Winnipeg Businesses

Unposted. No publisher evident. The image shows a delivery wagon (No 11) for the Wm Coates meat company. Wagon signage reads: William Coates, Meats... Office Portage & Sherbrooke. Here is a link to a great article on Coates Meats by Christian Cassidy: westenddumplings.blogspot.ca/2012/10/coates-meat-markets-1903-1925.html

PHOTOGRAPH 15.25 x 12 cm Date: Likely approximately 1903. (Business was mentioned in a newspaper article that year.) Publisher / Photographer: Unidentified Notation: This is a front view of W. F. White’s Museum at 563 Main Street in Winnipeg. To the best of my knowledge, the building would have been located on the east side of Main Street, somewhere on the first block north of its intersection with Market Avenue. I suspect Mr. White is one of the two gentlemen posing on the threshold - hopefully, the less blurry of the two. I am not certain what the actual name of the business was. In a newspaper article of the time, it was referred to as "W. F. White's Museum. On the bottom of one of its products, "W. F. White Curios" was inscribed. In this picture, one of the signs (bottom right) appears to read "W. F. White Tax(idermy)." On an accompanying photograph, signage reads "Curiosity Emporium" and "Free Museum". Whatever it was called, it definitely would have drawn me in. It seems like First Nations artifacts as well as pelts and mountings of Canadian wildlife constituted a large part of its inventory.

This is the reverse of WP1970, the Royal Greehouses. It is an example of how some (very few) early postcards were addressed using a typewriter. I am speculating that the typewriter was used to make the card look more "official" - as it was being sent from a commercial business rather than from a friend or relative.

POSTCARD Date: Not evident. Unposted. Likely 1921 - 1923 Publisher / Photographer: Unidentified Notation: "WINNIPEG MOTOR CARS LTD." is ink-stamped on the reverse side of this card. The sign on the left side of the building is not fully-legible, but I can make out "WINNIPEG MOTOR CAR LIMITED / AUTOMOBILE DEAD STORAGE $4.00" From my (limited) research, I believe that this company operated in Winnipeg from 1921 - 23. Apparently it imported American Hatfield and Davis automobiles and re-branded them as Winnipeg Motor Cars. The company apparently went bankrupt in 1923. In 1923, one of the owners moved the company to Saskatoon where the failed business was re-established as the Derby Motor Cars Ltd - importing Davis automobiles and re-branding them as Derby Motor Cars. The Winnipeg Motor Car Company had a great logo with the slogan; "As Good As The Wheat". Here is an image of their logo. (Click on it to enlarge.) I have yet to determine the location of the building, but I learned that they had an office and "works" on Marion Street in Norwood, "opposite St Marys Road". I'll have to investigate that further.

This is the logo for the Winnipeg Motor Car Company. Slogan: As Good As The Wheat". (This image was found through a search of Google Images.)

POSTCARD Date: Postal strike unclear but note was written January 25, 1906. Sent to C. W. Duck in Elgin, Illinois. Publisher / Photographer: L. J. De Nobele Import, Winnipeg #21 Notation: Image is of Drewry's brewery on the west side of the Red River (prior to construction of the Redwood Bridge). Note on front; "This is the Brewery so you see I won't have to go dry Dave". Note on reverse; "The weather here is fine and I like the looks of my work will start on the road next Monday - Dave"

POSTCARD Date: Posted April 28, 1885 to the Free Library in Berlin [Kitchener], Ontario. Publisher / Photographer: Government issue. Notation: This card is is a Subscription Renewal Notice - showing a one-year rate of $2.00 and a half-year rate of $1.25. Interestingly, to renew, subscribers were asked to simply drop this card in an envelope, along with the required funds, and send it the Free Press. The Free Press was launched November 30, 1872, by William Fisher Luxton and John A. Kenny. Its original offices were in a "shack" at 555 Main Street. Here is a picture of the reverse side. (Click on it to enlarge.)

POSTCARD Date: Posted April 28, 1885 to the Free Library in Berlin [Kitchener], Ontario. Publisher / Photographer: Government issue. Notation: Here is an image of the reverse side. (Click on it to enlarge.)

POSTCARD Date: Not evident. Not Posted. Publisher / Photographer: Unidentified Notation: Located at 258 Burnell Street. the Canada Bread Company building was constructed in 1912 and the plant was in operation until 1998 - closing on October 2 of that year. Further information on the Canada Bread Company building can be found at: winnipegdowntownplaces.blogspot.ca/2015/07/258-burnell-street-former-canada-bread.html