Labatt's Broadway and Osborne

It used to be Manitoba's own Shea's but for many others it was remembered as the Labatt's beer plant across from the Manitoba Legislature. It was in 1953 the Shea's became Labatt's and the smokestack loomed large at Osborne Street and Broadway. It was Shea's that originally had the Clydesdale horses and Budweiser liked them so much he bought them and hired their Winnipeg trainer to come to St. Louis. Today's Budweiser Clydesdale horses are all descendants of the Winnipeg teams.

The name Labatt's Blue came from Winnipeg because fans of the Bombers and sportscaster Jack Wells kept calling the Pilsner "Blue" because of the label. The brewery eventually gave up and the name stuck as well as the connection to CFL football.

Old Exhibition Stadium was where the older of the two Great-West Life buildings is. For some time Great-West Life and Labatt's shared the land when the insurace company redeveloped the old stadium in 1957. The brewery had a beer store right on Osborne by the Great-West Life building entrance.

The Labatt's plant suffered a major fire in 1975 and in 1979 what remained was bulldozed setting up the expansion of Great-West Life into a second building. The new Labatt's plant was built in 1970 on Notre Dame and remained in operation till 1996.

One amazing view is in 1957-58 along Osborne Street where the smokestack of Labatt's can be seen along with the construction of the new Great-West Life building. Osborne Village looks like a real village. One thing I don't miss is all the hydro polls and trolley lines.