661 Broadway - Howell Court

 © 2025, Christian Cassidy

Place: Howell Court
Address: 661 Broadway (map)
Constructed: 1903

Designer: Arthur E. Ham
Contractor: Day labour
Summary:
- Ham residence (1903-1906)

- Galloway residence (1907-1918)
- Medical clinic / doctors' offices (1907-1961) 

- Howell Court (1925-ca. 2022)

Howell Court has sat vacant since around 2022. Recently, the land was rezoned and a new multi-storey, mixed-use development was approved for the site in June 2025. There have been many chapters to this building's history, from single-family home to medical clinic to apartment block. 

Before it's demolished, here's a look back at its 122-year history.

The Hams

Imperial Dry Goods Department Store

The original residents of this home were Arthur E. Ham and family. He was the store manager and secretary of the Imperial Dry Goods Company and is also credited with designing the house.

The Imperial Dry Goods Company was created in February 1898 after investors bought out the S. Dunwoody-Swain and Co. dry goods retail store at 452 Main Street. Its focus was on growing the store to have "one of the largest and best stocks in the west".

One of its major investors was Robert J. Whitla, who already ran a successful dry goods wholesale company. Another investor was Arthur E. Ham, who was hired from Toronto where he had been involved in retail business for over a dozen years. He became the store's manager and the company's secretary.

The company initially operated from the original Dunwoody store. In 1900, the old building made way for 26,000 square-foot, $90,000 building that extended from Main Street through to Albert Street where it had a back entrance and loading bay. (Since then, the Main Street side of the building was demolished to construct a bank, but the Albert Street half of the original building still exists.)

The expanded department store sold everything from hardware to fabrics to home furnishings and even had a fresh flower counter. Its staff grew from four clerks to thirty.

1906 census, Library and Archives Canada

Ham arrived with his family, wife Katherine and two children aged 8 and 5, in April 1898, just weeks after Imperial Dry Goods Company was created. They initially stayed at the Leland Hotel before settling at 146 Garry Street. By 1901, they lived at 178 Langside Street.

The property at Broadway and Furby came up for sale in 1903, and Ham purchased it to custom-build a new family home. According to the city's 2009 historic buildings report for the building, Ham is listed as the architect and it was built by day labour.

The building permit does not appear to have been mentioned in newspapers of the day, so it is unclear when the house opened. Ham, likely accompanied by his family, left for a month long buying trip to eastern North America in August 1903. Classified ads show Mrs. Ham advertised for servants at this address starting in December.

The 1906 census entry for 661 Broadway shows the couple had four more children after arriving in Winnipeg and had two live-in servants.

Ham, circa 1901

Ham, who was in his early thirties when he came to Winnipeg, appears to have been well-liked by his employees. He played on the company's baseball and lacrosse teams and held an annual picnic at a public park for his staff.

In February 1901, the Hams hosted a party for the 50 or so store employees at their home on Langside Street. It consisted of games, music, dancing and a midnight dinner that ended in a rendition of Auld Lang Syne. At the end of the night, the Hams hired cars to bring staff to their respective homes. 

January 17, 1906, Winnipeg Tribune

The store survived the nearby Bulman Block fire in 1903 that heavily damaged several neighbouring buildings, including the complete destruction of Ashdown's department store just a few doors north.

In 1905, however, a combination of events led to its closure. The T. Eaton Company opened its massive department store on Portage Avenue in July, and in December, major investor Whitla died. His estate decided not to carry on with Imperial Dry Goods and the store was liquidated in January 1906. 

Ham told a Free Press reporter: "Personally, I consider this a great pity, as the Imperial Dry Goods Co. has always enjoyed a large measure of public confidence and during the past season our trade was never better."

January 14, 1906, Winnipeg Tribune

Before the liquidation sale began, about 40 staff members showed up at Ham's 661 Broadway home to present him with a gold locket with his initials on it. Ham was said to have been astonished at the event and so overcome with emotion had to sit down in his parlour for a bit. 

In making the presentation, an employee said: "It is with sincere regret that we, your late employees, gather to say good-bye to you and the Imperial Dry Goods Company.... You can, sir, look back with pride for the past eight years and say that through your efforts a splendid business was built up."

Ham did not return to retail. The following year, the family moved and Ham became the Superintendent of Insurance for the Province of Manitoba and went on to have a career in the insurance industry. He died in 1931.

The Galloways

Galloways in the 1911 census

The next residents were Dr. Herbert P. H. Galloway and family, who rented the house from Ham in 1907 and went on to purchase it around 1913.

