412 Salter Street - Tiny House

© 2026, Christian Cassidy

412 Salter in 2009 (Google Street View)

Place: Private residence
Address: 412 Salter Street
Built: 1893
Size: 529 Square Feet

This is a series on tiny houses in Winnipeg. This is one of the smallest you will find!

Waghorn's 1895 map and street index (City of Winnipeg Archives)

According to the city's assessment database, 412 Salter Street was built in 1893. Unfortunately, this makes it hard to track down its earliest inhabitants.

The outer reaches of the North End were still a work in progress at this time. Many Selkirk Settler river lots in the Parish of St. John's were early in the process of being sold off in chunks to speculators. It would take more than a decade for this land to start being formally subdivided by the city into proper residential streets that were aligned from block to block with boulevards, sidewalks and sewers.

The 1894 street directory shows seven houses, most unnumbered, on Salter Street from the CNR tracks to the city limits at Inkster. In 1899, that number grew to ten houses with two of them located between St. Johns and Anderson avenues. They were owned by Christopher Wilson and John Newby.

The following year, the houses are finally numbered, and Newby, occupation dairyman, is at 412.

1891 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada

The 1891 census shows a John Newby, dairyman, living on land in Ward 6 (the North End). 

The Newby household consisted of John, 45, who was from England and came to Canada in 1877, his wife, Elizabeth, 38, from Ontario, and daughter, Margaret, 12. There is also one "domestic", most likely a farm hand, named William Cumming.

The Newby dairy farm was a small operation. An 1898 dairy inspection report notes that he had seven cows. In 1900, there were thirteen cows with a stable and milk house on the property. It appears that he sold his milk directly to customers, so there was likely a stable for a horse and wagon on the property as well.

June 8, 1904, Winnipeg Free Press

As suburban development began to creep closer to his part of the West End, Newby put his dairy operation for sale, with the land certainly being more valuable than the business.

It appears he was successful, as the 1904 directory shows him as a farmer with a home at 633 Mulvey Avenue, (this was before the Mulvey Apartments were built on the site).

1906 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada

The next owner of the property was the Bennie family. James Bennie and his wife Lydia were from Ontario, and they had three children ranging in age from 2 to 21. There was also a "hired man", William Alexander from Scotland, living with them.

Bennie was a teamster and owned his own rig and horse team, so the extra land and outbuildings were needed. It appears that to make a little money, he sold some of the land as the houses at 408 Salter and 422 Salter were constructed in 1905.

Sadly, their eldest child, Alex, was killed in 1907 at the age of 22.  He was a switchman on a train that was at the Vermillion, Alberta, CNR yard. He tripped over a switch while changing it, and a passing rail car ran over his leg and arm. He died soon after.

Alex was said to be "of good reputation and highly spoken of by his fellow employees on the road". His remains were returned to Winnipeg for burial.

The Binnies lived at the house until 1911. Classified ads show Mr. Bennie selling off his horse team and harnesses. The following year, he is listed as a carpenter, and the family had moved to St. James.

Source: Clearings, No. 4 CCS, Library and Archives Canada

The house then went through several short-term owners, which could suggest that it was either a rental property or that people found it too small to live in and were anxious to move on. It's curious with the amount of turnover that there aren't constant "for sale" or "for rent" ads in newspapers. None can be found until the 1950s.

It was home to John Dunsta, gardener at St. John's College in 1912-13, painter George Hargreaves in 1914, CPR policeman Neil McFetridge in 1915, and from 1917-1919 it was home to Jean Lockwood while her husband, John William Lockwood, was off at war.

John Lockwood was a veteran of the Boer War and was a clerk at the Winnipeg General Hospital when he enlisted in May 1916 at the age of 34. Given his medical experience, he was assigned to No. 4 Casualty Clearing Station and served in France and Belgium. He made it through the war without being injured, though he spent months in a hospital in England soon after arriving with pleurisy, and another hospital stay to recover from influenza in 1917.

It's unclear if Lockwood saw much of 412 Salter. According to his attestation papers, the couple lived on Einarson Avenue when he enlisted. Handwritten notes in his service file show that Jean moved several times while he was overseas. When he was discharged in June 1920, the couple moved to Queen Street in St. James, and he resumed his job at the hospital.

October 25, 1934, Winnipeg Tribune

The short-term owners continued through the 1920s.   

In 1931, Mr. Gertrude Cotte (or Catte) and her daughter Margaret moved in. She was a widow and had teenaged children, Margaret and Douglas. Margaret's 16th birthday was celebrated at the house. The Cottes remained until 1936.

Through the 1940s, this was home to Harold and Veronique Sinclair and their three children. Harold worked for the Winnipeg School Board as a school caretaker. It may have been Sinclair who sold off more of the property, as two more of the houses on the block were built in 1946 and 1948.

