Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site
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.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 1852–1853.
When Louis Riel 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.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.
