WP1984 WPG - (WINNIPEG MOTOR CARS LTD.

Yes, my grandfather knew about the "Winnipeg" -- I remember him being interviewed by someone who was researching the company back in the 70s. Had totally forgotten about that. This is a truly great find.

I did get the address info from the 1922 Henderson's. Arsenault was the fellow who relocated in Saskatoon. Thanks for that extra research.

I was discussing this with a mutual acquaintance of ours (closely associated with the Manitoba Historical Society) who remembered he had once done some research on this company. He managed to retrieve an article on it which stated; "They acquired and converted for automobile assembly a three-story former sash and door plant on Marion Street in St. Boniface..." (Apparently they bought the building from the Rat Portage Lumber Company who must have run the sash & door operation.) The article further explained; "During the first winter the factory was rented out for dead storage..." which is in concert with the message on the building's exterior sign in the image. There is a good likelihood that this photo was taken in the winter of 1921-22.

By the fall of 1923, the Winnipeg Motor car Company filed for bankrupcy, owing back-taxes to the City of St. Boniface and a sizable sum to the Rat Portage Lumber Company for monies owed from the purchase of the property.

Adding to the building's story... I just stumbled on a website that explains that, in the early spring of 1924, the "Naval Headquarters in Ottawa made arrangements to lease the Rat-Portage Lumber Company building in Norwood" and it became the first home of the newly-formed Winnipeg Half company of the RCNVR Royal Canadian Naval Reserve. That building still stands at the corner of Marion & St. Mary's - as the Poulin's Building. (see: www.naval-museum.mb.ca/history/exhib02.htm)

Is the Puolin's Building a portion of the larger building once owned by the Winnipeg Motor Company? Or did the Lumber Company own more that one property near the corner of Marion & St. Marys'? As usual, the answer to one historical question is often just a new question.

I just found an image of the early Rat Portage Lumber Co. in St. Boniface. It looks like they had several buildings on the site. I wonder if thhe Wpg Motor Car Co. was the building was possibly the one on the left side of this image. See second scene down on this image: shsb.mb.ca/en/node/1065

Well, it appears that, if the Poulin Building did belong to the Rat Portage lumber company, it wasn't the same building used by the Winnipeg Motor Car Company.

I have been in touch with Ken K, the gentleman whom I purchased this postcard from - keeping him updated on the quest to identify the location of this building, After the most recent instalment about the Poulin building, Ken sent me this: "In 1955 I had a dry cleaning route in St Boniface. Dominion Motors had a big storage building near where their shopping centre is now. I am sure the water tower (in the photo image) is on this side of Marion, not Poulin's side?"

With the Dominion Motors connection, I found a document on the History pages of Miles MacDonell alumni website: “History of the City Council of St. Boniface 1920 – 1929” It states: April 1935 - Dominion Motors renews its lease of the old Rat Portage Lumber Company Mill on Marion at $440.00 per year."

Hot on the trail, another period of Google searching uncovered the "nail in the coffin". Buried in the pages of www.theforks.com was the report "“Archeology of Main Street Roadworks: York Avenue to Tache Avenue 1996 – 1998” submitted to Reid Crowther & Partners by Quaternary Consultants Limited, September 1998" This excerpt from the report almost certainly provides the location of the building used by the Manitoba Motor Car Co.:

"Large (45 cm diameter) wooden piles, representing the foundation of a former structure, were encountered immediately east of the intersection with St. Mary's Road. Archival research indicates that there were several structures on the north side of Marion Avenue as of 1919, but only two were immediately adjacent to the road. The Arctic Ice Company had two ice houses north of Marion approximately 300' from the bank of the Red River, the southernmost abutting Marion Avenue. The 1919 St. Boniface Fire Insurance Atlas (Provincial Archives of Manitoba) shows a large (200' x 120') building on the north side of Marion Avenue at the east edge of the St. Mary 's intersection. This structure is identified as the Sash and Door Factory of the Rat Portage Lumber Company. It was approximately 200' east of the ice houses. By 1949 (Provincial Archives of Manitoba), this structure was used for auto storage by Dominion Motors. It was demolished in 1964, probably due to the reconfiguration of Goulet Avenue."

Whew! LOL

Didn't know that Dominion Shopping Centre was named in reference to Dominion Motors!

Did Ken K. actually write that email not in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS?!?