Municipal Heritage Site

Macdonald Pioneer Cemetery

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba

Contextual view, from the north, of Macdonald Pioneer Cemetery, Macdonald area, 2006

Contextual view, from the north, of Macdonald Pioneer Cemetery, Macdonald area, 2006

Photo: Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, 2006

Recognized
1991
By
Local government

The register’s text, word for word

Description

The Macdonald Pioneer Cemetery is a small rural cemetery containing about 30 graves bordered on three sides by mature spruce trees and surrounded by cultivated farmland just north of Macdonald. The municipal designation applies to the 4,000-square-metre parcel of land.

Heritage value

The Macdonald Pioneer Cemetery, a tidy, straightforward burial ground established in the late 1880s on a donated site and still in use, is the only cemetery in the small community of Macdonald and a rare link to the area's settlers. Since the 1990s the site has been a focus for local heritage conservation, with considerable effort put into restoring the grounds and grave markers and maintaining the cemetery as an attractive place of rest and reflection. This preservation activity is of dual community significance, providing continuity with the past, as well as assuring contemporary residents they can be interred in the place they call home.

SourceRural Municipality of Portage la Prairie By-law No. 2619, February 12, 1991

Character‑defining elements

Key elements that define the site character of the Macdonald Pioneer Cemetery include:

  • the relatively remote, rural agricultural location north of Macdonald, accessed from a municipal road
  • the generally flat, open topography and the orderly arrangement of gravesites within
  • the secluded, peaceful nature of the site

Key elements that define the cemetery's heritage character and memorial function include:

  • the burials, including their orientations
  • the variety of headstones and engravings
  • the connection to the Gillespie family, early area settlers who donated the land
  • the public access and continuing use

End of the register’s text

Location

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, R0H, Canada

50.06333° N, 98.46917° W

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Nearby

All 20 places in Portage la Prairie

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From the Canadian Register of Historic Places, as last updated on December 12, 2025. The register’s text is shown word for word.