The home reverted back to short-term owners until 1956, when Mrs. Esther Greenberg moved in. Not a lot is known about Greenberg, as census data is not yet available for the 1950s, and she did not make the newspapers for any reason.

Greenberg lived there until at least 1964, which is when online versions of the street directory run out. (Manual copies can be seen at the Local History Room at the Millennium Library if someone wanted to trace residents up to 1999).

April 8, 1952, Winnipeg Free Press

This address does not appear in the newspapers in recent decades. There were a couple of "for sale" ads in the 1950s. It was described as a four room house with bath and hardwood floors and listed in 1952 for $4,300.

City records show that it sold in 2013 for $60,000, and the following year's Google Street View shows people mowing the front lawn.

412 Salter in 2009 and 2024, Google Street View

By 2024, the house was abandoned. It's unclear if it had a fire or condition issues. It was most recently listed for sale in May 2025. 

737 - 743 Sargent Avenue - Adanac Apartments

© 2026, Christian Cassidy

Place: Adanac Apartments
Address: 737 - 743 Sargent Avenue (Map)
Constructed: 1914
Builders: Genser Bros.
Architect: Unknown

The construction of middle-class apartment blocks took off in Winnipeg starting around 1910, just as the West End was filling in with residential development.

In 1914, there were 71 apartment block building permits issued with an estimated value of $3.75 million. (This was up from 49 such permits in 1913). The average block size was 20 units, which created nearly 1,500 new dwellings. 

The West End received its fair share of these blocks, including ones larger than the city average. These included Acadia Court on Victor Street, and the massive Thelmo Mansions on Burnell Street, the largest apartment block built in the city at the time.

September 28, 1914, Winnipeg Tribune

One of the permits issued in August 1914 was to Genser Bros. Construction for the 40-unit, $110,000 Adanac Apartments at the corner of Sargent Avenue and Beverley Street.

Adanac, Canada spelled backwards, was a very popular name at the time. In 1913 - 1914, newspapers had ads for Adanac Cigars, the odd article mentioning Adanac, Saskatchewan, coverage of the local Adanacs hockey team, the creation of the Adanac Publishing Company, and the Adanac Club, a businessman’s social club that opened a new three-storey building at Broadway and Hargrave.

Barely a month after the building permit was issued, the realty company that either managed or owned the Adanac was already marketing its three and four-room suites. This may have been rushed as Canada had just entered the First World War. Wartime was a period of upheaval in the housing market as many couples and families downsized to smaller residences when the "man of the house" went off to war.

The first rental ads for specific suites at the Adanac can be found in February 1915.

Henderson's 1915 Street Directory of WInnipeg

The first round of tenants shows a mix of middle-class residents. Often business owners and professionals were on the upper floors and drivers, retail clerks, etc. on the lower floors. (The directory only shows the head of household, not family members living with them.) They include:

Henry Bates, owner of H. Bates Dry Goods, unit 38; Robert C Higgins, proprietor of the Corona Theatre, unit 24; William J. Johnston, salesman with Rumley Products, unit 32; Edward Mallette, ass’t chief operator at CNR telegrams, unit 11; Noah Skippen, accountant, unit 16; James Lindsay, employee at John D Ivey fabric wholesalers, 3; Charles Lindsay, teamster at Security Storage and Warehouse, 3. 

The second section of the residential block would not open until the following year. It's unclear if it was 739 or 743 that opened first. The suites in each block were numbered the same, so Adanac Apartments "A" or "B" were often used in early directories and ads.

Over the past 112 years, thousands of people have lived at the Adanac.

Its popularity, especially amongst newlyweds and seniors, had to do with its location on the Sargent Avenue streetcar line, later a trolley bus line, that offered great connectivity to the rest of the city.  It was also situated in a densely populated commercial street filled with a variety of shops and services.

January 25, 1927, WInnipeg Tribune

One resident of the Adanac was Frank Murison of suite 29. He worked at Dominion Bridge, eventually becoming the traffic manager for the company. A well-known curler, he was part of the city championship team of 1927, and in 1932-33 skipped the team that won the T. Eaton trophy. The curling world was shocked when he died in December 1933 at the age of 41 after a brief illness.

September 16, 1944, Winnipeg Tribune

Several men went off to fight during the two World Wars, leaving loved ones behind at the Adanac.

In the First World War there was Alexander Stewart, a fireman by trade, who left his wife Beatrice at suite 29. Railway conductor George Martelle's wife Blanche lived at suite 4B. Dairy worker Alexander Southwood was a dairy worker from suite 6 who left his wife Dorothy. All made it home safely.

In the Second World War, Grenville Ronald Singbush (above) was wounded but survived. Lance Corporal S. F. Spence returned home to suite 4 with 10,000 other troops in June 1945 

In July 1941, Charles Thomas Ife married Florence Elizabeth Fraser, and the two moved into the Adanac before Charles went overseas. He was with the Royal Canadian Signal Corps in June 1944 when he was reported as injured, but he survived the war.  Florence died in 1991 and Charles in 2005. 

