Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site

Gingras House and Trading Post
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location in North Dakota Show map of North Dakota Location in United States Show map of the United States
Location	NE of Walhalla off ND 32
Nearest city	Walhalla, North Dakota
Coordinates	48°56′13″N 97°53′27″W
Built	1845
Architect	Antoine Blanc Gingras
NRHP reference No.	75001305 [1]
Added to NRHP	May 21, 1975

The Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site is a North Dakota State Historic Site near Walhalla, North Dakota. It features the trading post and home of the Metis legislator and fur trader Antoine Blanc Gingras (1821–1877).[2]

Antoine Blanc Gingras

Antoine Blanc Gingras, c. 1855

Antoine Gingras was born in 1821 at Red River, the son of Antoine Cuthbert Gingras, a North West Company voyageur and Marguerite Madeleine Trottier. He began his career as a hunter and trapper. Gingras built a two-story exposed-log trading post and a clapboard house on his plot of land in the 1840s. In 1861, the net worth of Gingras was $60,000.00. He soon owned trading posts across the Dakota Territory and parts of Southern Manitoba. In 1851, Gingras was chosen to represent the area in the Minnesota Territorial House of Representatives. He served in the legislature from 1852 to 1853.[2][3]

When Louis Riel (1844–1885) started the 1869 Red River Rebellion, Gingras also participated in the events. When the City of Winnipeg was chartered in 1873, Gingras was present. Gingras died on September 26, 1877, at Walhalla, North Dakota. [4][5]

Today

Gingras Trading Post is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. North Dakota State Historical Society operates the site. It features the original buildings and exhibits about Antoine Blanc Gingras, Metis culture, and the Red River Valley fur trade. It also contains a reproduction of the Gingras Store.

See also

• Metis
• List of the oldest buildings in North Dakota

References

1. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/f1ed23f4-953c-49b8-9ba8-b02f697f38c3 ^[dead link‍]
2. Antoine Blanc Gingras, Metis Fur Trader and member of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature, 1852–1853 Minnesota Historical Society, accessed December 6, 2010.
3. "Antoine-Blanc Gingras (1821-1877) Metis Trader and Resistance Activist". Louis Riel Institute. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
4. "Gingras, Antoine Blanc". Minnesota Legislative Reference Library. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
5. "Louis Riel". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Retrieved March 1, 2020.

External links

• Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site website