Galloway was an orthopedic surgeon who practised in Toronto for nine years before coming west in 1905 with his wife, Charlotte, and two young daughters.

Dr. Galloway in 1917, U of M  Faculty of Medicine Archives

Dr. Galloway began teaching at the Manitoba Medical College in 1906 and became its first chair of orthopedic surgery in 1907. He was also the Winnipeg General Hospital's first orthopedic staff surgeon. It has been said that "He can truly be called the father of orthopedic surgery in Western Canada."

The well-respected Galloway was a member of several medical boards. He was a founding member of the Manitoba Medical Association and served as its president in 1910-11. He was elected president of the American Orthopedic Association at a conference in Philadelphia for the year 1918-19. He served as head of surgery at the Tuxedo Military Hospital with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel during the First World War. 

The building at 661 Broadway served as both the family home and his medical clinic, the same setup the Galloways had in Toronto on Bloor Street.

Charlotte Galloway ca. 1920s

Charlotte Galloway (nee Sanderson) was as well known as her husband thanks to her community organising and charitable work. A Winnipeg Tribune article noted that: "Mrs. Galloway, since coming to Winnipeg, has been identified with the most progressive philanthropic movements of her city."

One prominent charity was the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, which was instrumental in the development and operations of the province's main TB Sanatorium at Ninette. She was its secretary for many years and its president from 1918 to 1922.  

Mrs. Galloway was also involved with the Council of Women of Winnipeg, serving for seven years as its secretary and two years as president (1914 - 1916). 

For more about Mrs. Galloway and her extensive community work see my West End Dumplings post about her. 

Top to bottom: Aug. 1907, Jan. 1921, Jan. 1924

Furby Street, the original 1903 house in the middle (Google Street View)

Over time, the medical practice grew from being a doctor's office attached to a family home into a full medical clinic with at least two partners.  

A $6,000 building permit was granted to expand the building in 1910, and another expansion took place in 1917. These additions were to the main floor surrounding the original house structure on three sides, as can be seen in the Furby Street view above.

In 1918, the clinic became known as the Galloway-Gibson Clinic. This was thanks to the addition of physicians Dr. Alex Gibson, Andrew P. MacKinnon, and dentist Oliver Waugh. George Galloway, likely Dr. Galloway's brother, was the clinic's manager.

Due to the clinic's expansion, the Galloway family moved to 638 Wellington Crescent around 1919.

The Galloway-Gibson Clinic campus

Not only did 661 Broadway expand, but neighbouring houses were bought up to create a small medical campus.

By 1920, the house behind the clinic at 251 Furby Street had been converted into a private hospital for the clinic. The house immediately east of the clinic at 655 Broadway became a convalescent home, and the house east of that, 647 Broadway, was the nurses' residence. (Both of those homes are now demolished.)

The clinic and hospital attracted many young doctors and nurses who were eager to learn from Dr. Galloway.  There was also a dedicated team of support staff.

Miss Sadie White was secretary to Dr. Galloway and then to Dr. MacKinnon for decades.

Mrs Annie Jackson was matron of the convalescent home from 1919 until 1926, when she left to open her own nursing home. 

Minnie Garrioch R.N. worked at the clinic for several years after graduating in 1919 and went on to be a specialty TB nurse at major sanatoria in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Clinic side entrance off Furby Street, 2025 (C. Cassidy)

The expanded medical partnership and its services were short-lived.

In May 1924, the hospital building was put up for sale and "rooms for rent" ads began to appear for that address in September.  It had gone from a single-family residence to a hospital to an apartment block in a space of five years. It remains an apartment block to this day.

The convalescent home became a rooming or boarding house, advertising rooms for rent in late 1924.

As for 661 Broadway, rental ads for its new, eight small suites began in February 1925. The building also took on the new name Howell Court. (Galloway's mother's maiden name was Mary Howell.) 

This did not mean the end of the building's medical connections. Doctors Galloway and MacKinnon continued to have offices and see patients in the building for years to come.

July 13, 1939, Winnipeg Tribune

Galloway's first wife died in 1923 and he remarried a couple of years later. By this time, he was around 60 and began stepping back from his hospital and university work, but still saw patients in his office and did the odd lecture.

Dr. Galloway died in 1939 at 661 Broadway whilst dictating notes to his secretary. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

MacKinnon Clinic / Howell Court

Dr. MacKinnon ca. 1936 (Manitoba Medical College)

Galloway's long-time medical partner and fellow orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Andrew P. MacKinnon* continued to practice at 661 Broadway and was soon joined by his nephew, Dr. William B. MacKinnon, also an orthopedic surgeon. The offices were renamed the MacKinnon Clinic.

