The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1984, Side 25

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
23
was probably at 190 Jemima St. (now
approx. 588/92 Elgin).
At Sherbrook St., turn left (south) for
one block, and then left (east) again at
William Ave. Looking south along Sher-
brook as you turn the corner, you will see
26. BARDAL’S (843 Sherbrook St.). Bar-
dal’s Funeral Home and Crematorium
is perhaps the oldest and best known
continuously operated business estab-
lished by an Icelander. Begun in 1894
by A. S. Bardal (who then resided at
629 Elgin Ave., just north of here), the
business was operated until recently by
successive generations of Bardal de-
scendants. Today, the only Bardal-
family owned funeral service is Neil
Bardal Inc. (984 Portage Ave.), oper-
ated by A. S. BardaFs grandson.
Now follow east along William, passing
27. OLAFSON HOUSE (539 William
Ave.). This impressive home was built
in 1895 by Gisli Olafson (1855-1909),
a prosperous Winnipeg businessman
and contractor, and serves as an ex-
ample of Victorian architecture and the
material progress of the Icelanders of
Canada. Olafson also built the Olafson
Building at James and King, now part
of the city hall complex. Gisli Olafson
today rests in an impressive mausoleum
in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Turn right (south) at Isabel, then right
(west) at Bannatyne Ave. At the inter-
section of Bannatyne and Sherbrook was
28. FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH, 1904-
21 (832 Sherbrook St., NE comer at
Bannatyne). This was the second site
occupied by First Lutheran Church,
and was dedicated on 26 June 1904.
When First Lutheran moved to its
present site on Victor St., this building
was sold to the Holy Rosary Roman
Catholic Church. The site has now
been incorporated into the Winnipeg
Health Sciences centre complex.
Make a left (south) turn onto Sherbrook,
then another left turn (east) onto Mc-
Dermot Ave., and follow McDermot to
Isabel.
29. KATE STREET MISSION (either NE
or SE comer of Kate St. and Mc-
Dermot Ave.). In 1888, Dr. George
Bryce, a professor at Manitoba Col-
lege, established a Presbyterian mis-
sion to the Icelanders at this intersec-
tion. It was served by Jonas Johanns-
son, an Icelandic evangelist, but did
not really survive his death in 1891. It
had little impact on the religious life of
the Icelanders. It was also known as
the “Manitoba College Mission” (its
formal name) and the “Martin Luther
Icelandic Church” (1889).
At Isabel, turn right (south) and follow
Isabel/Balmoral to Portage Ave. Along the
way you will pass
30. “LEIFUR” OFFICES (146 Notre
Dame West, approx. SW comer at
Isabel/Balmoral). “Leifur” was the
first Icelandic-language weekly news-
paper published in Winnipeg. Estab-
lished by Helgi Johnson in 1883 and
originally published at this site, it con-
tinued precariously until 1886 when it
ceased publication. Its assets were then
(1886) acquired by “Logberg”, a
“new” Icelandic weekly which had
just been organized by such people as
Sigtryggur Jonasson and Olafur S.
Thorgeirsson.
31. MANITOBA COLLEGE SITE (near
NE comer of Balmoral St. and Ellice
Ave.). In the spring of 1885, Frimann
B. Anderson, later the founder and
first editor of “Heimskringla”, was
the first Icelander to graduate from a
university in North America. He grad-
uated from Manitoba College (part of