September 19, 1945, Winnipeg Tribune

Mrs. H. M. Campbell, a widow, lived at suite 15. She had two sons, Robert and John, who both enlisted at the start of the war. 

John W. Campbell was with the Winnipeg Grenadiers, and on Christmas Day 1941, he was captured by the Japanese and sent to the Sendai POW camp. He and other detainees were released at the end of the war, and some of them returned to a hero's welcome at the CPR station on Higgins Avenue on September 18, 1945. There to meet him was Mrs. Campbell.

The detainees had stories of regular beatings, starvation and forced labour. Campbell, perhaps not wanting to upset his mother, told reporters, "You know what the other fellows have told you, well it was like that."

Campbell went on to marry Pauline after the war, but sadly died at Deer Lodge Hospital in August 1970 at the age of 51. His wife, brother, and mother all survived him.

December 9, 1942, Winnipeg Tribune

Some of the Adanac's residents made the ultimate sacrifice.

William Cross Russell was one of six children of Mrs. Mina Russell of suite 12. She was a widow and lost a daughter, Dorothy, aged 29, in November 1941.

William attended  Kelvin High School and enlisted shortly after graduation. In October, he went overseas with the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps and was accidentally shot during a training exercise in Britain in December 1942. He was 22 years old.

October 15, 1943, Winnipeg Tribune

It wasn't just men from the Adanac who served.

Elsie Trann lived with her mother, Mrs. Jessie Trann, in suite 20 and was a clerk at a nearby Safeway store. She volunteered for the RCAF Women's Division and left for training at Rockliffe, Ontario, in October 1943. Over 17,000 women served with the RCAF-WD, which provided clerical and administrative support for the RCAF in Canada and overseas. 

After the war, Elsie married John "Jack" Ryland in June 1946. He had been a corporal with the RCAF, so they likely met while on assignment. They had two daughters. Elsie died in 2017.

February 28, 1919, Winnipeg Tribune

A feature of the Adanac was the two retail units on the main floor in between the entrances to each block. They had the addresses 739 and 741 Sargent.

The entire space was home to Adancac Grocery, which was initially owned by Harry Stone from 1916 to 1920, then by Max Sigel until the store closed in 1930. 

The spaces were then rented separately.

739 Sargent Avenue became home to John Douglas Osborn's Sargent Florists in 1931. 

Osborn came to Canada from his native Scotland in 1910 at the age of one. He worked for Manitoba Pool Elevators before opening the shop, which he ran until his death in 1974. It was then operated by Annie Ostop until 1979.

September 4, 1976, Winnipeg Free Press

741 Sargent Avenue was he caretaker's office address through the 1930s, and by 1944, it was home to a confectionery store that had many owners over the years. They included Ben Meyerowitz of Alfred Avenue in the 1940s, Mrs. Ruth Rowland in the 1950s, and  Jean Wazny and Ollie Gmiterick in the 1960s. The store closed in 1963.

In 1964, William Holland opened Adanac Lunch (restaurant), that operated until 1976.

There was a series of shorter-term stores, such as a t-shirt shop from 1976 to 1979, then a fish and exotic pet food store. In the 1980s and 1990s, it also housed the odd hair salon.

2012 Google Street View

In 1997, both retail spaces were empty. 

741 would soon be occupied by Graz House of Beauty, but the 1,100 square foot 739 seemed to remain empty with "for rent" ads appearing every couple of years for the next decade.

A 2013 renovation turned the retail spaces into additional residential units.

Adanac in February 2023

Recent years have not been kind to the Adanac Apartments.

In 2008, it sold for $1.1 million and in 2012, a $700,000 building permit was taken out for interior and exterior renovations.  This is the renovation that removed the retail units and created some bachelor apartments, increasing the number of suites to 48 (7 bachelor, 5 one-bedroom, and 32 two-bedroom.

In the 20-teens, the building gained a rough reputation for housing gang members who sold and used drugs from the building. From 2018 to August 2023, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to 623 fire and medical calls at the address (source). 

In April 2020, a major fire broke out at the building. It destroyed several suites and sent two people to hospital. In 2022, Ira Disbrow was found shot to death at the front doorway of the building. Another major fire in January 2023 killed Star Thomas, 23, and led to murder charges against a man with several past convictions for drugs, weapons, and violent assault.

Adanac in 2018

After yet another fire on August 4, 2023, the WFPS inspected the building. It was something it had done dozens of times since 2018, but was now under increased pressure from neighbours and area politicians to do something.

The inspection found suites missing doors, many suites without power using electrical cords to hallway outlets, a "dysfunctional" fire alarm system, missing smoke detectors in many suites and missing fire extinguishers in the halls. 

The building was ordered closed (also see) on August 16, 2023, and around 36 residents were displaced.

