image #13 -- This is the same dome from inside.
Image #14 -- Here are the wooden replacements for the windows
from the outside.
Image #15 -- This is a wooden window replacement from the inside.
Image #16 -- We are looking at a room where prisoners were kept. Were individual cells there at that time? What type of inmates were kept there?
What years was this jail in operation?
Did the prisoners have any recreational time, wash time, etc.?
Was the building used as a detention centre for youths?
Were any 'famous' inmates incarcerated here?
Viewers' Comments
(1) Don & Pat Armstrong [Winnipeg] -- re 'Image #16', relate that their guide (Christine) informed her group that this room contained approx. 6 cells & held hardened criminals.
---------(2) Paul Armstrong [Winnipeg] -- According to the documentary entitled ?? and produced by Frantic Films, Ken Leishmann was the sole prisoner in 19??. He escaped from this institution.
---------(3) Paul Armstrong [Winnipeg] -- The Manitoba Historical Society's ?? edition of their publication 'Manitoba History' includes an article by Kristen Verin-Treusch that is entitled "Criminal, Lunatics and Loose Women: Always a Swinging Time at the Vaughn Street Jail".