10/14/2026
Some interesting local history!
🏠 DID YOU KNOW SOME HOMES IN GREAT FALLS ONCE STOOD IN AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT TOWN?
Imagine looking out your window and watching your neighbour's house being taken away. Not demolished. Not abandoned. Actually moved to another community.
That's part of the remarkable story of Old Pinawa, right here in eastern Manitoba.
This year marks 120 years since the original Pinawa Generating Station opened in 1906. For nearly half a century, a small community of about 100 people lived alongside the powerhouse on the Winnipeg River.
There were roughly 20 homes, a school, a post office and a general store. Children played along the river, families tended gardens, and workers kept the generating station running.
But when the powerhouse closed in 1951, the community's future disappeared almost overnight. And here's where the story takes an unusual turn. The wooden houses weren't simply torn down. They were moved to Great Falls.
Think about that for a moment. Homes where families had raised children, celebrated Christmases and spent decades building memories were physically relocated to another hydro community.
The brick houses, meanwhile, were left behind. Old Pinawa gradually became a ghost town. But the wooden homes were given another life.
It's a fascinating piece of eastern Manitoba history because it means that part of one community quite literally became part of another.
