Parc Joseph Royal was the site of several important industries and businesses. Interpretive panels recount the history of a wool mill and the Provencher Bridge. Joseph Royal was a member of the earliest provincial Cabinet, Speaker of the 1871-72 legislature, founder of Le Métis newspaper in 1871, and author of the Bill establishing the University of Manitoba, of which he was the first vice-chancellor. In the 1870s and 1880s, he lived at 147 Provencher Boulevard.