Winnipeg FACTOIDS: 130 Years of Curiosities

VOLUME 7
All Original Facts Guaranteed
to Satisfy Even the Biggest of
CURIOSITIES
MADE IN WINNIPEG, CANADA
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Photo
courtesy
Dan Harper
Factoids
| Volume
7
Were it not for Winnipeg there would be no James Bond, no Winnie the Pooh and
no Bugs Bunny. You may read this and say, “get out of here”, but indeed it’s true,
and these are just some of the Factoids about our fair city that will make you want
to get here.
Winnipeg’s storied past overflows with characters, anecdotes and happenings that have
made us one of Canada’s – and indeed the world’s – most intriguing and welcoming of
cities. From our iconic Portage and Main intersection, immortalized by its grand
architecture and the voice of Neil Young, to the pre-settlement history of trade and
congress at The Forks, which now beckons the world to witness the Canadian Museum
for Human Rights, Winnipeg was and continues to be a thriving centre for the arts,
culture and business.
Enjoy this “mint” collection of more than 130 years of tasty tidbits. And, more
importantly, get out there and discover your own. Here are a few to get you started.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com3
IN BRIGHT LIGHTS
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Pantages Theatre, built in
1913-14, hosted vaudeville
performances by Buster Keaton,
Charlie Chaplin and the Marx
Brothers. Tickets cost 10, 15 or
25 cents for an exclusive box seat.
It was the first air-conditioned
building in Winnipeg. Huge
pieces of ice were placed in the
basement and large fans were
used to blow air over the ice and
cool the patrons. *
Winnipeg’s French theatre
company, Le Cercle Molière,
is Canada’s oldest continuously
running French theatre.
Photo courtesy Pantages Playhouse Theatre
Encore!
Factoids | Volume 7
*
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, David Cooper
The Winnipeg
Art Gallery has
the world’s largest
public collection
of contemporary
Inuit art, including
close to 11,000
works of sculpture,
prints, drawings and
textiles. *
Photo courtesy Eric Au Studios
Come get your vitamin D: Winnipeg
receives measurable sunshine
approximately 318 days of the year with
over 2,300 hours of warming sun.
IN BRIGHT LIGHTS
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada’s oldest
dance company and among the oldest in North America.
It was granted the “Royal” title in 1953 by the Queen of
England—the first such distinction in the world.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com5
Winnipeg company, Asham Curling
Supplies is the only company in Canada
that manufactures curling shoes, which
they distribute worldwide.
*
GAME ON!
Spongee is an adaptation of road hockey and originated
in Winnipeg in the 1950s. Originally a tennis ball was
used and players wore winter boots. Today, it is played
on outdoor hockey rinks, and players wear soft-soled
shoes. The game gets its name from the soft sponge
puck used. Spongee is a cult sport played almost
exclusively in Winnipeg by thousands of players in
dozens of leagues.
The Manitoba Sports
Hall of Fame has 18,000
artifacts, memorabilia
and game-day jerseys
and equipment covering
72 sports that document
the province’s sporting
life for the past 125
years. At any given time,
about 10 per cent of the
collection is on display.
Winnipeg-born
Clara Hughes, a cycling and
speed skating Olympic competitor,
made history by becoming one
of only four athletes in history to
earn multiple medals in both the
summer and winter Olympics. *
Photo courte
sy
www.xinhu
anet.com
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Photo courtesy
www.asham.com
Factoids | Volume 7
*
In the 2011/2012 NHL
season, sales of official
Winnipeg Jets merchandise
were the highest in the entire
league. At the same time,
Winnipeg is the smallest
market in the NHL.
That’s cool!
GAME ON!
The Pan American
Games, which are second
in scale only to the
Olympics, have been held
in Canada three times,
twice in Winnipeg, in
1967 and 1999. *
*
Winnipeg was the first city in North America
to build a freestanding ice-climbing tower.
The 20-metre-high column, first built in 1996,
stands within sight of downtown Winnipeg and
is open to experts and newcomers. Every winter
it is built, flooded and maintained by the Club
d’escalade Saint-Boniface.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com7
GREEN WITH ENVY
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In 1968 a Winnipeg entrepreneur, Ray
Olecko, introduced a new concept in camping
that continues to be one of the most popular
and recognizable travel trailers around, the tiny
fibreglass Boler travel trailer. The Boler was first
produced from a small plant on Higgins Avenue
in 1968, demand soon saw the company move
to a larger location at 770 Dufferin Avenue. Even
today the “original” shape of the Boler lives on
and a number of companies, many Canadian,
are today building fibreglass trailers based on the
Boler design.
