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  #61  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2018, 9:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Curmudgeon View Post
Yes, a railway city with a (formerly anyways) substantial industrial base and its corresponding urban proletariat and a history of trade unionism and socialist politics (not unlike many of the big cities of the Midwestern U.S.), these aspects being much different from Edmonton.

In terms of appearance, Whyte Ridge or Sage Creek for example, could be, at least for those months when there is no snow on the ground, anywhere in North America, the bland monotony of modern suburbia being ubiquitous. The older parts of Winnipeg to me much more resemble some Ontario cities, and in turn Kansas City, Omaha, or to a lesser drgree Saint Paul and Milwaukee rather than those cities further west. As I stated before, the rest of Southern Manitoba feels definitively western.
Fair point about Winnipeg's industrial history.

But as far as built form, I guess I'd concede that it's maybe somewhere in between. Both Winnipeg and Hamilton have a large historic building stock, but Winnipeg and Edmonton both share that sprawly Prairie landscape that really is distinct from Ontario sprawl.

Like I see where you're coming from for sure, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that it may be more like Edmonton too.
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  #62  
Old Posted Mar 9, 2018, 2:25 AM
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I would say Midwestern as Manitobans generally have so many dealings and travel so often in the Midwest with North Dakota and Minnesota.
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  #63  
Old Posted Aug 28, 2018, 11:14 PM
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Looking briefly on Google books (mostly snippet views), I see that Winnipeg has a history of being referred to as a "midwestern" city.
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  #64  
Old Posted Aug 28, 2018, 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted by GlassCity View Post
Fair point about Winnipeg's industrial history.

But as far as built form, I guess I'd concede that it's maybe somewhere in between. Both Winnipeg and Hamilton have a large historic building stock, but Winnipeg and Edmonton both share that sprawly Prairie landscape that really is distinct from Ontario sprawl.

Like I see where you're coming from for sure, but I don't think it's a stretch to say that it may be more like Edmonton too.
Buffalo is surprisingly similar to Winnipeg, I thought. The posh residential district that they have reminded me a lot of the nicer parts of Winnipeg (River Heights, Wolseley). It is nothing like Toronto at all. Toronto has nice houses but there is just something lacking in the streets (maybe due to the more relentless grid system). Also there isn't the variety of sizes of house or in materials that you find in on Winnipeg's more eclectic streets. And the number of older walk-up apartment buildings in Toronto is much smaller, per capita. Buffalo seemed much more like Winnipeg in those respects.

Even when I lived in Cambridge, Mass., the streetscapes reminded me more of Winnipeg than Toronto, especially the apartments and frame houses.
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  #65  
Old Posted Aug 28, 2018, 11:35 PM
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Since this thread was revived, I'm not sure if I've said this already, but I would definitely say Western. The Midwest ends at the 49th parallel.

And if the point was more about what it looks like, I'd still say Western. Architecture is one thing, but Winnipeg doesn't have the freeways, inner-city blight (to the same degree) and exurbia that I associate with the Midwest.
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  #66  
Old Posted Aug 29, 2018, 12:24 AM
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I don't know, I've been to Edmonton and Hamilton and to me Winnipeg feels a hell of a lot more like Edmonton than Hamilton. It's a western railway city through and through to me.
I agree. Winnipeg was the original Prairie city in Canada and the typology spread to other Prairie cities.
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  #67  
Old Posted Aug 29, 2018, 12:28 AM
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Originally Posted by Andy6 View Post
Buffalo is surprisingly similar to Winnipeg, I thought. The posh residential district that they have reminded me a lot of the nicer parts of Winnipeg (River Heights, Wolseley). It is nothing like Toronto at all. Toronto has nice houses but there is just something lacking in the streets (maybe due to the more relentless grid system). Also there isn't the variety of sizes of house or in materials that you find in on Winnipeg's more eclectic streets. And the number of older walk-up apartment buildings in Toronto is much smaller, per capita. Buffalo seemed much more like Winnipeg in those respects.

Even when I lived in Cambridge, Mass., the streetscapes reminded me more of Winnipeg than Toronto, especially the apartments and frame houses.
Toronto and Buffalo are remarkably different and I don't think it's simply a matter of Toronto being more prosperous and prime location in the Canadian context.

Interestingly Buffalo and Minneapolis were rival grain centers at one time.
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  #68  
Old Posted Aug 29, 2018, 3:50 PM
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This is the dumbest thread ever. Mid-west is an American term.
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  #69  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2018, 4:03 PM
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To me, culturally and politically, Winnipeg is an eastern city in a western province. In terms of appearance, the most similar city to Winnipeg IMO is Kansas City, which also is a river city and (although the moniker is used for St. Louis) is the last industrial midwestern city before one enters the high plains and therefore the geographical Gateway to the West. Omaha also reminds of Winnipeg.

Interestingly, the two closest large cities to Winnipeg, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, both look and feel distinctly different from Winnipeg, with Saint Paul feeling like it could be in southern Ontario.
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  #70  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2018, 4:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Ando View Post
This is the dumbest thread ever. Mid-west is an American term.
It is, and I think a lot of the discussion on this thread is that it doesn't make sense in Canada given our geography and fairly thin east-west population distribution.

Discussion about American and Canadian cities with a similar look and feel as Winnipeg is very interesting. And I think there is a stronger relationship between Winnipeg and the U.S. than we like to imagine: for much of the 19th century, most people and trade travelling between Red River and rest of the world went through St. Paul, and we were very much part of that city's hinterland. Our first steamboat and railway connections were through the United States. Until the Macdonald government urgently punched a railway through the Canadian Shield in the 1880s, there was no reliable connection to (Eastern) Canada that wasn't through the U.S., and there was a significant movement in Winnipeg for annexation with the U.S.

Interestingly, though, St. Paul (and Minneapolis) look and feel quite different from Winnipeg.
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  #71  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2018, 6:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Ando View Post
This is the dumbest thread ever. Mid-west is an American term.
"Dumb" questions can still lead to interesting discussions.
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  #72  
Old Posted Aug 30, 2018, 6:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Curmudgeon View Post
To me, culturally and politically, Winnipeg is an eastern city in a western province. In terms of appearance, the most similar city to Winnipeg IMO is Kansas City, which also is a river city and (although the moniker is used for St. Louis) is the last industrial midwestern city before one enters the high plains and therefore the geographical Gateway to the West. Omaha also reminds of Winnipeg.

Interestingly, the two closest large cities to Winnipeg, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, both look and feel distinctly different from Winnipeg, with Saint Paul feeling like it could be in southern Ontario.
The difference being the complete separation of Great Lakes and Great Plains in Canada. No corn belt transition zone.

Minneapolis is interesting in that it feels like the "Seattle of the Midwest" in some ways which makes it seem rather different than Winnipeg.

Last edited by Docere; Aug 30, 2018 at 7:13 PM.
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  #73  
Old Posted Sep 1, 2018, 5:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Docere View Post
"Dumb" questions can still lead to interesting discussions.
That was the goal.
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  #74  
Old Posted Sep 1, 2018, 12:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Ando View Post
This is the dumbest thread ever. Mid-west is an American term.
LOL! No kidding, deciding who to compare our selves to, Fargo, Buffalo, Mississauga, or Red Deer what a laugh!
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