Winnipeg Beach is situated on the southwest shore of Lake Winnipeg, roughly fifty-six kilometres north of Winnipeg. As its name implies, the community of Winnipeg Beach is known for its expansive, sandy beach. In 1900, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) purchased thirteen hectares of undeveloped shoreline on Lake Winnipeg and began construction of a resort town that would become Winnipeg Beach. Besides the beach, attractions at the resort included a wooden roller coaster, a dance hall, and a boardwalk. In 1913, CPR was running thirteen trains each day between the beach and the City of Winnipeg.

Two beacons were established at Winnipeg Beach in 1916, but it wouldn’t be until several years later that a formal lighthouse was built to mark the harbour. This square wooden lighthouse, which featured sloping sides and was surmounted by a square, wooden lantern room, stood on the south end of a long wooden pier at the harbour entrance. This lighthouse guided vessels, including tour boats and a fishing fleet, into Boundary Creek Marina for over four decades, but by the mid-1960s, the wooden tower was showing signs of decay.

The lighthouse was sold and moved ten kilometres south across the ice to Chalet Beach, where it still stands, attached to a private residence. A stone breakwater replaced the old wooden pier at Winnipeg Beach, and a modern light was established on it.

In 2012, Gordy Driscoll, a local resident, proposed that a replica of Winnipeg Beach Lighthouse be built to mark the resort town’s centennial. This project was not accepted, but several residents came together to build the replica, which was finished in 2017. A plaque on the lighthouse recognizes the 2015 – 2017 Volunteer Build Crew: Jeff Scott (Project Manager), Boyd Halliwell, David Primmer, Jeff Wood, Andy McKendry, Mike Adam, Tony Pimentel, Kevaughn Scott, and Jim Pringle.

The replica lighthouse is located on shore near a pavilion and tennis courts, just west of where the original wooden lighthouse stood. The only remaining sign of the resort built by CPR is a tall water tower used for the trains that formerly called at Winnipeg Beach.

The replica lighthouse is located just west of the entrance to Boundary Creek Marina.

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