Thomas Greenway Cemetery

The Thomas Greenway Cemetery is a small exposed site that overlooks cultivated fields and the gently meandering Crystal Creek north of Crystal City. The municipal designation applies to the approximately 1,200-square-metre cemetery, which contains four burials, (the first in 1898) and a pathway about 500 metres long that connects the site to the village.

The Thomas Greenway Cemetery, a family burial site in an open agricultural setting, is the final resting place of Thomas Greenway (1838-1908), premier of Manitoba from 1888 to 1900, whose contributions included reform of the provincial school system, promotion of railway building and settlement, service as minister of agriculture and steps to reorganize provincial politics on a more partisan basis. In private life Greenway was a farmer recognized for his mixed prairie farming; a visionary who, with the help his family, established Crystal City in southwestern Manitoba; and an entrepreneur who financed the area's first newspaper, the `Rock Lake Herald'. Also buried at the site are Thomas's second wife, Emma Essery (1855-1934), and two sons, Harry Harvey (1879-1906) and Thomas A. (1867-98).

Source: Village of Crystal City By-law No. 9-89, June 20, 1989

Key elements that define the site character of the Thomas Greenway Cemetery include:

- its location on the Prairie Home Stock Farm, the Greenway family homestead, with defined boundaries marked by a simple fence

- its elevated placement overlooking Crystal Creek with an unrestricted view

- the eastern and spatial orientation of the burials

Key elements define the site's function as a Greenway family memorial include:

- the burials of Greenway family members only

- the original headstones, including the flat humble markers for Thomas and Emma and the dominant, erect and elaborately engraved polished granite markers for Harry Harvey and Thomas A.