The owners of the building said they were working to fix up the building and address all of the concerns raised in the inspection, but in December 2023, the company was put into receivership and the building was seized. It was put up for sale in March 2024 with an asking price of $2.6 million. 

The building was purchased and its sale approved by the courts in March 2025. Over the summer and fall of 2025, it is being significantly renovated. 

Related:
My Flickr Album of 737-743 Sargent Avenue

1521 Logan Avenue - Former Bank of Commerce / Old Bank Groceteria

© 2025 Christian Cassidy

Place: Former Bank of Commerce
Address: 1521 Logan Avenue at Blake Street (Map)
Constructed: 1906
Architects: Darling and Pearson (Toronto)

The Canadian Bank of Commerce opened its first bank branch in the Weston neighbourhood in November 1905. It was a  temporary location at the corner of Higgins Avenue and Blake Street meant to serve the hundreds of CPR employees who worked at the recently opened CPR Weston Shops. The neighbourhood was nicknamed "CPR Town".

Construction on a permanent branch at Logan Avenue and Blake Street began the following year. The building measured 30 feet by 50 feet and was two storeys in height with a full basement and a manager or caretaker's apartment upstairs.

This was one of several Bank of Commerce designs by architects Darling and Pearson of Toronto that were repeated in towns across Western Canada during its boom years.

When the Commerce wanted a new branch for a small town, it chose the pre-existing design that best suited the location and had B. C. Mills and Trading Company of British Columbia send a building kit to the site by rail.

The prefabricated structure could be assembled in just a few days with a small number of men, which was perfect for sparsely populated new prairie towns. (For more about the Commerce’s designs and partnership with BC Mills, see here. An alternate design can be seen in Rivers and other communities.)  

Normally, the Commerce built its larger urban branches from scratch using brick and stone based on Darling and Pearson designs. It was likely felt that this branch meant to serve a single neighbourhood of workers only required the small-town kit bank.

That same year, the bank also expanded its Main Street headquarters and added brick and stone branches on Nairn Avenue in Elmwood and on Osborne Street in Fort Rouge (now demolished).   

January 12, 1907, Winnipeg Free Press

The first manager of this branch was Andrew B. Irvine, who lived in a boarding house on Kennedy Street. He was likely a younger manager who would be transferred often to work his way up to a more permanent posting. Clifford Bales, one of the bank's clerks, lived in the suite above the bank. 

The bank was open just a few months when a bizarre incident happened inside.

Two bank employees, one in the cashier's cage and the other near the office, were found unconscious by a pair of customers at around 1:30 pm on Friday, July 11, 1907. Police were notified and a doctor was dispatched to the scene. He said that the employees had been drugged and he sent them to hospital.

There was lots of cash at the bank, as Friday afternoon was paycheque-cashing day, but little, if any of it, was missing. Some speculated that it may have been an robbery attempt that was suddenly aborted or even a prank of some sort.

Police wouldn't provide more details about the incident to the media. When the Free Press contacted the doctor involved, he said he was under strict orders not to talk about the poisoning, victims, or even what hospital they had been set to.

Despite what seemed like a good mystery, the bank was able to keep a lid on what happened as none of the daily papers appear to have followed up on the incident.

The bank continued with a revolving door of younger, short-term managers until the arrival of Crawford "Charlie" MacMillan around 1918.

American-born MacMillan had worked for the Bank of Commerce for some time when he married Anna Margarita "Marie" Ellis in Chicago in April 1918. The marriage coincided with his appointment as manager of the CPR Town branch of the bank and the couple moved into the apartment upstairs.

1926 Census of Canada

The MacMillans went on to have two children at the house: Shirley, ca. 1919, and Vincent, ca. 1921. The 1926 census entry above shows the family, along with Charlie's brother and his wife, living there in 1926.

Charlie was well known in the local sporting community.

In 1923, he started a long-term stint as the secretary-treasurer of the Manitoba Soccer Association. He was president of the Weston United Football Club in 1925 when it won the Connaught Cup to become national champions. He also helped organise and served on the executive of the Bankers' Hockey League starting in 1923.

Mentions of Charlie disappear from local newspapers 1929. He was likely transferred to another branch in another city.

June 2, 1941, Winnipeg Tribune

The long-term residents of the building in the 1930s were the Redmond family.

John Redmond was born in Halifax in 1885 and came to Winnipeg in 1912. After serving overseas in the First World War, he married Irish-born Mary "Molly" Brett, and they went on to have five children.

Redmond began working for the Bank of Commerce in 1920. His profession was a painter and decorator, so his role at the bank was in maintenance.  The family moved into 1521 Logan Avenue around 1932, and John became the branch caretaker and did similar work at other branches as well.

The Redmond boys were known for being the neighbourhood newspaper carriers. It was Terry until he graduated from high school, and in 1938, the route was passed onto his brother Jack.

John Redmond retired from the bank in 1957 and he and Molly moved on.

