Ross House
140 Meade Street North

Originally located at the foot of Market Street, the house was built in 1854 as the home of William Ross and his family. When the Council of Assiniboia appointed Ross as the Red River settlement's first postmaster, he and his family operated the first post office west of Thunder Bay out of their front room.

Stamps and cancelling devices were unavailable at first, so Ross simply penned a postmark of early letters: "Red River, B.N.A. (British North America)." Monthly mail service was a major step forward for the settlement, which until then had to make do with twice-a-year service provided by the Hudson's Bay Company as a courtesy.

Ross's postal service charged one penny for a letter to travel from Red River to Pembina, where it was then charged 10 U.S. cents for the next leg of its journey, which could take three to four weeks.

More of a home than a business, the Ross House is a prime example of the sort of house a prominent family would build for itself in those days.

William was the second son of Alexander Ross, a Scotsman who became a successful fur trader at Red River in 1825 with his wife Sarah, an Okanagan princess. Alexander r Ross and his sons held several important posts in the settlement, and counted the family among its leading citizens. Today, several Winnipeg Streets are named after them: Alexander, James, William and Ross.

Purchased by the Manitoba Historical Society in 1949 and moved to a site opposite the CPR Station on Higgins Avenue, the historic Ross House continues to serve as a prime example of the Red River frame construction typical of the 1950s.