Exploring Winnipeg’s wild past
— It’s not hard to picture Winnipeg’s wild-west past as you walk through its historic Exchange District. The jails, saloons and brothels may be gone, but more than 100 buildings in the compact 20-block area have been preserved, along with rail tracks, ornate interior decor and old-fashioned advertisements painted on brick walls.
Guided walking tours through the area — designated a national historic site by the federal government — are akin to a step back in time. The square where criminals were hanged is still there. Underground jail cells nearby are now covered up, but buildings that housed taverns, banks, warehouses, and hotels remain intact. Many still bear their original signage.
The columns, arches and spires hearken back to Winnipeg’s boom era, when it became the third-largest city in Canada, the financial capital of the West, and the Chicago of the North. Chicago-style architecture is on display in the preserved terracotta skyscrapers of the day — buildings that are 10 or 12 storeys high with ornate facades, some with curved walls.
The boom didn’t last. Fortunately for history buffs, that meant the buildingsweren’ttorndowntomake way for newer construction.
“We believe we have the largest concentration — collection — of heritage buildings,” said Stephanie Scherbain, with the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone, on a recent walkabout.
Scherbain’s group offers guided walking tours, which last between 45 and 60 minutes, that give visitors a sense of what Winnipeg was like around the start of the 20th century.
One tour focuses on the theatre district and the vaudeville venues of the day. This is where, legend has it, Groucho Marx first saw a young Charlie Chaplin perform and went backstage to introduce himself.
Another walking tour leads visitors to key locations in the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 — the most violent labour conflict in North America at the time. Two men died as protesters and police clashed not far from city hall. In a laneway that became known as Hells Alley (and that still exists) 27 people were injured.
Another tour is titled Death and Debauchery, and brings visitors into a world of prostitutes on horseback, seedy frontier hotels and murder.
The preserved architecture helps the tour guides’ stories come alive. From some vantage points, looking up toward the higher floors of the buildings, you see the city very much as it was. And development restrictions are in place to keep it that way.