Broadway and Donald Street - Centennial Fountain

Place: Centennial Fountain (a.k.a. Sudsy Fountain)

Address: Broadway at Donald Street (Map)
Opened: October 22, 1970
Architect: Smith Carter Parkin

Cost: $25,000+

Opening Ceremony (Tribune archives)

This fountain at Broadway and Donald Street commemorates the centennial of Manitoba and the 50th anniversary of the first water supplied to Winnipeg via the Shoal Lake Aqueduct.

The water anniversary was an afterthought as Winnipeg's Metro council had been looking for some time for a location to build its own fountain to commemorate the occasion which took place in 1919. When this plan came along, they decided to double up.

Fountain with Centennial House in the background

The fountain was estimated to cost $25,000, though may have been closer to $30,000 by the time it was completed. The cost was split between Metro Winnipeg, which contributed 40% or $10,000, and MEPC Canadian Properties Limited the remainder.

The MEPC Group was a national real estate development and management company that had a number of holdings in Winnipeg including Centennial House / Chateau 100 across the street at Broadway and Donald which opened a couple of months before the fountain.

Centennial Fountain was opened by Lieutenant Governor John McKeag on October 22, 1970.

This is not the oldest fountain in downtown. There is, of course, Waddell Fountain in Central Park (1914), Memorial Park Fountain (1962), and another Centennial Fountain in the Steinkopf Gardens behind the Concert Hall (circa 1970).

The nickname, (my nickname for it, anyway) is 'sudsy fountain' as it routinely has laundry detergent added to it by person(s) unknown causing it to bubble up onto the street !

© 2011, Christian Cassidy