Historical Winnipeg discussion

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Here's Lily St. 1911.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

^I think that might be the original Broadway to Provencher bridge in the background which was eventually washed away by the Red River.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

I'd completely forgotten that it used to be Keg N' Cleaver. Used to go there early/mid 80s.

That's crazy that it's been there for 45 years. Gotta be one of the oldest restaurants in the city operating in the same location.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by buzzg

That's crazy that it's been there for 45 years. Gotta be one of the oldest restaurants in the city operating in the same location.

I wonder what the oldest continuously operating restaurant in town is? Oscar's Deli is 91 but they get an asterisk since they closed their original location on Main a few decades back and only have the 40 year old one downtown... but that's still the oldest one I can think of.

[buzzg]

Rae and Jerry's opened in 1957, definitely up there.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Rae and Jerry's opened in 1957, definitely up there.

I think Silver Heights Restaurant opened the same year.

We lost a few old timers in recent years including Wagon Wheel, Kelekis, Shanghai and Windmill.

[joshlemer]

Originally Posted by esquire

I wonder what the oldest continuously operating restaurant in town is? Oscar's Deli is 91 but they get an asterisk since they closed their original location on Main a few decades back and only have the 40 year old one downtown... but that's still the oldest one I can think of.

The free press has an article of the 10 oldest restaurants in town: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ar...453664903.html

It lists the oldest as Oscar’s Delicatessen, at 175 Hargrave, open since 1929.

[esquire]

^ Thank you! I forgot about that article.

[The Unknown Poster]

Love these old photos. I worked at Grapes On Main which was at 180 Main st, right after Earls opened and Grapes began their slow decline. They punctuated it with an awful renovation. And that was that.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

^I think that might be the original Broadway to Provencher bridge in the background which was eventually washed away by the Red River.

That's the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway bridge, which with Canadian Northern and the National Transcontinental were nationalized in 1919 and became Canadian National Railways. Canada was too ambitious building three transcontinental railways for a country of just 9 million people.

The bridge is still there and serves CN's mainline as well as VIA Rail, Canada's excuse for passenger rail. Between this bridge and the Broadway Bridge was Canadian Northern's bridge.

The Broadway Bridge was heavily damaged within days of opening by the April 1882 breakup of the Red, but was repaired and lasted until it was replaced by the Provencher Bridge in 1918. Traffic used Water Ave. from 1908 when ground was broken for the new Union Station.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Andy6

I remember Motor Sales on Main Street along with Consolidated Mercury, in the old Ford building that became Century Plaza. I think it was also Century Motors as well. My dad had cars from Motor Sales. There were a lot of low-budget British cars around back then.

Perhaps the land value in 1914 a block north of Eaton's would have made it desirable to sell and build a more solid building a few blocks west on Edmonton.

[Curmudgeon]

^^^ post is in response to the post below, must have pressed the wrong quote button.

Originally Posted by Andy6

Oh right, they were in touch a couple of years ago and I gave them one of my photo postcards of the old church to use. They did a good job. I thought the church moved because it was becoming too noisy and the residential area north of Portage was disappearing. The new location is a lot more central to what at the time would have been an upper middle class neighbourhood around Central Park.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by joshlemer

The free press has an article of the 10 oldest restaurants in town: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ar...453664903.html

It lists the oldest as Oscar’s Delicatessen, at 175 Hargrave, open since 1929.

That's an interesting list. We've lost a few in the past number of years. I believe Chocolate Shop on Portage was the oldest restaurant in Western Canada before it closed.

and of course....Shanghai. I miss 131c so much.

[Labroco]

Originally Posted by OTA in Winnipeg

Here's Lily St. 1911.

I want to read this picture as the warehouse building on the left just below the bridge as the foot of Alexander (with that building still standing). The building to the right as the first portion of the Dominion Express Building (still standing). This would put Lily still some distance to the right of that structure and then coming toward us in the picture... The Eaton warehouse on Galt / Lily / Alexander has not been constructed yet in this picture.

[Bdog]

Originally Posted by trueviking

That's an interesting list. We've lost a few in the past number of years. I believe Chocolate Shop on Portage was the oldest restaurant in Western Canada before it closed.

and of course....Shanghai. I miss 131c so much.

The lemon chicken

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Perhaps the land value in 1914 a block north of Eaton's would have made it desirable to sell and build a more solid building a few blocks west on Edmonton.

I took a look at the newspapers. The new church was announced on July 3, 1913 and on May 25, 1914 the Free Press reported the laying of the cornerstone. I can't find a reason stated, but it sounds as though the old church (1883, apparently) was small and out of date compared to what was felt to be needed. Interestingly, and to your point, the old church was sold for $250,000 while the new one cost $300,000 ($80,000 for the lot and $220,000 for the building itself), so the entire transaction came in at just $50,000 net. The article concluded by noting that a "vast skyscraper" was to be built on the old site.

So it sounds like the church made a very good deal, receiving top dollar for its old site at the peak of the economic boom. By the spring of 1914, when the cornerstone was laid, they likely wouldn't have realized anything close to $250,000 for that lot. And the vast skyscraper remained a vast and unrealized dream.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Bdog

The lemon chicken

Nice! Good memory.

[davequanbury]

Originally Posted by Labroco

I want to read this picture as the warehouse building on the left just below the bridge as the foot of Alexander (with that building still standing). The building to the right as the first portion of the Dominion Express Building (still standing). This would put Lily still some distance to the right of that structure and then coming toward us in the picture... The Eaton warehouse on Galt / Lily / Alexander has not been constructed yet in this picture.

Looking at the synagogue in the bottom centre of the photo, it corresponds to the synagogue at the south east corner of Martha and Henry. The apartment building to the west of the synagogue with 4 windows per floor was at 154 Henry. The slightly taller apartment block with the wooden balconies was called the Exeter at 78 Lily. There is a second synagogue at 75 Martha which is also visible in the bottom right corner of the photo.

Map 12 shows the building on Alexander (Great West metal) back when only the east portion was completed as Labroco pointed out.

[Andy6]

I remember discussing this image here and/or on Flickr quite a few years ago. I notice that some of the buildings that we figured out then are still marked on my Flickr page version of the postcard that this is taken from (if you hover over the image).

Flickr

[davequanbury]

Originally Posted by Andy6

I remember discussing this image here and/or on Flickr quite a few years ago. I notice that some of the buildings that we figured out then are still marked on my Flickr page version of the postcard that this is taken from (if you hover over the image).

Flickr

That's great, nice to see more in the field of view. The only annotation that appears to be in error is the one concerning the Men's Own. The building in the photo is actually the Coffee and Lodging House which was also a benevolent society run by Holy Trinity Church.

The Men's Own was built a year or two later than the Coffee house directly to the west of it. The two organizations ran somewhat competing services for homeless 'vagrants' as they were called in those days. You could get room and board in the Coffee house dormitories for chopping wood all day in the wood lot. The Men's Own had large dorm rooms for a dime but also had 'nicer' rooms on the upper floors called St James Hotel. The Men's Own was started by members of Winnipeg's successful business community. http://pastforward.winnipeg.ca/digit.../3154/rec/1716

The two buildings were purchased by Salvation Army in 1919 to offer housing supports for returning soldiers. Salvation Army operated there until the early 1990s when they moved to current facility on Henry street. I believe they were both torn down in 1991.