Lower Fort Garry is a National Historic Site of Canada

George Simpson, Governor of the Northern and Southern Departments of the Hudson's Bay Company, ordered the construction of Lower Fort Garry in 1830. Upper Fort Garry situated at the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, where Winnipeg stands today, was very prone to flooding and Simpson also wanted an elegant country home for his new eighteen-year-old bride Frances.
Over the years the fort took on a number of different roles. It became a major transhipment depot for the fur trade goods carried by York boats throughout the Northern Department of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Fort also boasted the most successful farming operation in the Red River Settlement.
On August 3, 1871, chiefs and representatives of the Anishinaabe and Ininew peoples of southern Manitoba and the Crown signed Treaty No. 1 at the Fort. This signing set a precedent for the 10 additional numbered treaties in western and northern Canada that together led to the peaceful settlement of the west.
In later years, the fort served as a provincial penitentiary, a training area for the North West Mounted Police prior to their march west, and a lunatic asylum.