Ogilvie Flour Mill

May 1881 - July 2005

     When I sit in a wheelchair, look out at the birds and reflect back on my life I will always recall the first time I entered the Ogilvie Flour Mill. It was a windy and cold Friday night in the middle of January when I hopped the fence and entered the first floor of the dark building. Guided by only ambient light I explored the large distributor room and sorted through various piles of papers. This simple adventure would lead to a trip to the top a couple of weeks later. From the eleventh floor I gazed upon the city like never before and realized that I had seen sights not many had seen.

     Aside from the fact that this was the first building I explored, the Ogilvie Mill was an interesting building. After a 1997 arson that destroyed the original mill the only portions left standing were the Elevator/Boiler House and silo's. However these were left in poor condition at best. The Elevator House's wooden floors had been scorched creating an 10 story drop in some places. The only stairs remaining from the fire sat in a large heap on the first floor. To make things worse the Humphrey Lift (which is used to climb up) was coming off of the wall making for some very tense moments (especially on the upper floors). In addition to all of this, whatever had not collected on the second floor was letting gravity do its job. Bricks were the most common debris that fell to the ground or on my hard hat.

     Another interesting aspect of the building was the nature of the contents inside of it. The mill was, in a way, a community center for local residents to use and hang out in. With such activity it was not uncommon to find unusual pieces of debris such as a parole card, algebra homework and a vault (which seemed to be in a different place every week.)

     Sadly, this interesting and captivating ruin has had its time in the sun and is about to be laid to rest. According to the CBC the city of Winnipeg announced on June 3, 2005 that the Ogilvie Mill would be demolished in the fall and will go out with one final hurrah.