“It sucks here.” So wrote the young Toronto columnist from her hotel room in Winnipeg.
Yes, a visitor can feel stranded in this sprawling prairie city of 700,000. But curiosity brings rewards. The columnist, visiting her beau, made one foray -- to a sparsely attended hip-hop concert in the cavernous Winnipeg Arena, a condemned war-horse, now leveled and gone.
What she didn’t know is that more intrepid travellers take pleasure in exploring a Winnipeg not leveled and gone – places like the prairie city’s heritage Exchange District, described as “one of the most historically intact turn-of-the-century commercial districts on the continent” (www.heritagewinnipeg.com) - are well worth the effort. This National Historic Site fascinates for what it was and what it has become. The Exchange (as Winnipeggers know it) is one of Canada’s uncovered jewels.
A century ago, Winnipeg was a city of big dreams. Explosive growth had it dubbed the “Chicago of the North.” That boom-time reveals itself in block after block in The Exchange. The district takes its name from the Winnipeg Grain Exchange (est. 1887), which long echoed with the shouts of floor traders building fortunes for local grain barons.
Once Canada’s rail link was completed from coast to coast in the 1880’s, Winnipeg stepped forward as the great Metropolis of Canada’s West and a crucial hub.
Banks, businesses, hotels, and vaudeville playhouses followed. A succession of tall, elegant buildings, (many inspired by turn-of- the-century Chicago-style architecture), reached into the blue prairie sky. Just footsteps north from the still-busy intersection of Portage and Main, some 20 city blocks and 150 of these buildings remain from the city’s Golden Years . (View some of these heritage classics at www.virtual.heritagewinnipeg.com.)
The boom (1881 – 1918) ended. With the opening of the Panama Canal, rail transport diminished. World War I, the famous General Strike of 1919 and the Great Depression closed the chapter on Winnipeg’s glory days. Growth moved south of Portage Avenue. The once-vibrant commercial district was no longer the heart of the city.
Today, despite decades of decline, The Exchange District and its historic structures are humming again. Some vintage buildings show their age; others have been restored for office or loft space. Movie-makers love The Exchange for its period feel (see Brad Pitt in 2007’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Robert Ford”).
History enthusiasts bring their cameras to the walking tours (visit www.exchangedistrict.org) which promise ‘knowledgeable and dynamic” guides who share the ‘legends of power, corruption and heroism’ from the boom era. With major theatres and concert halls nearby -- including the historic Pantages Playhouse (1913) and The Walker Theatre (1907), now called The Burton Cummings Theatre or ‘The Burt”, The Exchange is also a natural home for Winnipeg’s celebrated creative community.
To stroll The Exchange is more than a walk with ghosts. Turn a corner and discover cobblestone streets, art galleries, boutiques, antique stores, film collectives, coffee bars, and pubs.
Take the stroll from Princess St. down McDermot Avenue towards Main, for instance. It takes you past the Plug In Gallery, an acclaimed exhibition space now internationally recognized; by Into The Music, one of Canada’s top independent record stores (whose walls celebrate star locals like The Guess Who and Neil Young); and past Ragpicker’s Anti-Fashion Emporium, a mecca for seekers of antique clothing and souvenir T-shirts that affirm Winnipeggers are “Keepin’ it Riel”, a salute to the Metis leader of Manitoba’s Northwest Rebellion.
In summertime, there is fresh local produce, plus music and laughter in Old Market Square on Bannatyne Ave., especially during the Jazz Winnipeg Festival and the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Do note, though, that repopulation by lofters continues, The Exchange, like Old Montreal, can seem empty at night. It is best explored in daytime and not during a winter cold snap.
The Exchange does guarantee unexpected rewards. Sources agree -- it doesn’t suck.
Freelance writer Peter Feniak is a dyed-in-the-wool Winnipegger who begrudgingly lives in Toronto.
Photo Credits: Castaveran, Peter Feniak
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