June 5, 1905, Winnipeg Tribune

The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merged in 1961 to create the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. This brought with it the update or elimination of some branches.

The small-town bank building at 1521 Logan Avenue was now antiquated in the midst of a modern city neighbourhood. It closed in March 1963 when a new Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce branch opened a few blocks away at 1797 Logan Avenue at Keewatin.  

It did not take long for the building to go back into service as the Old Bank Groceteria in 1964

Frank Notaro, a butcher by trade, worked at Isador Minuk's Martin Grocertra at 439 Logan Avenue (now demolished). In 1960, he and wife Nora took over the business and moved into the suite above the shop. 

In 1964, the Notaros took over the empty bank building and created the Old Bank Groceteria. A major change to the exterior of the building came in 1967 when Notaro made an application to the city to allow him to fill in the verandah area to make it part of the store's interior.

The Notaros ran the store for many years, retiring by the early 1980s. Frank came out of retirement in 1987 to help his daughter Nina to open Sub Zero Ice Cream in Elmwood in 1987. She is now co-owner of Cake Studio.

Since that time, the store has had various names. It was Bonny Castle Food Mart in the late 1980s, and from at least 2021 to 2024, it was Westwood Convenience.

In July 2024, Logan Convenience Inc. was created and began renovations on the building soon after.  The exterior was painted yellow and the faces of the iconic "Old Bank Groceteria" signs that had remained on each side wall of the building were covered by new signs reading "Logan Convenience".

In the early morning of Tuesday, October 8, 2025, the building was set on fire. Residents in the building escaped unharmed. The owner said that the fire was set after an extortion attempt for protection money, one of several downtown businesses to suffer such a fate.

The building is now boarded with a "Danger - Asbestos" sign is posted on the front door.

937 Portage Avenue - Wedley Block (R.I.P.)

© 2025, Christian Cassidy

Wedley Block in 2020

Place: Wedley Block 
Address: 937 - 943 Portage Avenue
Constructed: 1919 and 1923
Closed: Last businesses left in 2024, major fire in December 2025

The earliest newspaper mention that can be found of this property comes in January 2, 1920 edition of the Winnipeg Tribune. A story announced “negotiations are in progress for the purchase of a portion of the W. N. Kennedy property on Portage Avenue at the northwest corner of Banning Street". 

The purchaser of the property, who was represented by a real estate firm and did not want his name divulged, was said to have put a down payment of $10,000 for a section measuring 220 feet along Portage and 242 feet deep on Banning. 

There was no follow-up to the article, but by December 1920, the first advertisements by a business at this corner suggests that the sale had gone through and a building had been constructed.

Wedley's series of grand opening ads, Jan and Feb 1921

The man who bought the land and built the store was grocer Walter Ernest Wedley. He was born in England and came to Canada as a young man in 1905. The following year, he married Elizabeth Mellors, who had come from England a couple of years before him. 

Wedley had operated grocery stores in the vicinity for a number of years, including one at Portage and Sherburn and Portage at Arlington. By the time this store opened, they were living at 363 Banning Street with their four children.

This new store was a combination grocery, lunch counter, and confectionery shop, which was unusual for the time. From his ads, it is clear that Wedley was not just concentrating on selling to the neighbourhood, but to passing motorists heading out of town.

May 17, 1923, Winnipeg Free Press

Wedley took out a $12,000 permit to construct a building at this corner in April 1923. It is unclear if it was a completely new building or if he just added units onto the store he had just built three years earlier.

By the end of the year, his grocery was joined by John Stalker Meats at 939, a vacant shop at 941, and the Warner Fur Company at 943.

Not long after the building opened, the Wedleys' personal life became rocky.

In 1925, the couple separated and Mrs. Wedley received the family home on Banning Street and a $125 monthly allowance for her and the children. She successfully took her husband to court seeking an extra $20 per month.

By January 1926, Mr. Wedley was in rough financial shape and declared bankruptcy. Somehow, he managed to hold onto the building and business - perhaps his land holdings had increased enough in value that when sold off satisfied his creditors..

A further blow came in April 1927 when Mrs. Wedley died at the Grace Hospital at the age of 38 after a months-long illness. Her death sparked a nasty legal battle over the ownership of the house and its contents between her husband and her family.

While there was drama on the home front, the Wedley Block continued to be a successful operation.

The 1926 street directory shows the lineup of businesses as: W. E. Wedley grocer at 937, Dugald McMillan Meats at 939, Cooper's Electric Bakery at 943, and Alex Gilchrist barber.

These types of businesses remained fairly constant in the block over the next couple of decades with the odd flower shop and tailor thrown into the mix.

In May 1926, Annie "Nan" Squair joined Alex Gilchrest's barber shop to create Banning Beauty Parlor which she ran until at lest 1931. A "Banning Beauty Shop" appears in this block off and on through the 1950s.

