This time Streets & Squares goes to Winnipeg, the capital and also the largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. Like always, clicking on the addresses will open Google Maps for you, and clicking on the names will (usually) lead to the person’s Wikipedia page. Please do open that Winnipeg’s Wikipedia link as it contains lots of useful and interesting information of the city.
Here we just mention that Winnipeg lies at the bottom of the Red River Valley, a flood plain with flat topography. In the list below, the streets and other sites are followed by either (ERR) or (WRR), meaning they are either to the east or west of the river respectively. There is also the Assiniboine River, and downtown Winnipeg is more or less where these two rivers meet.
By the way, in our article Native America in Northern America you can read this interesting detail about Winnipeg:
**WINNIPEG, **Manitoba, Canada. The city is named after nearby Lake Winnipeg. The English explorer Henry Kelsey, perhaps the first European to see the lake in 1690, adopted the Cree and Ojibwe name **win-nipi **(also transcribed win-nipiy or ouenpig) meaning “murky water” or “muddy water”, modern Cree: wīnipēk. Also, the French-Canadian fur trader La Vérendrye referred to the lake as Lac Gouinipique or Ouinipigon when he built the first forts in the area in the 1730s.
The aim of Streets & Squares always remains to see the cities through their eponymous addresses, and through them get to know who among others made an impact on the city (and/or the country) in question. So, here we go:
ASSINIBOINE PARK (WRR) - named for the Assiniboine, a First Nations/Native American people originally from the Northern Great Plains of North America.
BANNATYNE AVENUE (WRR) - Andrew Bannatyne (1829-1889) Scottish immigrant who started as a fur trader to become a politician and a leading citizen of Winnipeg .
ELLICE AVENUE (WRR) - Edward Ellice (1783-1863) merchant born in London, England. Investor and Director of the Hudson Bay Company, active businessman in Manitoba.
EVANS STREET - William Sanford Evans (1869-1949) publisher and politician - born in Spencerville, Ontario.
JOHN HIRSCH PLACE (WRR) - John Hirsch (1930-1989) Hungarian-Canadian theater director who escaped the Holocaust and co-founded the Manitoba Theatre Center. More of him in Destination Winnipeg
MILT STEGALL DRIVE (WRR) - Milt Stegall (1970-) American gridiron football player born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
NICOLLET AVENUE - Jean Nicolet (1598-1642) French explorer of North America, translator. Born in Cherbourg, Kingdom of France - StreetView
STEPHEN JUBA PARK (WRR) - Stephen Juba (1914-1993) Canadian politician with Ukrainian background born in Winnipeg.
WINNIPEG JAMES ARMSTRONG RICHARDSON AIRPORT (WRR) - James Armstrong Richardson Sr. (1885-1939) businessman and pioneer of Canadian commercial aviation born in Kingston, Ontario.
Flag of Winnipeg
A to Z FROM WINNIPEG
i.e. a list of people born in Winnipeg. Just another fun way to know something more about the city. We pick a couple of people for each alphabet, if possible. The numbers you see at the end of each line indicate the year of birth. This list is updated from time to time. And last but not least: the flag of Winnipeg!
A - Claire Adams* silent film actress/ benefactor (1898)
B - Randy Bachman* guitarist/songwriter (1943)
D - Deanna Durbin* actress/singer (1921)
F - Terry Fox* runner/humanitarian/cancer research activist (1958)
G - Daniel Gillies* New Zealander actor/director/producer (1976)
H - Doug Henning* magician/escape artist/ politician (1947)
J - Stephen Juba* politician/the 37th Mayor of Winnipeg (1914)
K - Ralph Krueger* hockey player/coach (1959)
M - Mary MacLane* American writer/feminist (1881)
O - Darcy Oake* magician (1987)
P - Anna Paquin* New Zealand-Canadian actress (1982)
R - Irv Robbins* co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor chain (1917)
S - Alexander Steen* Swedish-Canadian hockey player (1984)
T - Jonathan Toews* hockey player/3GC (1988)
V - Nia Vardalos* actress/ director/producer (1962)
Updated 6.9.2022
Sources:
https://geographic.org/streetview/canada/mb/winnipeg.html
https://destinationwinnipeg.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/john-hirsch-place-a-theatrical-winnipeg-street/
History in Winnipeg streets - Downtown Winnipeg (W) - Winnipeg streets