(Note that the spellings "McKinnon" and "MacKinnon" were used interchangeably throughout his career. According to his wartime attestation papers, which he filled out himself, the proper spelling was MacKinnon, but McKinnon appears far more often in newspapers. Even publications of the Manitoba Medical College, where he was on the board and an honorary president, used the incorrect spelling when referring to him, such as here.)

Howell Court, 1931 Census, Library and Archives Canada

It is unclear who owned the clinic after Galloway died. The medical offices were retained on the main floor for the MacKinnons and the eight residential suites continued to rent under the name Howell Court.

The apartment side changed very little over the years. Through the 1920s, several of the people who lived upstairs were involved with the clinic. They included: George Galloway, the clinic’s manager; Mrs. Ethel Curr, the stenographer, and her two children; and Sadie White, secretary.

The 1931 census shows 20 people living in the eight suites. Many were retail clerks or salespeople, many were couples without children. A decade later, the street directory shows many married women with no husbands – perhaps they were widows or long-term patients?

Three of the 1931 residents, Mrs. Chrispin, Mrs. Gaffekin and William / Elizabeth McLaughlin, are still living there. These are the 1940 residents by suite number:

1. Mrs. Roberts – no occupation listed
2. Mrs. Frances Chrispin and daughter Brenda -  both Eaton employees
3. Mrs. Matilda McDonald - no occupation listed
4. Mrs. M. Stafford, no occupation, and Mona Stafford, clerk at Royal Bank
5. Wm McLaughlin, salesman, and wife Elizabeth
6. Alfred G Morin and wife Florence– watchmaker
7. Mrs. L Gaffikin - no occupation listed

8. Miss M Taylor- – no occupation listed

The longest-serving tenants were likely Elizabeth McDonald, who died here in 1965 at the age of 84 after around 35 years of residency. Alfred G. Morin and his wife Florence lived here from at least 1940 until he died in 1975. Florence eventually moved to Beacon Hill Lodge where she died in 1987.

There were numerous death notices for this address from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s for elderly residents, and the "for rent" ads during this time specified no children. It is likely that Howell Court was an informal seniors home.

June 5, 1942, Winnipeg Tribune

There was at least one wartime casualty with a connection to Howell Court: Sgt. Joffrey Kitchener McDonald.

McDonald grew up in Elkhorn, Manitoba and joined the Air Force in February 1941. He was assigned to the 113th Bomber Reconnaissance Battalion in Yarmouth NS.

On June 1, 1942, he was part of a four-man crew who went out on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Bay of Fundy. They took off just before noon and were never heard from again. The men were declared dead in December.

McDonald likely lived in Edmonton when he enlisted, but his mother, Mrs. Matilda McDonald, was his next of kin at suite 3, Howell Court.

Main entrance, 2015 (C. Cassidy)

Dr. Andrew MacKinnon died in 1945,  and William MacKinnon continued to keep an office here until 1961. He then relocated to 404 Graham Avenue, the original, ca. 1923, Medical Arts Building, which contained hundreds of doctors, a diagnostic laboratory, and an x-ray clinic under one roof.

After nearly 55 years, 661 Broadway's association with the medical profession ended.

Classified ads appeared throughout 1962 to rent out the vacated 1,200 square foot office space, but newspaper and street directory searches through the remainder of the 1960s indicate no new commercial tenant was found. The space was likely converted into two additional suites, as more recent documents indicate that Howell Court was a ten-suite apartment block.

The end of Howell Court

Howell Court has sat vacant since around 2022. In 2023, an application was approved to have the land rezoned for a larger development on the site. 

In June 2025, an application was approved for the building to be demolished and replaced with a four-storey mixed-use residential and commercial building with three commercial units on the ground floor and 21 residential units on the upper floors.

It is unclear when Howell Court will be demolished.

Related:

661 Broadway My Flickr album of Howell Court
661 Broadway City of Winnipeg Historic Building Report (2009)
661 Broadway Plan approved by City Centre Community Committee, June 25, 2025 (see item 3 and its two attachments)

351 McGee Street - Private Residence

© Christian Cassidy, 2025

2012 Google Street View

Place: Private residence
Address: 351 McGee Street (Map)
Constructed: ca. 1907
Builder: Loftur Jorundson
Summary of long-time residents:
- The Jorundsons (ca. 1907 to ca. 1918 and ca. 1922) 

- The Jaggers (ca. 1922 – ca. 1930) 

- The Shutlers (ca. 1930 – 1971) 

- Multi-unit or rooming house (1970s and 1980s) 

- Boning and Smith (1991 – 1997) 

- The Dueck-Thiessens (1999 -2024)

Source: Birds Eye View, 1894 by C. E. Steel

In West End terms, McGee Street is old road. It is first mentioned in newspapers and the Winnipeg street directory in 1882. This is significant as that was the first year after Winnipeg’s boundaries were expanded westward from Maryland Street (then called Boundary Road) to present-day St. James Avenue.

