655 Main Street - Manwin Hotel

© 2021, Christian Cassidy

Place: Windsor Hotel / Maple Leaf Hotel / Roosevelt Hotel / National Hotel / Manwin Hotel / National Hotel
Address: 655 Main Street
Opened: 1889
Original Architect: Unknown
Rooms: 30

It seems that the ManWin Hotel may not be long for this world. It was closed down in February 2021 by health inspectors for a lack of heat and in November 2021 owners are fighting as much as $150,000 in fines for a list of other health violations that they say they cannot afford to pay. (For more information about their failed appeal of $38,400 of those fines, see here and the attached exhibits in the agenda page.)

It modern-ish exterior and numerous name changes over the decades makes it a difficult business to research. Here's a look back at its history.

December 16, 1890, Winnipeg Tribune

Most Main Street hotels celebrated their opening and ongoing existence with with frequent ads promoting their reasonable rates, comfortable rooms and in-house restaurant. The hotel at 655 Main, just a couple of minutes from the CPR station, rarely advertised throughout its 130+ years, preferring instead to be a primarily residential hotel for railway workers and labourers.

The first iteration of the hotel was known as the Windsor Hotel.

Windsor Hotel (right) in March 1906. (Canafornian on Ipernity)

There were many Windsor Hotels in Winnipeg at different addresses in the 1870s and 1880s. This one appears to have opened in 1889 by the Spence Brothers. William acted as manager but there were at least two other brothers, Robert and George, who also lived at the hotel and had other business interests. Samuel, who ran another hotel called Gault House, was also likely a brother.

The Windsor from its earliest days appears to have been a residential hotel. The 1893 street directory captures the three Spence brothers, a porter, a brakeman with the CPR, and five labourers living upstairs.

In 1897, the hotel changed hands as the liquor licence was transferred to Clara, then William, Burton. Mr. Burton was a Nova Scotia native. Sadly, he died suddenly in April 1901 of congestion of the lungs at the age of 36, leaving Clara with three young children.

January 18, 1904, Winnipeg Free Press

The next owner was Jerry Russell. Under his tenure, the number of alcohol related incidents in the bar reported in the papers - fights and whatnot - seemed to increase. This included the serious stabbing of one of his bartenders in August 1903.

In January 1904, a liquor inspector got access to the residential portion of the hotel and according to the Free Press, "discovered a well-stocked bar doing a thriving business, and by the number of empties around the place sales must have been good."

It was the last straw for the liquor board that had previously dealt with Russell. His liquor licence was pulled by the end of the month.

The hotel could not make money without a liquor licence, so it was sold to Joseph Bearnhart. He left in 1907 when he purchased the Winnipeg Hotel further south on Main Street.

The next owner of the hotel was Nathan Rosenblat. He would be associated with the building for nearly three decades and is responsible for expanding it to the size it is today.

Rosenblat, a Russian Jew fleeing tension in his homeland, came to Winnipeg around 1885. A couple of years later, he opened a hardware and clothing store at the neighbouring 651 Main Street.

The newspapers reported on the sale in May 1907. Rosenblat vowed to "immediately remodel the building and make it up to date". The renovations would start with the interior with the bar and the addition of a restaurant that he wanted to be "one of the finest dining rooms in the city". He would also expand the rear of the building nearly doubling its size.

August 8, 1907, Winnipeg Tribune

According to the Winnipeg Tribune, Rosenblat applied for an $81,606 building permit in August 1907 - a huge sum and one of the larger permits for a renovation in the city to that point in the year. It was to add a multi-level extension to the back of the building.

Tenders for the construction of the extension were advertised by Eade Brothers architects and Carter Halls Aldinger won the contract.

The work may have been scaled back as an August 31 newspaper story reported that $25,000 worth of work was being done to construct a 92-foot x 37-foot extension that was two storeys in height with basement. It was noted that the expansion was built so that as many as four more storeys could be added at a future date.

Also in August, a separate $2,400 building permit was granted to Reosnblat for the interior work to reconfigure the bar on the south side of the new front entrance and add a restaurant to the north side.

The project was expected to be completed in December 1907, though no grand reopening announcement or ad can be found.

March 23, 1949, Winnipeg Tribune

Rosenblat kept a fairly low profile and the Windsor Hotel was a pretty quiet place. He seemed content with his one hotel and neighbouring Rosenblat Hardware and Clothing and didn't get involved in the ownership of other establishments as most hoteliers at the time did.

The Rosenblat family, which included Sara and their five children, resided at 51 Lily Street, which now faces Disraeli Freeway. He was involved with Rosh Pina Synagogue and in 1911 headed a committee to make improvements to its cemetery.

January 10, 1910, Winnipeg Free Press

The end of the Rosenblat as the public face of the business came following a scandalous event at the hotel in January 1910.

