Polo Park was just a year old and still not yet enclosed. The city was not unified and other cities like St. Boniface and St. James were part of the urban conglomeration with some basic services covered by Metro Winnipeg but everyone had their own city halls, police and fire departments.
Not seen in this picture is the fact that the present site of the Richardson building had been largely a car station and parking lot for a few decades already. It was also filled with billboards that could be seen all the way down Portage Avenue. Construction of the Richardson building would not start for another eight years.
The Nanton building can be seen in the background flying the Red Ensign of Canada. The new flag for Canada featuring a maple leaf was still five years away, There are also flags of France flying which gives an indication that this may have been taken around Remembrance Day as so many Manitobans had their final resting place in that country as a result of two wars. In many ways Canada was still very much British in its establishment although Manitoba itself had quite a lot of European diversity as well as Metis and First Nations. We also had many re-located Japanese Canadians from the war fifteen years earlier. The first Filipinos started coming to Canada mostly doctors in what what would become a steady flow of immigrants from that country.
Winnipeg was still very much the biggest city in the prairies at the time. Only Vancouver rivaled in the west. Rail still ruled compared the flying. And highways all over were nothing to get excited about. Most were two lanes.
Cars themselves, however as you can see from the picture, were getting bigger as gas was plentiful and cheap. Most neighbourhoods had a few gas stations and mechanics in them and that included downtown where an abundance of repair shops existed.
Winnipeg like much of Canada had an increasing amount of confidence that only built as the country neared its 100th birthday,
No comments:
Post a Comment