Quote:
Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..
Does anyone have a guess as to why people would publicly advertise what hotel they were staying at in the city? Was this done for prostitution purposes?
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Haha.
No. The people mentioned, having arrived in the city, asked the Free Press to note their arrival so that their friends or business associates would know where to find them. Also, you have to remember that in 1906 Winnipeg was full of tens of thousands of new arrivals from all over Canada and the U.S., as well as Europe. Someone coming to town from almost any town or village in eastern Canada, for example, would know that many former friends and relatives were in Winnipeg, but have no way of knowing exactly who or how to contact them.
Newspapers served a much broader function a century ago -- in fact, even today there are probably still small-town newspapers that have a "Who's Visiting Who" column. The personal column above is partly a "social notes" column as well -- it was news that people (of substance) were visiting Winnipeg. In those days many people never travelled outside their local community in their entire lives.