Boissevain Outdoor Art Gallery

A collection of historical murals in Boissevain, Manitoba, Canada

Boissevain, Manitoba, Canada, located approximately 265 kilometres (165 miles) southwest of the centre of Winnipeg and 26 kilometres (16 miles) north of the United States border into North Dakota, contains an Outdoor Art Gallery. Twenty giant professionally-painted historical murals cover building walls in this attractive community of just over 1,500 people.

The site of the town of Boissevain was decided by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1885. By 1886, there was a blacksmith shop, a post office, and two grain warehouses. Originally called Cherry Creek, the name was changed in 1889 to honour Dutch financier, Adolf Boissevain, who introduced CPR shares for sale in Europe. Boissevain was incorporated as a town in 1906.

Romance of the Railroad by Stephen Jackson, pictured at the top of this post, speaks to the town’s railway origins.

Mural of a 1922 general store in shades of coral and blue — *General Store by Brian Romagnoli depicts the King George General Store circa 1922*

Mural on the outside of a building shows a log going through a blade at a sawmill on the right and a man felling a tree in woods alongside a lake on the left

Morton Sawmill by Gus Froese shows a sawmill built in 1879 at Lake Max in the Turtle Mountains that was purchased in 1883 by George Morton, an entrepreneur who planned a large-scale dairy farm and cheese factory.

Mural on the side of a building shows a hospital, a farm, and portraits of doctors, nurses, vets in a salute to medical professionals — *A Salute to Boissevain’s Medical Profession by Ken McEwan is painted on a former medical clinic*

Outdoor mural shows portraits of soldiers, a war memorial, planes, medals, troops at a train station, a naval boat in a salute to those who died in war and veterans who returned — Royal Canadian Legions Boissevain Branch #10, painted by Ken McEwan on the Boissevain Legion Hall, is a tribute to those who lost their lives in the both world wars and the Korean War and to veterans who returned

Mural on the outside of a building depicts the main street of a small town in the 1950s with cars parker, people walking, hotel at one end, church at the far end — *Main Street Saturday Night by Jim Jordan remembers Saturday nights in the 1950s when the whole family packed into the car and went into town to shop and socialize*

Mural on the outside of a building shows a woman switchboard operator and in the background an old public telephone with letter MTS on it

The mural painted on the outside of the historic Boissevain Telephone Exchange Building by the artistic duo “Kerzeka” shows a switchboard operator. The duo is comprised of Tiziano Lombardo and Desiree Devloo. The woman in the mural is based on a photograph of Devloo’s grandmother, who was a telephone operator.

Outdoor mural shows abstract images of land, water, floral, with the words These Roots Run Deep — These Roots Run Deep by *Bridget Penny & Joseph Pilapil of traveling sign painters, Mikhail Millar & Rachel Ziriada of NAMARIMBA, and Andrew Eastman & Chloe Chafe of Synonym* highlights the connection to the land

These are just a few of the murals, which are centrally located, many along North and South Railway Streets on either side of the tracks running through town. Self-guided tour brochures can be obtained at the Travel Manitoba Tourist Information located next to the Tommy the Turtle statue at the corner of Mountain Street and Highway #10. The Centre is open daily from the May long weekend through to the September long weekend. Or you can wander through town on your own to find the murals, which is what I did. You can find information on many of the murals at this site. Don’t forget to look up at the paintings on the water towers.

Tommy the Turtle, a nine-metre tall, nearly five-tonne fiberglass and resin turtle standing on its hind legs and waving flags, is an iconic Manitoba roadside attraction. It was erected in 1974 as a way to promote the town, located just north of the Turtle Mountains, and the town’s new summer event: turtle racing. The community ended its turtle derby in 2001, but Tommy the Turtle remains.

Boissevain is also known for its proximity to the International Peace Garden, which straddles the border between the U.S. and Canada just south of the town. Read more in my post about the International Peace Garden.

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