The Leo Mol Sculpture Garden is one
of the few sculpture gardens in the world
featuring the work of a single artist.
Ukrainian sculptor Leo Mol—who
resided in Winnipeg—is acclaimed
worldwide, and his works
grace sites around the world,
including the Vatican. *
Photo courtesy The Forks
A meticulously detailed world-class
sculpture plaza and an expansive modern
8,500 sq. ft. bowl complex make up
The Plaza at The Forks, Canada’s best and
largest skate park integrated into the
context of urban downtown Winnipeg. *
Factoids | Volume 7
*
Photo courtesy
The Forks
In 2011, The Forks was selected as Best Public
Space in Canada in the Great Places in Canada
contest organized by the Canadian Institute of
Planners. The Forks was selected from a pool of
more than 6,000 nominations.
GREEN WITH ENVY
*
The Assiniboine Forest, 287
hectares of aspen parkland, is one of the
largest urban forest parks in Canada.
Winnipeg holds the
2008 Guinness World
Record for the longest
naturally frozen skating
trail (8.54 kilometres).
The trail typically opens in
January and snakes its way
along the frozen Red and
Assiniboine rivers, offering
spectacular views
of the city. *
www.tourismwinnipeg.com9
JOIE DE VIVRE
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The St. Boniface
Museum—
originally built for
the Grey Nuns—is
the oldest building
in Winnipeg and
the largest oak log
structure in North
America.
Festival du Voyageur is
the largest winter festival in
Western Canada. Giant snow
sculptures, ice climbing, French
cuisine, music, dance and revelry
take place at Voyageur Park
surrounding Fort Gibraltar every
February. *
* Métis leader Louis Riel was hanged in 1885 for treason after leading
the North-West Resistance. Today, that opinion has changed and many
consider this man to be the “Father of Manitoba.”
“Riel”ly
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In 1862, the bells of the old St. Boniface Cathedral
were shipped across the ocean to England for
reconditioning. Coming home, a storm blew the
ship off course and the bells ended up in St. Paul,
Minnesota. It would have been too expensive to bring
the bells back to Winnipeg via Red River Cart, so they
were transported by ship back to England and returned
to Winnipeg through Hudson Bay.
Factoids | Volume 7
The Canadian Museum for Human
Rights is the first national museum designed
from inception in over 40 years, and the
first designated to be built outside of the
capital region. It is located at The Forks in
downtown Winnipeg.
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Minty *
The only place to find the most comprehensive
historical documents of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, the oldest incorporated joint-stock
merchandising company in the English-speaking
world, is at the Archives of Manitoba.
*
EDU-TAINMENT
Photo courtesy Kevin Wolk
In 2012, the Planetarium
installed Canada’s most
advanced projection system
and the second of its kind in
the world. Called the Digistar
5, the multi-projection
system delivers a nearly 3D
experience blasting star
lovers across the universe.
The Royal Canadian Mint not only
produces currency for Canada, but has minted
more than 55 billion coins for more than 75
countries around the world. The Mint produced
the world’s first coloured circulation coin—
the 2004 Remembrance Day 25-cent piece
featuring a red poppy on the reverse.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com11
Fresh
FROM NOTES TO REELS
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The Winnipeg Folk Festival was established in 1974.
Originally planned to be a one-time event to celebrate
Winnipeg’s centennial, this annual event is one of the
oldest and largest folk festivals in the world. *
The Exchange District is favoured by Hollywood
as a location setting for period movies, including
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward
Robert Ford, starring Brad Pitt. Other parts of
the city have been locations for major motion
pictures like Capote, starring Philip Seymour
Hoffman and Shall We Dance with Jennifer
Lopez, Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere.
Photo courtesy
Western Canada
Pictorial Index Inc.
Photo courtesy Brian Goldschme
id
The city is home to some of the most prestigious
arts organizations in Canada. Rainbow Stage, a
musical theatre production company in Kildonan
Park, is Canada’s oldest outdoor theatre still
producing shows. The Winnipeg Jewish Theatre
is the only professional theatre company in the
country performing strictly Jewish themes.