July 24, 1945, Winnipeg Free Press

By 1940, Wedley had remarried, moved into an apartment at 760 Wellington Avenue, and operated a second store in an apartment block at 753 Wellington. In 1944, he leased out the Portage Avenue store, and it became known as Brown's Confectionery owned by William Brown.

The following year, Wedley sold the entire block, including the store. He eventually moved to Vancouver where he died in 1981.

The grocery then became Ray and Mc Ewan's Red and White Store. Red and White was a loose chain of stores. Each was independently owned and operated, but the owners were able to pool their purchasing and advertising dollars to help compete with the big corporate chains.

The last grocery at this location was owned by Alex Bremner in the late 1940s. It closed in 1950, right around the time Safeway announced that it was going to build one of its new "mega stores" a block away. The space then became home to Henry Shumsky's Fur Shop.

A long-term tenant of the building was Peter Guy Gamble, a CPR employee who lived at 910 Valour Road with his wife, Mae, and their two sons. He opened Gamble's Radio Shop at 941 Portage in 1941.

As the name suggests, the store repaired home radios. It also sold records and was well-known for introducing the latest American jazz artists to local music lovers. The record sales were due to Gamble also being a musician. He played in several bands, including the Gar Gillies Jump Band, (Gillies of Garnet amplifier fame.)

In 1946, the shop became the local repair depot for Canadian Marconi brand car radios. In the 1950s, as television was taking off, it got into antenna repair and eventually TV sales and rentals.

Gamble ran the store until 1965. It continued under the his name for a couple of years before it became Quad A Electronics TV Repair.

Countless other businesses called the Wedley Block home over the century, including Drag City Performance Sales in the 70s and 80s, a Magic Cuts salon in the early 2000s, and Cafe Ce Soir from 2012 to 2019.

A lot of change took place in this block of Portage Avenue in 2018.

No Name Autos Sales, located behind the Wedley Block, burned down in February 2018. Then, two long-time businesses departed. One was the Flower Lady, who had been there since 1995, and the other was Jonnie's Sticky Buns.

The entire 23,064 sq. ft. block from Banning to Lipton streets was then combined into a single lot under the address 955 Portage Avenue, which sparked redevelopment rumours.

A couple of businesses did continue at the site, with Food For Folks and Phantom Nails moving out in 2024.

In November 2025, a variance was approved to permit the construction of a six-storey, 24,000-square-foot, mixed-use commercial and office building under the address 951 Portage Avenue.

In December 2025, the Wedley Block, by then vacant, suffered a major fire that started in the 943 Portage space and will be demolished.

366 Henry Avenue - Commercial Building

© 2025, Christian Cassidy

2014, Google Street View

Place: Commercial Building
Address: 366 Henry Street at Lizzie (Map)
Constructed: ca. 1976

February 10, 1977, Winnipeg Free Press

The building at 366 Henry Street was constructed in 1975. It was described at the time as being a one-storey, 36' x 126', cement block building on a lot of approximately 15,418 square feet.

Its first owner was Raven Enterprises, which traded as the Pasty Hut, a wholesale bakery of breads, pies, sweet cakes and doughnuts. Raven received a $43,000 grant from the Department of Regional Economic Expansion to go towards the expected $128,000 construction costs.

The venture did not last long. By April 1978, the Pastry Hut was in receivership, and the building and its contents were auctioned off.

The next owner of the building was Western Fabrics, or Wes-Fab, which was a wholesale fabric dealer for items like upholstery and curtains. It added a flooring division in 2000.

It is unclear when the company moved to 366 Henry Avenue, as it was a wholesaler and didn't advertise in newspapers.

The company was created in 1961 by Marcel de Vos. Eventually, Gordon L. Poersch became the owner and CEO until his retirement in 2010.  The company continued on at this space until at least 2018.

It was most recently home to a construction company. 

December 5, 2025, CBC News

According to this December 5, 2025 Free Press article, the building was "recently purchased" by the provincial government. 

It was then announced that 366 Henry Avenue could become home to Winnipeg's first supervised drug consumption site. It is expected to open in early 2026.

661 Banning Street - General Wolfe School

© 2025, Christian Cassidy

Winnipeg School Division

Place: General Wolfe School
Address: 661 Banning Street
Opened: 1920, extension 1929, new building 1977

Daniel McIntyre, the superintendent of the Winnipeg School Board, told the Winnipeg Tribune in an April 1920 interview that the city's schools were overcrowded by around 4,000 pupils and that at least 90 new elementary school classrooms were needed to prevent that number from getting worse.  This demand was a combination of population increase and the slowdown in school construction during the war years.

That same month, the school board applied for building permits for three new schools. One of them was a 16-classroom structure on the north side of Ellice Avenue between Banning and Burnell streets. The $125,000 brick building would measure 62 feet x 313 feet and be a single storey except for a small section around the front entrance. It would have a capacity for 700 students.

The architect was John N Semmens, who designed more than ten schools for the school board in a building spree between 1920 and 1922.

