Parish of St James (the Assiniboine) Anglican Church members manage this historic place and welcome people to visit this old First Nations meeting ground.

The Hudson Bay Company granted the land to create the Parish of St. James in 1851. The Church, erected in 1853, is the oldest log church still in use for regular worship in Western Canada. The first interment took place in 1856, and this non-denominational cemetery is still in operation. A columbarium ("Come Home to St. James") was added several years ago, and ash burials also take place. NOTE: St James Cemetery, although it surrounds an Anglican church, is the cemetery for the "parish", which became the town.

(Source: St James (the Assiniboine) Anglican Church website [2023/09, Adapted])

In 1850, Rev. W. H. Taylor was instructed by the Bishop of Rupert's Land, David Anderson, to establish a church for the settlement expanding westward along the banks of the Assiniboine River. Located on high ground, this site was chosen for its association in the minds of settlers with shelter and deliverance from devastating floods. On 8 June 1853, the cornerstone of the new church was laid and by the end of the year the Red River frame building was completed. Consecrated as St. James Church on 29 May 1855, it became a focal point of settlement along the Assiniboine and gave its name to the surrounding area.

In 1998, a plaque was erected west of the church building by the Historic Sites Advisory Board of Manitoba.

(Source: Manitoba Historical Society [Adapted])

Dominion Land Survey coordinates: LSD11-36-10-02-E1

In the historic neighbourhood of St James, which has since been fully absorbed into the administrative framework of the City of Winnipeg (aka "Greater Winnipeg")

A part of the town's story and those of its inhabitants from the early days of European settlement through roughly 1967 is told in the volume "A History of St. James". A free digital version of this and many other Manitoba local history books can be found 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 #0121), transcribed by a member or members in 1983. Also available to MGS members is a searchable online database named the "MGS Manitoba Name Index" (or MANI). Some additional information is contained in the 1996 MGS publication "Carved in Stone: Manitoba Cemeteries and Burial Sites" (revised edition, Special Projects Publication, 106 pages).

Additionally, many records for Anglican congregations in Manitoba and over part of the territory designated historically as "Rupert's Land" (esp, as bounded on the south by the U.S. border, extending north into the Manitoba Interlake Region past Fairford, with the western boundary reaching into the Pembina Hills and includes Portage la Prairie, eastward the diocese stretches to Sioux Lookout/Atikokan) are now with the Diocese of Rupert's Land and kept in their offices in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

The church, A FEATURE OF THIS CEMETERY is recognized as a Provincial Heritage Site by the Government of Manitoba Historic Resources Branch (#101)