McGee Street originally ran from Livinia Street (renamed St. Matthews Avenue in 1913 when St. Matthews Church was built), to Wellington Avenue. As the neighbourhood wouldn’t be formally surveyed or city services run to it for another couple of decades, McGee was likely little more than a country lane winding through pasture land connecting workers cottages and cattle or horse stables.

The 1888 street directory shows only five residences along McGee Street with four of them north of Ellice Avenue. The street was extended to Portage Avenue sometime around 1890 and by 1895 there were about ten houses in total from Portage to Notre Dame.

This area of the West End began to be surveyed into proper suburban lots, streets, boulevards, and sidewalks around 1904 and services like water and sewer were run to it soon after. Of the 25 or so homes that still exist on this block of McGee Street from St. Matthews to Portage, all but a handful were constructed in 1905.

July 7, 1906, Winnipeg Telegram

According to the City of Winnipeg’s property assessment database, the two-storey, 1,680 sq. ft. house at 351 McGee Street was built in 1908, but this may be out by a couple of years.

The address first appears in the 1908 street directory, the data for which would have been compiled in late 1907. The above ad is from the Winnipeg Telegram of July 7, 1906 and could be this house. (I have come across many situations where an old house and the “permit issued” year are out by a year or two.)

Jorundsons in the 1916 census of the Prairie Provinces, Library and Archives Canada 

The first owner, and likely the builder of the house, was carpenter Loftur Jorundson. 

Jorundson was born in 1861 at Hrisey, Iceland and came to Canada in 1888, likely first settling in the Lindar area. He married Jónína Magnússon in 1889 and the couple went on to have six sons.

The family moved to Winnipeg by 1900 and Jorundson, like many Icelanders, got into the home and construction business.

There are newspaper mentions of Jorundson getting building permits for three dwellings on Sherbrook Street in 1902 and six on Toronto Street between Wellington and Sargent in 1903. He likely built this house and a neighbouring house circa 1906. His most ambitious project was the Quo Vidis Apartments on Qu’Appelle Avenue at Kennedy Street.

For more about Jorundson, see my West End Dumplings post.

 

The Jorundsons temporarily disappear from street directories in 1918, perhaps returning to Lundar.

During this time, they rented out the house and it appears to have been divided into at least two suites. The following are listed in street directories as residents. (Note that some of these people would have had family living with them. Unlike a census, the directories only listed the head and working members of the household.)

- 1919:  N A Macmillan, no occupation listed.
- 1920: M W Jagger of the CNR and a lodger, Mrs. W. Mitchell, a clerk at Eatons.
- 1921: Charles Bell, Grain Exchange employee; Sylvia Curtis, confectioner; Harry Curtis, mail clerk at CPR; Lydia Dawson, widow; and Roy Schold, student.

Loftur and Jonina reappear at 351 McGee Street in 1922. The following year, they moved to the Quo Vadis apartments where Loftur is listed as caretaker.

1926 Census of Canada

The next owner of the house was Martin W. Jagger and family who had rented it from the Jorundsons back in 1920.

Jagger started work with the Canadian Northern Railways in Winnipeg in 1909 as a yardman and in 1919 became assistant yardmaster at the CN East Yards (which was redeveloped into The Forks in the 1980s). 

The Jaggers moved to a new house at 46 St. James Place (now Picardy Place) around 1930.

September 5, 1933, Winnipeg Tribune

In 1931, George Shutler lived here with his wife Christina and two children, George aged 5 and Gladys aged 3. He was a salesman at Peerless Laundry, a commercial laundry company, located on Pearl Street. 

Shutler’s job as a salesman at Peerless likely meant that he drove a truck and the above photo just might include him. He continued to work for the company until around 1943 when, near retirement age, he took a job at Paulin Chambers bakery. Shutler worked at Paulins until he retired in 1947, but sadly, it was not a long one. He died at his home on October 15, 1948, at the age of 68.

Christina Shutler, who was 17 years younger than George, didn’t live out her time as a widow.  She worked on and off through her life at places like Picardy’s and Eaton’s. Around 1953, she took a position at the Manitoba Technical Institute, the forerunner to Red River College. Street directories do not list her exact occupation.