The Free Press reported that a woman who was already well known to police "with two (other) women and three men started visiting saloons and finally ended up in one of the side rooms off the bar at the Windsor Hotel. There the gang drank themselves stupid and the whole performance was in plain sight of the street."

Women at the time were not allowed in saloons and by Victorian standards their public display of drunkenness was shocking. The matter was so serious that the liquor board suspended the hotel's licence "subject to an investigation". 

There was  no follow-up to the liquor licence story so it is unclear what exactly happened at the hearing. Rosenblat may have been told he wouldn't get his licence back or he may have just been tired of the ongoing issues with running a hotel and saloon. Either way, the hotel had a new proprietor the following month, though Rosenblat continued to own the business and building.

February 16, 1910, Winnipeg Tribune

The man who leased the hotel from Rosenblat in February 1910 was William "Doc" Whaley, a businessman and hotelier who had run the Sutherland Hotel through 1909.

. He ran the Sutherland Hotel in 1909and in August 1912 he applied for a hotel licence for 652 Main, what would be known as the Club Hotel.

Whaley promptly changed the name to the Windsor to the Maple Leaf Hotel and the address changed to 659 Main Street. (Over the decades, the hotel's address has changed from 655 to 657 to 659 and back.)

Again, there was no advertising for the hotel even after the changeover. The 1911 street directory lists Whaley, bartenders Robert Harris and Harry Carpenter, and hotel clerk David Buchanan, all living at the hotel.

Whaley made an application for a hotel licence across the street at 652 Main Street, an establishment that would become known as the Club Hotel. When it opened in 1912, he left the Maple Leaf.

Maple Leaf Hotel circa World War I (Berman Postcard Collection)

The next operator of the business was David Hayes.

It seems that Hayes and the entire staff lived at the hotel. The 1912 street directory shows Hayes, Miss U. Snowplough - maid, J. Nord - hotel porter, John Joyce - hotel clerk, James McDonald - bartender, Miss M. Hooper - hotel employee, Miss J. Burne - hotel employee, Miss M Chorma - maid, Joseph Allen - bartender, Mrs. P Arlie - hotel nurse, Mrs. T. Furst - waitress, Mrs. L. O. Powers - cook, Edward Davis - bartender, Miss V. Clark - employee.

Others listed as living there in 1912 were T. J. Welch - telegraph operator CPR, John Sloan - clerk at Labour Employment Office, W. Phillips - switchman with CPR, B. McPhee - switchman CNR, W. A. Kirkland - brakeman CPR, L. Frost - switchman CPR, George Brown - ironworker, Charles M. Berg - steamfitter.

August 17, 1914, Winnipeg Tribune

August 1914 was a sad month in the hotel's history.

In the wee hours of August 1, 1914, a fire broke out in the basement of the hotel. Nobody was hurt but one newspaper story reported that "the rear portion was badly gutted".

One of the people displaced by the fire was Mary Kissock, 22. She had come from Ireland a couple of years earlier and lived at the Maple Leaf Hotel where she worked as a maid. She went to live with her sister in Elmwood while the hostel was being renovated.

Kissock became pregnant and she and her boyfriend went to the Beverley Street home of Dr. Russell and Maude Dumas to have an abortion on August 6. A week later, Mary became ill and died at her sister's house on August 17.

The doctor and his wife were charged with murder. At their trial in November, a jury found them not guilty.

May 29, 1915, Winnipeg Tribune

The year 1915 was a tumultuous one for the Maple Leaf Hotel.

What may have started it all off was the April arrest of Hayes for selling liquor after hours to undercover inspectors. An indication that this might not have been his first run-in with the authorities is that rather than an automatic fine, he was first remanded for a week.

The timing could not have been worse as the following month the city was about to begin a crackdown on poor conditions at some hotels. Of the 79 establishments who applied to renew their licence in May 1915, 29 had the renewal decision deferred. This included the Maple Leaf Hotel.

Part of the licence issue was related to a dispute between Rosenblat and Hayes over renewing their lease agreement. A May 31 newspaper article noted that "difficulty between the owner of the place and Mr. Hayes had been fixed up" and a two-month extension on the old licence was given as they sorted things out.

Four days later, another story appeared noting that the lease deal had fallen apart and Hayes walked away from the hotel. As Hayes was the holder of the hotel's liquor licence, the bar was immediately closed.

The 1916 street directory lists Rosenblat listed as the proprietor of the hotel again. The following year, son Charles was installed as the hotel manager.

April 6, 1918, Winnipeg Tribune

In 1918, Rosenblat's two businesses were caught up in a murder that shocked the city.

Sometime before 1:00 am on Saturday, April 18, 1918, burglars broke into Roseblat's store. A passing patrolman, Constable Bernard Snowdon, 30, noticed the back door of the store was open and walked inside. He got about six feet into the building when he was shot dead. Another patrolman found him not long after.