In 1970, “American Woman” topped international
music charts and was the No. 1- selling single in the world.
Winnipeg rock ‘n’ rollers The Guess Who, who penned the
tune, went on to become one of Canada’s largest cultural
exports. That year, they sold more albums than any other
band in the world, including The Beatles and The Doors.
*
Factoids | Volume 7
* Aboriginal Peoples
Photo Courtesy Lance Thomson
Photographic
At about 56,000 people,
Winnipeg has the highest
per capita population of
Filipinos living outside the
Philippines.
More than 100 languages
are spoken in Winnipeg.
Held in Winnipeg each August since 1969, Folklorama is North
America’s largest and longest-running multicultural festival,
featuring pavilions celebrating 40-plus ethnic cultures. Scouts
from Walt Disney World come to Folklorama regularly to book
entertainment for Epcot Center Performances. The World Tourism
Organization voted Folklorama the festival that best depicts
Canadian culture. *
CULTURAL MOSAIC
Television Network
(APTN), headquartered
in Winnipeg, is the first
national Aboriginal
network in the world.
The largest collection of
Ukrainian-language books
outside the Ukraine is housed
in the Oseredok Ukrainian
Cultural and Educational
Centre in Winnipeg.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com13
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helped discover Maria Aragon,
after seeing the young
Winnipegger’s cover of
“Born this Way” on YouTube
in 2011 (the video has been
viewed over 58.5 million times!).
Since then the two have performed together while Aragon’s
solo career has taken off exponentially; she’s performed
on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, on Parliament Hill for Prince
William and Kate Middleton, and gained huge exposure in the
Philippines.
Photo courtesy www.imdb.com
*
P R OM I N E N T ‘ P E G GE R S
* Lady Gaga and Perez Hilton
Guy Maddin, a Winnipeg
avant-garde filmmaker produced,
among many others, The Saddest
Music in the World with Isabella
Rossellini, the docu-fantasy
detailing Maddin’s hometown,
My Winnipeg, and in 2016 won
the Rogers Best Canadian Film
Award for his surreal outing, The
Forbidden Room.
Lionel Lemoine FitzGerald
was a Winnipeg painter
who became the only
western member of
Canada’s famous Group of
Seven. These artists heavily
influenced Canadian art and
Canadians’ impression of
their community. *
Photo courtesy Ernest P. Mayer
Factoids | Volume 7
*
William Alloway, the
founder of the Winnipeg
Foundation, had a younger
brother, Charles, who is
credited with saving the bison
from extinction with his 13
“pet” bison.
Marshall McLuhan, who grew up in
Winnipeg and went to the University of
Manitoba, rose to prominence in the 1960s as
a media guru and philosopher on
communication theory, coining the phrase
“the medium is the message.”
Photo courtesy Douglas
Coldwell Foundation
At the age of eight Winnipegger Hannah
Taylor founded the Ladybug Foundation,
which advocates for the homeless through
assisting charitable organizations to feed,
provide shelter for, and assist people in need
across Canada.
P R O M I N E N T ‘ P EG G ER S
Tommy Douglas—born in Scotland but raised
in Winnipeg—is regarded by the CBC-supporting
public as the “Greatest Canadian of All Time”
and is generally recognized as the “Father of
Medicare” in this country. *
da
Photo courtesy Western Cana
Pictorial Index Inc.
Now in her early teens, Hannah does
speaking engagements across the country,
having had audiences of over 10,000
including the current and former Prime
Ministers, raising well over $2 million to help
fight poverty.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com15
H I S TO R I CA L R O O T S
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The word Winnipeg means
“muddy water” in Cree and the city
was established at the junction of the
Red and Assiniboine rivers—
The Forks—a meeting place for more
than 6,000 years. More than 30 major
bridges provide access over the 100
kilometres of navigable waterways and
railway tracks in the city.
Pine Street—in
Winnipeg’s West
End—was home to
three WWI soldiers who
received the Victoria
Cross for their bravery
in battle. The street was
renamed Valour Road
in honour of these three
courageous citizens.