To help make ends meet, Christina continued taking in lodgers. For a time in the 1950s, George Jr. and his family lived in one of the suites. Other lodgers she took in were usually retirees.

Christina Shutler continued to live at the family home until around 1971. She died on November 16, 1983, at Misericordia Hospital.

September 25, 1986, Winnipeg Free Press

After the Shutlers, there were several shorter-term owners or renters. (It should be noted that starting in the 1970s, street directories became more unreliable as people became more conscious of personal privacy. For this reason, some years there are no listings for this address.)

After apparently sitting empty for a couple of years, Steve Roznowsky and wife Lora lived there. He was an employee at the Liquor Control Commission and then CN Rail. They were soon joined by Michael Pelypyshyn and his wife, Mary in the other suite. He was a porter at the Mall Hotel, then an employee of Mooni’s Catering. One or both men and their spouses were listed at this address in street directories until 1982.

The house appears to have been subdivided into a rooming house in the 1980s as “rooms for rent” classified ads appeared from time to time in the Free Press.

March 23, 1997, Winnipeg Free Press

The house was purchased by Chris Boning and Brian Smith, who had recently arrived from Toronto, in 1991.

Boning was a visual artist and Smith a chef. At the time, this section of the West End was in a state of decline and neglect. Boning told the Free Press in 1997 that “it was probably the most neglected rooming house north of Portage.” What caught their eye the exceptional craftsmanship of Jorundson and his contractors that was still largely intact.

After the purchase, the couple got a home renovation grant to replace the widows and began to restore the interior room by room, including the original staircase, fireplace, and oak floors. Boning used his artist’s eye to add colour, art, and other features. The back yard, which had resembled a “garbage dump” according to Boning, was transformed using plants and featured a deck and sunken pond.

The house was so striking that the Free Press featured it in their Sunday Homes section and Winnipeg Home and Décor magazine also did a story. The newspaper story concluded, “In this home, history and art blend to create a warm niche”.

February 17, 1997, Winnipeg Free Press

Boning and Smith were known for more than their home. Professionally, the two opened the Panic Cafe, which was a higher-end restaurant, at 761 Westminster. In 1996, they moved it to 155 Spence Street in West Broadway. It featured dining on the main floor and a café/bar and art gallery on the second floor. It closed in 1999.

The couple bought an old warehouse at 205 Good Street in 1997 and converted it into an even bigger home for entertaining with a gallery and studio space for Boning.

The house has remained a well-kept single-family home. After Bonin and Smith, it was bought by a family in  and they raised their two children there. In December 2004, it was purchased by a couple who are aware of its history and intend to keep it a single family dwelling.

Related:
West End Builders - Loftur Jorundson West End Dumplings

225 Fort Street - The Coliseum / Alhambra Hall (R.I.P.)

  © 2025, Christian Cassidy

Source: Google Street View

Place: The Coliseum (Dec 1912-1917), Alhambra Dance Gardens (1917-1926), Diamond Taxi (1926-1931), Fort Market garden (1931), Moore's Taxi garage (1931- ca. 1972); various (ca, 1972 to ca. 1989)
Location: 225 Fort Street (map)
Constructed: 1912
Demolished: ca. 1989
Architect: Alexander Melville

December 14, 1912, Winnipeg Tribune

In August 1912, the Coliseum Amusement Company took out a $40,000 building permit to construct The Coliseum dance hall on the east side of Fort Street between St. Mary’s and Graham.

The president of the company was J. A. Schubert, the former owner of the Bijou Theatre (back when it was known as the Empress). Other principals included John Nash of the Province Theatre and John M. Cooke, a former manager of the Bijou Theatre. Victor Josselyn would be the facility manager.

The Coliseum was considered to be the city's first year-round, all-season dance hall. There were, and had been, year-round venues such as hotel banquet rooms and general halls for rent able to host banquets, concerts and dances, but The Coliseum would produce its own dances.  

A Tribune reporter predicted that a year-round dance hall "...is something that Winnipeggers have vaguely wanted for a long time - something they have desired without really knowing what it was”.

I cannot find detailed photos of the building, which in one newspaper article was described as "handsome". This is hardly a surprise as the man who designed it was Alex Melville whose work already included ten Winnipeg fire halls and the Startland Theatre on Main Street.

*** Addition: Someone was nice enough to send me an archived copy of the Historic Buildings Report done before its demolition that contained the above photos. As can be seen, Melville's drawing shows a far more opulent, theatre-like facade that never materialised.

