Sir John Franklin Community Centre History

“Recreation For All” since 1922

Sir John Franklin Community Centre was established by the River Heights community at a meeting in the former Sir John Franklin School on May 25, 1922. Over the next 15 years recreation and sporting events were held out of the former Sir John Franklin School and its grounds, located on the northwest corner of Lanark St. and Haskins Ave. (now known as Grosvenor Ave.). The Centre’s motto has been “Recreation For All”.

Sir John Franklin School

The Early Years

The creation of Sir John Franklin occurred in a different era. The Community Centre played a prominent social and recreation role for both adults and children. SJF was the place where the community came together. The Centre hosted dances, teas, garden shows, talent shows, and of course bridge tournaments! There were also sports; hockey, baseball, snowshoeing, skiing, etc.

Garden Show (1925)

Dance (1925)

By the late 1930’s, SJF had outgrown the school. The first clubhouse was built in 1940 on vacant City land at the corner of Lindsay St. and Kingsway Ave. Community fundraising bought the materials while volunteers built the structure. The site featured a hockey rink plus a skating oval surrounding the rink for speed and pleasure skating.

Original Clubhouse (1940 – 1947) on Kingsway at Lindsay – Construction by Volunteers

The Wellington Crescent Site

Prior to 1947, the Community Centre’s population lived almost exclusively north of Grosvenor Ave.

The end of World War II saw development of the largely vacant River Heights lands south of Grosvenor Ave. to accommodate the influx of returning servicemen. The Baby Boom was born!

By 1947 the land for the original clubhouse on Lindsay St. had been sold for housing forcing the Community Centre to relocate. Land was bought along the Assiniboine River on Wellington Cres. at the north end of Renfrew St. The new building officially opened in 1948. Monies for the new building were raised through door-to-door fundraising in the community.

Wellington Crescent site (1948 – 1966) Construction by Volunteers

Sports Programming at Sir John Franklin

Prior to the creation of the Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association in the 1950’s, Sir John Franklin provided the “traveling” hockey program for River Heights and Crescentwood for players in the bantam through senior leagues. SJF teams played against the best from other Centre’s around Winnipeg. Intense rivalries developed between the SJF Explorers and the Orioles, Terriers and Excelsiors! Many City and Provincial hockey championships were won in the 1940’s and 1950’s.

The SJF hockey program also attracted quality coaching such as Alston “Stoney” Wise, a 1932 Canadian Olympic Hockey Gold Medalist and Howard Brandow from the Selkirk Hockey Club. SJF has also benefited from great community support from local families who have volunteered their time to coach and manage our teams. One such person was John Addison who organized the SJF soccer program and coached many teams over the years. In 1973 and again in 1975, his team won the Provincial, Western Canadian and Canadian Championships. No other community centre team in Canada has ever achieved that goal!

The walls of Sir John Franklin Community Centre are covered in photos of just some of the thousands of children who have participated in the Centre’s sports and recreation programs since 1922. One wall is dedicated to celebrating those teams who have reached the top of their league as either runner up or champions. A section on either side of the canteen recognizes neighbourhood children who played their amateur sports at Sir John Franklin and then went on to professional sports careers. The display case includes trophies going back to the Centre’s early years.

Some of the local kids who went on to athletic fame include Gerry “Kid Dynamite” James (Winnipeg Blue Bombers & Toronto Maple Leafs), Mike Keane (Stanley Cup Champion & former Manitoba Moose), Steve Ott (current NHL Dallas Stars), Mike Ford (Winnipeg Jets), Cliff Pennington (Montreal Canadiens & Boston Bruins) and Bill Sutherland (Philadelphia Flyers and Coach Winnipeg Jets). Visit the SJF site to see our history through our children’s teams displayed on the Centre’s walls.

The Current Renfrew Site

It became apparent by the mid-1950’s that the rapid population growth south of Grosvenor Ave. required a new facility more central to the area’s population. The purchase of land at the current Community Centre location occurred in 1955.

The existing clubhouse was officially opened on Oct. 25, 1966. The building at the Wellington Crescent site was destroyed in a fire shortly thereafter. All that remains at the Wellington Cres. site is tennis courts, a softball diamond, and a play structure.

Now we move into a new and exciting era as one of the three Central Corydon Community Centre sites.

Visit the Central Corydon – Sir John Franklin site and help make some new history while continuing a great community legacy!