Canada’s first
monument dedicated
to women who served
in World War II, the
Women’s Tri-Service
Monument, is
located in Winnipeg’s
Memorial Park. *
World War II’s most famous spymaster,
Sir William Stephenson—whose
incredible story was immortalized in
the best-selling book, A Man Called
Intrepid—was born and raised in
Winnipeg. This legend and his escapades
became the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s
suave spy, 007 James Bond. A statue of
the super spy—sculpted by Winnipegger
Leo Mol—is on display at the
headquarters of the world’s most famous
spy agency—the CIA in Langely, VA. *
Factoids | Volume 7
itoba
Photo Courtesy Travel Man
*
The first retail store at
the corner of Portage
and Main was built
by Henry McKenney
in 1862. At the time,
people laughed at him
for opening a store so
far from the river.
The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919,
the largest-ever community strike in Canada,
forever placed Winnipeg at the centre of the
labour movement. It forced then Mayor
Charles F. Gray to enact the Riot Act.
Strike!
Photo Courtesy Harv
HI S T O R I CA L R OOT S
In 1914, a World War I captain
from Winnipeg, Harry Colebourn,
took a black bear cub to England
as his regiment’s mascot. When
Colebourn shipped out for France
he donated the bear, named Winnie
after his hometown, to the London
Zoo. Author A. A. Milne and his son
Christopher Robin loved “Winnie the
Bear” and Milne crafted the muchadored stories about his boy and the
bear that we still enjoy today, known
as Winnie the Pooh.
*
Sawatsky
www.tourismwinnipeg.com17
In 2012, Winnipeg’s Osborne Village was
chosen as Canada’s best neighbourhood by
the Canadian Institute of Planners. Located just
south of the downtown, this chic urban district
is an arts, retail, entertainment and social hub
for locals and visitors.
STRUCTURALLY SOUND
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Photo courtesy Dan Harper
Photography
Winnipeg’s Union Station was designed
by the same architects responsible for
Grand Central Station in New York City.
At the time of construction in 1968,
the Winnipeg Floodway was the
second-largest earth-moving
project in the world after the
Panama Canal. It has saved the
city from flooding many times
since it was constructed by
then-Premier Duff Roblin.
It is affectionately referred
to as “Duff’s Ditch.”
Built in 1904, the Union
Bank Tower—an 11-storey
Chicago-School-style
building at the corner of
Winnipeg’s Main Street
and William Avenue was
Western Canada’s first
skyscraper. Today, it is
revamped to be the home of
Red River College’s culinary
arts students studying at
Paterson GlobalFoods
Institute (PGI).
The 17,000 cubic metres of concrete used in the Canadian
Museum for Human Rights has an approximate mass of
35,000 tonnes, equivalent to around 3,000 full-grown male
elephants. This also amounts to an approximate volume of
2,125 loads from a standard 10-yard cement truck.
Factoids | Volume 7
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Photo courtesy Cory Aron
Photo
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At the turn-of-the-last century,
Winnipeg had the nickname
“Chicago of the North” because
of the then-modern skyscrapers
created in the Chicago School style of
architecture.
court
esy C
J Alex
ander
The Golden Boy, a
gilded four-metre figure, is
probably Manitoba’s bestknown symbol. Embodying
the spirit of enterprise,
the bronze statue is
poised atop the dome of
the Manitoba Legislative
Building. Its official
name is “Eternal Youth.”
Winnipeggers nicknamed
him the “Golden Boy”
because of the sunlight
that reflects off of this
gold-covered statue. *
STRUCTURALLY SOUND
* Built in 1919, Winnipeg’s grand dame the Metropolitan
Theatre, was a dazzling 24,000 sq. ft. neoclassical gem with
a domed ceiling, twin staircases leading to a large mezzanine
and an enormous chandelier. Designed by renowned American
theatre architect C. Howard Crane, the theatre was closed in
1987. In late 2012, the Met was refurbished and reopened as a
cabaret-style special events venue.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com19
QUIRKS & ODDITIES
The biggest gold heist in Canadian
history was carried out at the Winnipeg
International Airport in 1966 by the Flying
Bandit, Ken Leishman—a bank robber,
prison escape artist and folk hero.
*
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In the early 1900s, Winnipeg doctor and member of the
Manitoba Legislature, Thomas Glendenning Hamilton
hosted countless séances inside his Elmwood home.
He took thousands of pictures during the table tipping
and Ouija board demonstrations and used mediums to
commune with the dead. After gaining worldwide interest,
Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
attended a séance at Hamilton’s home and later declared,
“Winnipeg stands very high among the places we have
visited for its psychic possibilities.”