August 28, 1928, Winnipeg Tribune

Construction began in May 1920, and the school was ready in time for the start of the school year on September 1.

It opened along with two other new schools, the 700-student Margaret Scott School (now demolished) on Arlington Street, and the 270-student Montcalm School (now demolished) on Tecumseh Street. Three other schools reopened with expanded buildings that fall. 

During the construction phase, the school was named General Wolfe to commemorate James Wolfe, the British soldier best known for leading the defeat of Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm at the Plains of Abraham. (Presumably, naming schools for both Wolfe and Montcalm in the same year cancelled each other out.) 

General Wolfe School was intended to be a junior high, but due to school overcrowding in the rapidly expanding West End, it had to host several other grades in its early years.

When Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute opened in 1923, 561 students from grades 9 and 10 were transferred there from General Wolfe. Much of this freed-up space was filled by the growing number of area elementary school children. It wasn't until 1927 that these younger grades were transferred to Greenway and Wellington schools, which made General Wolfe exclusively a junior high school.

The first principal of General Wolfe School was Percy Dewart (P.D.) Harris. Born and educated in Ontario, he came to Manitoba in the 1890s and worked at several rural schools before moving to Winnipeg in 1904. He led General Wolfe from 1920 - 1923.

Dewart was a busy man at the time. Also in 1920, he was elected president of the Manitoba Teachers' Association by acclamation after serving as its secretary for nine years. He was also secretary of the Manitoba Educational Association.

Dewart retired in 1938 after serving as principal of Isaac Brock School for 13 years.

As soon as General Wolfe School opened, the school board was already thinking about its expansion. In 1921, it bought the Skjaldborg Lutheran Church on Burnell Street and disposed of the building to create a larger sports field to the rear of the school.

In May 1929, a tender was issued for a $68,000, 61-foot x 88-foot expansion immediately west of the existing school building. It stood three storeys tall with a basement assembly hall. The firm of Hazelton and Wallin was the builder.

The school participated in many school sports leagues. At a 1937 speed skating meet, its boys and girls teams won six first-place medals and three second-place medals, which was thought to be a school league record at the time. It also excelled at track and field in the summer, and even formed a football team in 1932.

Off the field, it was known for its choir and music programs, despite the school not having a dedicated music room.

October 24, 1973, Winnipeg Free Press

By the early 1970s, despite being just 50 years old, the building was outdated and crumbling. The school board made its first official request to Ben Hanuschak, the provincial education minister, for funds to replace it in November 1971. The request was rejected, but money was set aside for some renovation work.

School trustees met directly with the minister in October 1973 to make their case that renovations would not suffice. They told him, as the Free Press put it, that the school was "severely out of date, structurally unsound, and smells." Two days later, he was taken on a tour to see the buckling floors, crumbling walls, and lack of ventilation system for himself.

The process to build a new school finally got underway in January 1975. Architectural firm Smith Carter Partners was hired to draw up the plans and a tender for its construction was issued over the summer to W. W. Construction (1972) Ltd..

The education department and city squabbled over a $300,000 civic contribution to the project to make the gymnasium a community-use facility. The final approval for the $2.1 million building project came in late September 1975.

November 22, 1975, Winnipeg Free Press

Construction on the foundation of the new school got underway in October 1975 and was not without tragedy. 

On Friday, November 21, 1975, Leslie James Goertzen, 28, was inside an 11-foot deep trench to shore it up with wooden planks when the ground caved in on him. It took fellow construction workers about 45 minutes to dig him out, but he had died of suffocation.

Goertzen lived at Killarney Place Apartments, 66 Killarney Street, in Fort Garry and left a wife.

Stevenson outside the school, June 14, 1976.
Winnipeg Tribune Photo Collection, U of M Digital Archives

Work continued throughout the winter, and on Monday, June 14, 1976, the building was well above ground and a cornerstone laying ceremony was held.

One of the people in attendance was school trustee Inez Stevenson. She joined parents in their first calls for a new school back in 1971, as she had four sons who lived in the area. Her sons would have graduated by the time the new school opened, but she told the Winnipeg Tribune, "I just wanted the next group of students to have something better."

The old school remained open during the construction of the new one, which was the normal practice of the Winnipeg School Division. 

A short item in the Free Press of November  27, 1976 noted that a farewell tea had taken place at the old school for former teachers, students and friends before it closed forever early the following year.

The new General Wolfe School welcomed students in late January 1977 but the opening ceremony was not held until Wednesday, March 9, 1977.

It was a day of problems for principal Charles Martin, who was expecting the education minister and other VIPs for a 2 pm start. The power cut out at the school at 8:45 a.m and took two hours to restore. Then, at about 11:00 am, a crane involved in the demolition of the old school tipped and crashed down onto the new one. It buckled a ceiling truss and punctured a hole in the roof.