Snowdon left a two-year-old baby and an ill wife who was still recovering from surgery and went into shock when she heard the news.

The ensuing manhunt found the two men and one juvenile responsible for the murder were guests in room 4 at the Maple Leaf Hotel. They had registered the day before and the two men went to the hardware store to buy a flashlight and presumably case the place.

The ensuing manhunt found the men drinking at the Savoy Hotel with stolen merchandise on them. Guns and spent casings were found back at the hotel. Phillip Johnston and Frank Sullivan were hanged in Winnipeg on October 2, 1918. The juvenile, 17, was sentenced to life in prison.

Rosenblat continued to own the hotel until his death on March 17, 1931, at the age of 75. In fact, he worked at the hotel earlier that day. His son, Allan, ran "The Rosenblat Hardware" at 651 Main by that time and it remained in business until at least 1959.

Starting in 1933, the hotel went through a number of proprietors. it is unclear if it was owned and leased out. Newspapers don't mention sales.

Samuel G. Last is listed as the hotel's manager in 1935 and its proprietor for the next two years.  He lived at the hotel during his tenure. (A William C. Last ran the Waverley Hotel - they may have been from the same family)

From 1938 to 1942, Mike Hollfelder is listed as its proprietor. He moved on to work at the Royal Alexander in 1943.

Later that year, Dave Ellis of Machray Street, manager of the Club Hotel across the street, took over as proprietor.  He introduced a new name for the building in 1944: the Roosevelt Hotel.

Street directories show for the first time a pool hall, Nick's run by Nick Donesuk, listed on the main floor. This suggests some internal renovations, perhaps the dining room became a counter cafe freeing up space for the new business. (The business disappears from the listings the following year which suggests it may have been absorbed by the hotel.)

Maple Leaf Hotel, undated (Rob McInnes Postcard Collection)

In 1945, Alan Lennett of 341 Lansdowne comes on the scene. He was an operator at CN Telegrams the previous year, then became manager of the Roosevelt in 1945. In 1946, he took over proprietorship of the hotel as Lennett Hotels Ltd.. Oddly, during his time as manager and proprietor he is also still listed as being an operator at CN Tels.

1946 Directory: George Wagner - painter, Owen Virgil - employee of Devonware Ltd., Mike Travis, mechanic, Fred Simmons - operator at CN telegraphs, A. E. Nickelson - barber, Dave mature - hotel clerk, George Mackie - welding instructor, George Ledergerber - mink farmer, Michael Kuraliak - employee at Rogers Sheet Metal, Ed Kurtz - hotel waiter, Peter Krawec - employee at Burns, J. A. Johnson - elevator operator, Rudolph Haines - tailor, and Harold Bartlett - hotel clerk.

In late 1947, the liquor licence was transferred from the Lennett Hotels to Harry Ewashuk. He is listed at times as proprietor or manager, so it was likely corporate-owned.

March 13, 1950, Winnipeg Tribune

New ownership came in 1950 with a new name: National Hotel.

No proprietor is ever listed in street directories, just managers. The first one in 1950 was Peter Chernecki. This suggests that the hotel was corporate-owned.

The sign had barely been installed when the hotel's new name was tarnished by another shocking murder.

March 13, 1950, Winnipeg Tribune

On the night of March 11, 1950, Mrs. Martha Perrault visited the hotel. She was a widow with six children who lived in temporary housing at an old wartime wireless school in Tuxedo. The man she was there to meet was Walter Stoney, 38, a cook who lived in room 45.

The following morning, police found Stoney in serious condition at the nearby CPR tracks after having thrown himself in front of a moving train. When they visited his room, they found Perrault dead under his bed. She had been stabbed 18 times with a pickaxe.

Stoney eventually admitted that he thought she was poisoning his food and killed her in retaliation. He threw himself in front of the train because he thought he would soon die a more painful death. (He also accused staff of poisoning his food during his long stay in hospital.)

Stoney was found guilty and was hanged at Headingley Gaol on January 17, 1951.

September 5, 1975, Winnipeg Tribune

The 1970s were particularly dangerous ones at the hotel.

In April 1972, a fight between two men in one of the rooms left 44-year-old Walter Young dead.

In September 1975, a man who was booted out of the bar returned with a gun and shot five people. All of them survived.

There were other serious assaults and attempted murders by the end of the decade.

By 1982, the hotel had been rechristened the Manwin Hotel. Despite the change, its reputation as one of the city's most dangerous hotels continued through to the 2020s.

It was purchased by a numbered company in 2016 and soon after was renamed the National Hotel, (even though the signs still read Manwin).

The murals out front were painted in 2009 by Chris R. Easton.