225 Fort Street ca. 1912 to 1917 (full sized image here)

225 Fort Street after 1926 (full-sized image here)

The Coliseum boasted a steel frame construction and red brick walls with stone accents. It measured 100 feet wide by 120 feet deep, and the ceiling height in the hall was nearly 30 feet.

It featured the latest in ventilation and heating systems and was lit with 5,000 lights and 2,000 venetian lamps. There was a small stage and an orchestra stand at the front of house.

The dance floor had the capacity for 500 couples and the venue could seat 1,200 for banquets.

Early dance ads

The Coliseum opened on December 16, 1912, just in time for the Christmas season. Dances were held nightly until midnight, except for Sundays as per Lord's Day laws. In later years, weekend dances would go as late as 2 a.m..

For those worried that a dance hall might be a seedy place for women to be seen in, the hall was alcohol free, had a women's waiting area and was patrolled by chaperones headed by Miss Helen Buck, a former governess in England. They made sure that The Coliseum lived up to its billing as "The Home of Clean Dancing".

The Coliseum made the most of its lighting system in what it called its "electrical dances". All of the lights in the hall went to a central switchboard that could be operated by a single technician. Using the switches and a collection of well-placed mirrors around the hall, he could create light shows for the type of dance that was on offer.

The Coliseum's opening also coincided with the tango craze that was sweeping European ballrooms. The hall's local dance instructors, Mr. and Mrs. Wirth, would put on tango demonstrations and the venue would show short films of tango dancers in action to get Winnipeggers up to speed.

Early program ads

Like any independent theatre or hall, The Coliseum couldn't rely on just one activity to make money. 

The management hosted a variety of activities during the daytime to bring people through the doors, ranging from a Kodak photo and moving picture exhibition, to baby shows, to live World Series score updates. Many dance nights began with short film reels or gimmicks like pillow fights or fake snowball fights.

The odd boxing match was advertised in 1914 and would become a much more regular occurrence as the years went on.

Newspaper ads for the regular dances dropped off in early 1915. They were still taking place on a nightly basis, but advertising that people could dance the night away while the war was raging may have been seen as in bad taste.

In the fall of 1915, the venue hosted many fundraising dances and other events for organizations like the Women's Volunteer Reserve, the Returned Soldiers' Association, and the Lonely Soldiers' Christmas Fund. Several battalions also had dances or dinners there. At a 44th Battalion public dance in September 1915, it managed to sign up 22 new recruits.

Promotional postcard ,undated

The Coliseum closed in the summer of 1916 for renovations.

It made “elaborate improvements” to the décor and reduced the orchestra stand in favour of an expanded stage and increased occupancy. This could be confirmation that dancing would not be its sole focus going forward.

The first item on the winter 1916 schedule was Labour Day dance, followed by regular dances on Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays. There were also more military-related fundraisers as well as semi-regular boxing matches.

Events in 1917

The action continued at The Coliseum until February 1917, then newspaper mentions of the dance hall disappear. There was one large boxing card in May, but the tickets were sold at the Royal Albert Hotel, not the venue.

It is unclear what happened to The Coliseum as the newspapers didn't report directly on its closure.

It could be that at the height of the war, there just weren't enough customers who wanted to go to nightly dances. As for boxing, as the war dragged on it likely would have been a challenge to find enough fit young men to put on a lengthy card. The constant fundraising events likely didn't pay the venue's bills.

It could also be that some or all of the investors in Coliseum Amusements Company wanted out. Some theatre men, like hoteliers, tended to invest in projects for the shorter term and then moved on to build their next big project.

Whatever the reasons, The Coliseum was no more. (Read more about Victor Josselyn here.)

September 27, 1917, Winnipeg Tribune

The next newspaper mention of 225 Fort Street comes in August 1917 when it was announced that new investors were renovating the building into the Alhambra dance hall. (This is not to be confused with the 1902 -1904 Alhambra Hall on the third floor of the Northwest Hide and Fur Building on Rupert Avenue, which was a popular spot for dancing and other activities in its day.)

Victor Josselyn, an investor and manager of The Coliseum, would stay on in the same roles with the rebranded venue. The owner of the building was apparently the Goodman family of England.

The Alhambra would still offer dancing, though only two nights a week at first, and promoted that it could be rented for banquets, conferences and concerts.

Its first big event in September 1917 was The Winnipeg Electric Show from September 3 to 8. It was a chance for utilities and companies to show off the latest in electrical lighting and home appliances. Trade shows and conferences were few and far between at the Alhambra and it was soon back to its dances and fundraising events.