By the afternoon, the mayhem had ended and the ceremony proceeded as scheduled in the gymnasium.

Unlike old school, this one had a music room and a multi-purpose space to eat lunch in. (Its public spaces were large enough that it hosted the Cathay - China Folklorama pavilion in 1979 through the early 1980s.)

A 1976 Tribune article about the ribbon cutting stated that the new school would have the capacity for 750 students, though the school's 2024 - 2025 annual report says there were 390 students. 

Some Past Students

June 28, 1932, Winnipeg Tribune

One exceptional student in the early 1930s was Elizabeth "Bessie" Gold.

Gold was born blind and grew up in Ontario, attending the Ontario School for the Blind in Brantford. Her step-parents, Peter and Elizabeth Wilson, moved to 325 Sherbrook Street in Winnipeg around 1928 when she was 14 years old and wanted her to continue her education at a public school.

As the Brantford school didn't teach certain courses, Gold had to cram three years of of French and two years of math lessons into one year. A 1932 Tribune story noted that because there were no braille signs for algebraic symbols, she made up her own.

With her math and French out of the way, she was enrolled in grade 9 at General Wolfe School for the 1931 school year and graduated with a 78% average.

Gold's first love was music, and she was a student of noted local pianist Edward Heaton. Gold also took the Toronto Conservatory of Music's ACTM - performers piano exam and passed with honours - the first blind person in Manitoba to achieve such an accolade.

Gold may have gone on to Daniel McIntyre Collegiate, as there was a student the following year on the honour roll with the same name. Between 1928 and 1934, Gold's name is mentioned as part of many local concerts and recitals, then it abruptly ends in mid-1934.

It could be that Gold, then 22-years-old, moved again. 

Wartime

A 1944 newspaper article noted that around 150 former General Wolfe students were involved in the war. it was likely much greater than that before the war ended. Sadly, not all of them made it home.

Most former students found in newspaper stories were members of the RCAF. It is unclear why. Perhaps Daniel McIntyre Collegiate, where most of the students would have gone on to,had an association with the air cadets.

Here are the stories of three former students who were killed in action and one recognised for heroism. 

Operation Picture me, Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Orville Wilbert McKenzie was born in November 1916, at St. Paul, Minnesota, and his family came to Winnipeg when he was 11 years old. He attended General Wolfe School from 1930 - 1932 and grade 10 at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate before leaving to work.

When McKenzie enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force in November 1940, he had worked for four years as a shipper at Mid West Storage and Distributors on Westbrook Street. His parents had retired to British Columbia, and he lived in an apartment at 560 Sherbrook Street, a block away from his brother. 

On June 3, 1942, he was the air gunner on a flight that left on a bombing raid over Germany. The plane never returned and he was declared "missing in action". A few months later, he was declared "missing - presumed dead".

 
Phillip Grimshaw Barclay was the only son of Philip and Mary Barclay of 418 Toronto Street. The family had come to Canada from Scotland in 1925.

Barclay attended General Wolfe School and Daniel McIntyre Collegiate. He was also active in the YMCA where he played rugby and basketball. At the time of his enlistment, he worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Barclay's plane was shot down by German forces on May 31, 1942 and all five crew members were killed. He was 21 years old. 

William Peter Duthie was born in 1921 and grew up at 401 Lipton Street and attended General Wolfe School before graduating from Daniel McIntyre Collegiate. He played baseball and rugby and was a member of the West End Orioles Athletic Club on Burnell Street.Greenway School from 1928 - 1934, General Wolfe School from 1934 to 1936 and graduated rom Daniel mcIntyre Collegiate in 1939.

He was working as an apprentice in a cheese factory but was laid off due to poor business conditions. he then enlisted in the army.

WE Orioles Athletics Club and the St, Margaret's Anglican Church choir. left parents and two borthers. Duthie was reported missing in April 1943 and few weeks alter "believed killed"

September 14, 1942, Winnipeg Tribune

Warrant Officer W. M. "Bill" Jackson survived the war and was mentioned in dispatches, a commendation awarded for "valiant conduct, devotion to duty or other distinguished service", in January 1942.

Jackson's squadron of spitfire planes were flying over the English channel when they encountered German forces. He "outmaneuvered a German Messerschmitt 109", but some of his comrades were not so lucky. One was shot down and Jackson could see the pilot bobbing in the water.

Rather than leave him to die, Jackson flew his Spitfire slow enough and close enough to the water to drop his plane's lifesaving dinghy to the man. As his commendation notes, “Jackson would have to raise himself off his seat, twist to one side and as he flew the speedy machine with one hand and foot, fumble with the clasps of his dinghy with his free hand. Then he would have to stand on his seat to throw the dinghy through the cockpit cover which he would have to shove back before releasing the inflation apparatus.”

Jackson received a promotion to Warrant Officer, participated in the Dieppe Raid in August 1942, and returned home to Winnipeg in September.

Related:
General Wolfe School webpage