Winnipeg National
Microbiology Laboratory houses
Canada’s only Biological Safety
Level 4 containment laboratory,
used to test the most deadly
human and animal diseases. In
2012, local scientists discovered
antibodies to treat Ebola, the
deadly human virus typically
found in third-world countries.
The vaccine is still being tested
but it’s one more advancement
in understanding and controlling
the virus.
The Harlequin Romance publishing empire was
founded in Winnipeg in 1949 by Richard and Mary
Bonnycastle. Today, this empire spans more than 94
international markets and its books are printed in more
than 25 languages. *
Factoids | Volume 7
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The world’s
first renowned
serial killer Earl
The Fort Garry Hotel
“The Strangler”
is haunted by a ghostly
Nelson criss-crossed
woman in a ball gown,
the States until
a phantom diner and
he landed in
a mysterious ghost
Winnipeg in June
light that traverses
1927. After
the hallways of this
killing two
grand hotel.
local women,
Garry Hotel, Spa and
he fled to
Photo Courtesy The Fort
Conference Centre
Regina and back
Photo Courtesy
Gerry Kopelow
to the Manitoba-U.S.
border hoping to evade
Opened in 1928, Winnipeg James
capture. Police and
Armstrong Richardson International
citizens caught Nelson,
Airport, then called Stephenson Field,
who had by that time
was the first international airport in
killed 26 people in 20
Canada. In 2011, the airport opened
months. Nelson was
Canada’s first LEED-certified terminal,
shipped by train back to
and it was named one of the world’s
Winnipeg
iconic airports by Travel Channel. *
where he was
convicted and hanged.
www.tourismwinnipeg.com21
* It is said that
QUIRKS & ODDITIES
BRINGING HOME THE BACON
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Winnipeg-based milliner Crown Cap has been
keeping heads warm and fashionable with its iconic
hunters’ cap since 1934. Originally a textile headwear
manufacturer for the farming trade, today Crown Cap
ships two million hats around the globe every year.
They have a showroom in New York City, are stocked
at Macy’s, Lord and Taylor and Bloomingdales, and
have created a line for Polo Ralph Lauren among other
top-name brands.
Photo Courtesy
Salisbury House
Restaurants of
Canada Limited
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Barley Brothers’ noble
mission is to bring craft beer to
Winnipeg, and they overshot
their goal by quite a bit. Their
Stadium location features the
most taps in Canada, with over
150 different beers from both
local and international brands.
*
In 1931, Ralph Erwin opened the first
restaurant to sell burgers in Manitoba. Not
liking the name “hamburger,” he named
his a “Nip.” More than 75 years later,
Salisbury House (“Sals” as it is known
locally) is again Winnipeg owned by a
group of business partners that includes
rock legend Burton Cummings.
*
Factoids | Volume 7
Winnipeg has a sweet tooth. Confectioners
Mordens’ of Winnipeg, The Nutty Club and
Clodhoppers, all internationally known candy
companies, started here. OMG Candy, owned
by the two Winnipeg entrepreneurs behind
Clodhoppers, launched in 2012 with the help
of marketing guru Arlene Dickinson, one of
five “dragon” investors on the CBC show
Dragon’s Den.
Winnipeg’s fleet of street food trucks serve
a smorgasbord of global cuisines including
Fillipino, Japanese, Italian, Ukrainian, Mexican,
French and Middle Eastern eats. Along with
North American favourites like hot dogs, burgers
and smokies, there are also trucks dedicated
solely to chicken wings and French fries. The
fleet typically hits the street in late March and
parks for the season in late October.
In 2012, Winnipeg
brothers Chris and
Lawrence Warwaruk,
owners of Luxalune
Gastropub, launched
Canada’s first-ever estate
brewery, The Farmery
Estate Brewery. The brothers
grow hops and barley on
their Neepawa-area farm
to brew and sell inside their
Winnipeg restaurant. *
BRINGING HOME THE BACON
A local concoction served
at Bridge Drive-In
(fondly known as BDI) is
the weirdly named Goog,
which is an upside-down
blueberry milkshake
topped with a hot fudge
sundae, bananas and
whipped cream. *
www.tourismwinnipeg.com23
VOLUME 7
It’s a fact.
Toll Free: 1.855.PEG.CITY
Local: 204.943.1970
info@tourismwinnipeg.com
300-259 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3B 2A9
#onlyinthepeg
Manitoba, Canada