At one Saturday night dance in November 1917, the police raided the venue looking for draft dodgers. After rounding up nine men, Josselyn announced from the stage that the dance would resume.

December 15, 1917, Winnipeg Tribune

Christmas 1917 was a busy time at Alhambra Hall. On December 21st, the Kiwanis Club hosted a party and presented gifts to 1,000 war widows and orphans. Dances were held on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The following year carried on much the same way, with two dances a week and many charitable events mixed in.

During the summer 1917 closure, Josselyn went to New York to visit dance halls and ended up signing the New York Society Syncopated Orchestra, a black jazz band, to be the Alhambra's house band from September to the end of January 1918. It was replaced by the New York Jazz Orchestra through April 1919, then the Jazz Babies until the 1918 summer closure.

The Alhambra was a little too eager to provide entertainment to the masses. In late November 1918, it hosted a dance attended by about 80 couples. Unfortunately, it fell during the public gatherings ban for the "Spanish" flu pandemic. Manager Vic Josselyn and the band leader were the first two people in Winnipeg to be charged with violating the ban.

August 30, 1919, Winnipeg Tribune

After its usual summer closure, the Alhambra reopened in September 1919 with renewed vigour. With the war over, Winnipeggers seemed to be in the mood to dance and the Alhambra was happy to provide the entertainment.

The Broadway Syncopated Jazz Band was the main house band. There was a secondary house band which allowed for continuous music every eventing, (except Sundays, of course), from 8:30 pm to 12:30 am. On stage there were 16 "cabaret entertainers" to keep the mood strong throughout the night.  

A change made to the venue over the summer was the addition of a "mission gardens", a more formal seating area by the kitchen.

It was announced in May 1920 that thanks to an improved ventilation system, the Alhambra would for the first time open during the summer months.

Also introduced that summer were free / pay by donation Sunday concerts. (Free/by donation was likely a way to get around Lord's Day Act laws.) Members of the house band were in attendance but local bands and singers were invited to come and perform to promote themselves or get experience working on professional stage. These concerts became so popular that they became part of the Alhambra's year-round programming.

In 1921, three house bands were on hand for the dances: the Alhambra Syncopated Orchestra, Hunt's Saxophone Band, and Soli's Marimba band. The Sunday night concerts grew into a big deal with shows featuring a dozen bands and singers. Some of the singers were local, others were professionals in town for their own show who would sing a number or two to promote it.

September 3, 1921, Winnipeg Tribune

The Alhambra closed in the summer of 1921 for $18,000 in renovations that included a new dance floor, the relocation and expansion of the band stand, and a larger ladies' check room. The gardens seating area next to the kitchen was expanded, as were the kitchen's offerings, and you could book a table in advance.

The venue reopened on September 3, 1921, with a modified name: Alhambra Dance Gardens with Victor Josselyn staying on as manager.

For the next three years, it was business as usual at the Alhambra with nightly dances, a Sunday concert, limited dancing during the summers, and various house bands.

Changes began to appear in late 1925. Regular advertising stopped, and the Alhambra hosted its first boxing match in December. Boxing and wrestling soon became a weekly event and by the end of January 1926, dancing was held on Wednesday and Saturday nights only.

The last sporting event at the hall was a night of wrestling and boxing matches on Tuesday, April 6, 1926. The last dance appears to be an I.O.O.F. ceremony and dance on Friday, April 9, 1926.

For 225 Fort Street, it's time as the city's first year-round dance hall was over. On the morning of Thursday, April 15, 1926, the contents of the building were auctioned off - everything from pianos to lights to the kitchen sinks.

February 26, 1930, Winnipeg Tribune

The building was purchased in March 1926 by Arthur T. Henderson for his Diamond Taxi Company. Created in 1922, it boasted Winnipeg's largest fleet of cars and desperately needed bigger space.

Diamond made extensive renovations to the building to hold its 45 taxis. It also had parking for a small rental car fleet and offered covered parking for tourists who wanted to leave their cars and take taxis while staying in the city. In all, the building had capacity for 125 cars.

Henderson kept the side rooms in place so that there was a ladies lounge, men's smoking room and a canteen for the drivers.

August 21, 1931, Winnipeg Tribune

Diamond Taxi moved to smaller premises at Fort and Graham in 1931 and in July, the building became a public market. the floor space was divided into 10-foot stalls for market gardeners, small producers and florists to sell their wares

The venture didn't take off, likely due to the huge number of stalls it needed to fill, and closed in November.

