Historical Winnipeg discussion

[armorand93]

I miss the GMC Fishbowls and Orions

[BubberMiley]

I was just reading up on the 1997 plans for the civic campus on Main Street.
Judging from the proposals, I guess it was a good thing they didn't have the money to go through with it.

[Andy6]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that. I don't remember how this played out. Another example of how just waiting can be better than listening to those who claim that such-and-such just has to be torn down right now. Remember that being said about the Bank of Hamilton/Bank of Commerce, the Big 4 (Crocus) Building, the Cadomin (Wilson's Furniture) building ... and of course Eaton's as well. The Scott Block (IKON) could easily have been torn down as an "eyesore" ... thankfully it wasn't.

Pace Greentree did end up owning the Union Tower, as I recall.

[emeraldeyes]

I've just discovered this thread and have spent the last three days (off and on) reading through the whole thing.
I have to say a big thank you to all who have posted pics and links. It has been fascinating to look back.

Waaaaay back in the thread someone had asked about what looked to be a drive-in theatre on Henderson Highway where the Sobeys is now located. I can tell you that there was indeed a drive-in at that site, I believe it was called the El Dorado. I discovered this while reading through some of the articles on this site:

http://www.mmcalumni.ca/v2/history.php?p=ek

I haven't even come close to getting through all of the articles, but this is a great resource for tracking the development of this area of Winnipeg.

[armorand93]

http://www.emporis.com/application/?...g-canada&lng=3

Anyone got an rendering of this supposed structure?

[1ajs]

[armorand93]

Man, thats trippy

[1ajs]

from a catilog put out by the province in 1970

[1ajs]

random i stumbled onto something stating there used to be an 1347seat opera house on princess st


witch aparently burnt down in 1892 and was built in 1883
http://doves2day.blogspot.com/2011/0...eginnings.html

the things you find when your not looking......

[Only The Lonely..]

The late great Steve Juba, Winnipeg mayor of 20 years tries his hand against the Psychics on CBC circa late 70's..


LINK

[armorand93]

[1ajs]

when was that shot looks recent??

[SKYSTHELIMIT]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

when was that shot looks recent??

Lokks to be last nights Santa Claus Parade.

[1ajs]

that was last night?

up in the north working so missing allot of stuff

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by SKYSTHELIMIT

Lokks to be last nights Santa Claus Parade.

Bingo. Was a huge pain in the ass finding 751 BEFORE the parade route, but I did and got some good pics

[Andy6]

Found this article in the Free Press, introducing the concept of concrete piles as one of the 'latest methods' to be used in the construction of the Union Bank building:

Manitoba Free Press, April 3, 1903, p. 3, col. 2.

WILL BORE TO BED ROCK

New Methods of Construction to be Employed on the Union Bank.

Robert Green, who represents the Chicago firm of John Green, building contractors, is registered at the Vendome Hotel. He is in the city to commence operations on the new bank and office structure to be erected by the Union bank at the corner of Main and William streets. His part of the work is to bore into the earth until rock bottom is struck, so that the amount of concrete necessary for the foundations can be determined on.

This morning he will start boring, using specially prepared augurs (sic) for the purpose, and a hole will be put down at each of the corners of the building. This work will occupy about a week, and once that the depth to the rock has been found, nothing more will be done until the real work commences. Thus the new building will have the advantage of the latest methods employed. Heretofore it has been the custom to run in the concrete in solid blocks. This has been very expensive, because the whole of basement area had to be excavated. The new method is to bore holes some twenty inches in diameter over the ground to be covered, and these are filled with the liquid cement. This “concrete pile” is far superior to the old ones of wood, both because of its strength and imperishable quality and because of its greater cheapness.

Outside of Chicago the new system has never been used on large buildings, but in that city, where they have to go over 100 feet in many instances before the rock is reached, it proved satisfactory, both for its economy and for its strength.

[thurmas]

I am just wondering if anyone old enough on here can give me an impression of what downtown Winnipeg was like in the 1975-1985 era before the portage place era but after the glory days of the 50's and 60's of downtown .

[Kinguni]

Originally Posted by thurmas

I am just wondering if anyone old enough on here can give me an impression of what downtown Winnipeg was like in the 1975-1985 era before the portage place era but after the glory days of the 50's and 60's of downtown .

Teen impression? Never felt unsafe. The arcades, the A&W eatery. Going down to Eaton's for quality clothing. Miss it. Portage Place was not the answer.

[Andy6]

Never occurred to me that it would be unsafe to go downtown as we all did on the bus when we were 13 or so. There were definitely some characters down there, but they were vastly outnumbered by respectable people. It was a busy place in 1975, probably not much different in many respects than in 1925. It was probably looking fairly run-down in some ways. It certainly wasn't trying to be beautiful or a tourist attraction, other than Eaton's and the Bay. Main Street was already seedy but ordinary people were still there all the time and wouldn't feel threatened during daylight hours. Winnipeg escaped downtown decline for awhile because we only had one serious mall until about 1980 when St. Vital and Kildonan Place opened simultaneously. That and the closing of the Winnipeg Tribune the same year are what I tend to think of as a major turning point for downtown. There was also a bad recession in 1981-82 that didn't help. I remember working in the Union Tower in 1983 and some of the problems on Main Street were starting to get a bit out of hand. It was worse around there then than it is now. I remember looking across at the empty Confederation Building, which was a giant pigeon roost. And through the 70s there was a decline on the north side of Portage that was hard not to notice, as the longstanding family businesses mostly moved out to be replaced by dodgy shops like O Calcutta and the porn movie theatre that took over the Gaiety (where Investors Group is now).

Sorry, I'm rambling like Grampa Simpson here.

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Never occurred to me that it would be unsafe to go downtown as we all did on the bus when we were 13 or so. There were definitely some characters down there, but they were vastly outnumbered by respectable people. It was a busy place in 1975, probably not much different in many respects than in 1925. It was probably looking fairly run-down in some ways. It certainly wasn't trying to be beautiful or a tourist attraction, other than Eaton's and the Bay. Main Street was already seedy but ordinary people were still there all the time and wouldn't feel threatened during daylight hours. Winnipeg escaped downtown decline for awhile because we only had one serious mall until about 1980 when St. Vital and Kildonan Place opened simultaneously. That and the closing of the Winnipeg Tribune the same year are what I tend to think of as a major turning point for downtown. There was also a bad recession in 1981-82 that didn't help. I remember working in the Union Tower in 1983 and some of the problems on Main Street were starting to get a bit out of hand. It was worse around there then than it is now. I remember looking across at the empty Confederation Building, which was a giant pigeon roost. And through the 70s there was a decline on the north side of Portage that was hard not to notice, as the longstanding family businesses mostly moved out to be replaced by dodgy shops like O Calcutta and the porn movie theatre that took over the Gaiety (where Investors Group is now).

Sorry, I'm rambling like Grampa Simpson here.

Heyhey now, I like that store! Can't get cheap metal t-shirts anywhere else