Westbourne post office in 1902 Photo: Manitoba Archives
Westbourne is a small village about 120 km (75 miles) west of Winnipeg, 35 km (22 miles) from Portage la Prairie and 34 km (21 miles) south of Langruth. Settlement in the area began around 1870 and a post office was opened there in 1871. The area then became a district in 1877, the Municipality of Westbourne. From the 1880s onwards, many settled in the district and settlements slowly formed to the north on the west bank of Lake Manitoba and reached Lakeland around 1890. A trail from Portage la Prairie lay north to Lakeland via Westbourne and was used by Icelandic settlers when choosing land north by Langruth. Some came from N. Dakota, others from various settlements in Manitoba and finally some directly from Iceland. Few settled in Westbourne, stopping there either on the way north to Langruth or from Langruth south to Portage la Prairie. Westbourne was also a destination for fishermen on Lake Manitoba, with many coming ashore on the south side of the lake and transporting their catch to Westbourne and then from there to Winnipeg. Reverend Oddur Gíslason, who came west to Canada, enters the story of the village. He served congregations in New Iceland and Selkirk from July 1894 to 1903. He then resigned from the Icelandic Synod in the West, after which he served congregations in Westbourne and the Thingvalla Settlement in Saskatchewan.