December 24, 1932, Winnipeg Tribune

The building returned to the taxi industry in December 1931 when it became one of Moore's Taxi Company's parking garages. Car owners could rent parking by the day, week or month and could get their car washed or minor maintenance done.  By 1937, Moore's added bodywork repairs to the site and car sales in 1939.

The space was subdivided in 1935 and shared briefly with the Athletic Academy, a club featuring eight badminton courts and at times hosted basketball games and even a dance. It only lasted a year.

It remained a Moore's taxi garage, mainly for vehicle storage for various individuals and companies, until at least 1965. It was likely sold off by 1972 as that was when Morris Neman, the owner of Moore's, Grosvenor, and half-owner of Yellow, decided to get out of the taxi business and signed the agreement have the companies convert to a workers' co-op called Unicity Taxi.

Circa 1967.

The building appears to have sat empty or was used as storage until 1978 when it became the Fort Auto Inn, a car repair shop. It went bankrupt before the year was over.

The building was next mentioned in 1987, referred to as a "vacant building", for a plan to convert it into a 400-seat celebrity dinner theatre. Construction was to begin on June 1, but the financing didn't come through and the project never got started.

In 1988, a rezoning application was made for 225 Fort Street to "permit the establishment of a parking facility" on the site. It is doubtful that this meant the conversion of the existing building, as construction of the neighbouring 200 Graham Avenue and its underground parkade was about to start. the entrance to that parkade is on part of the 225 Fort Street site.

The exact year of demolition of 225 Fort Street was likely 1989.

705 Fisher Street - Fisher Park

  © Christian Cassidy, 2025

Fisher Park in 2023 by C. Cassidy

Place: Pembina Park / Fisher Park*
Address: 705 Fisher Street
Constructed: 1912 - 13

October and December 1903, Winnipeg Tribune

The origins of Fisher Park date back to the launch of the Riverview Realty Company's proposed Riverview subdivision in 1903. A greenspace is indicated at this location in their original site plan for the neighbourhood.

Riverview Realty Co. donated 2.96 acres at Florence Avenue and Fisher Street and another 2.16 acres elsewhere in the community, (likely what is now the Arnold Street Tot Lot), to be converted into parks.

The fact that the company did not develop the land itself could mean that it was swampy, which made it unsuitable for home building and too expensive for Riverview to make into a park. Some of the city's other residential parks, like Central Park and Notre Dame Park, (now Jacob Penner Park), started off as land developers rejected.

August 24, 1928 Winnipeg Tribune

* The park has gone by various names over the years.

At the December 1909 parks board meeting, before work began to convert the land into a  park, the Winnipeg Tribune reported that "Park View will henceforth be known as 'Pembina Park', this name having been submitted by T. Wilson." That is the name the park was known by for many decades.

It was an unusual choice for a name as the parks board had a pretty strict policy of naming smaller parks for the street they were on, (Cornish Park, Notre Dame Park, Logan Park, etc.) and bigger parks for the district they were in, (St. John's Park, St. James Park,  Assiniboine Park, Kildonan Park, etc.)  At the time, the south end of Osborne Street was called Pembina Street, so it was close by but still an anomaly.

In a September 1946 Winnipeg Tribune column called "It used to run between farms – now we call it Baltimore Road” by Lillian Gibbons, she spoke to an area resident at the park who told her that it is was known as Fisher Park or Florence Park, but a schoolgirl came up to them to let them know that its official name was Pembina Park!

In 1992, an inquiry to the city by the Winnipeg Free Free Press' "Answers" columnist about a land-related question in Riverview it was noted that the park went by either Pembina Park or Fisher Park.

The city's 2019 Report on Parks and Open Space Assets lists this address as Fisher Park. When the name changed, or if it was ever officially renamed, is not clear.

Parks board inspection of park, August 1938
City of Winnipeg Archives

Work began on converting the land into a park space in June 1912 when the land was graded, seeded, and the outline for a unique circular sunken garden was dug. The garden feature was completed the following year.

Why a sunken circular garden? 

At a 1923 public parks board tour of the park for media and VIPs, a Winnipeg Tribune reporter noted: "The sunken garden at Pembina Park was perhaps the beauty spot of the whole trip and amazement was expressed when it was explained that the garden had been formed to save the filling in of an old sewer."  (The sewer was likely a drainage feature for surrounding land as there would not have been a sanitary sewer here before this development.)

The park was also fenced during this time with 1,550 linear feet of wrought iron fencing and gates. This was fairly common for residential parks at the time as Central Park, St. James Park (now Vimy Ridge), and Notre Dame Park (now Jacob Penner) all started out as fenced.

For more about the development of this part of Riverview, see my West End Dumplings post.