February 18, 2020
Heritage @ Lunch
Join Heritage Winnipeg
for a Lunch & Learn!
150 Year of Change: The Exchange District
Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
12:00pm to 1:00pm - doors open at 11:45am
389 Main Street - The Millennium Centre
FREE EVENT!
Bring your lunch and spend an engaging hour learning about the history of Winnipeg's Exchange District! Murray Peterson (City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings Officer) and Sabrina Janke (Heritage Winnipeg) will entertain you will the fascinating story of how the Exchange District grew from prairie to prosperity, becoming the vibrant National Historic Site we know and love today.
No registration required - we hope to see you there!
January 11, 2017
Crocus Building renamed the McKim Building
Heritage Winnipeg is very pleased to announce the Crocus building, located at 211 Bannatyne Avenue, in the Exchange District, a national historic site, (formerly named the J.H. Ashdown Hardware Store) is now officially called The McKim Building, named for McKim Communications Group - www.mckimcg.ca. For years many Winnipeggers have been waiting patiently for this historic building to be renamed. A brand new sign is now shining high above the sidewalk on the Main Street facade. Congratulations!McKim Communications Group Media Release - dated January 11, 2017:
McKimBldgRenaming
Links to media coverage:
CBC News
Winnipeg Sun
City of Winnipeg historical report
Exchange District Guided Walking Tours
May-September Weather Permitting
Tuesday– Sunday 11 am and 2 pm
Approximately 1.5 hours in duration
Just north of Canada’s renowned corner of Portage and Main lies the spirit of the city– the Exchange District!
Spectacular and beautiful, it is over 30 blocks of turn-of-the-century terra cotta and cut stone architecture unparalleled in North America! Explore incredible facades, spectacular interior spaces and unique detailing. This richness illustrates Winnipeg’s transformation between 1878 and 1913 from a modest pioneer settlement into the thriving metropolis that opened the West. The Exchange District now serves as a popular backdrop for today’s movie industry and is home to specialty retailers, restaurants, night-clubs, art galleries, wholesalers and Winnipeg’s theatre district. Discover one of North America’s most rare neighbourhoods!
Tours begin at the Exchange District Info Centre in Old Market Square (King Street and Bannatyne Avenue).
Adult (18-64 yrs) $5.00 Group tours also available
Senior (65+ yrs) $4.00 Adult group $45.00
Youth (10-17 yrs) $3.00 Senior group $35.00
Family $10.00 Youth/Children’s group $25.00
(Maximum of 12 participants per group)
To book your group tour, or for more information call 942-6716.
Exchange District Becomes National Historic Site
On September 27, 1997, the original core of the city of Winnipeg, the Exchange District, was declared a National Historic Site by the federal Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Right Honourable Sheila Copps.
The Historic Sites and Monuments board recommended that Winnipeg's Exchange District be designated an historic district of national significance because it illustrates the city's key role as a centre of grain and wholesale trade, finance and manufacturing in two historically important periods in western development- between 1880 and 1900 when Winnipeg became the gateway to Canada's West, and between 1900 and 1913, when the city's growth made it the region's metropolis.
A twenty-city block area composed approximately 150 heritage buildings, the Exchange District has joined the ranks of a handful of other urban areas which have also received this distinction. There are almost 80 municipally designated buildings in the Exchange District with a further 52 on the inventory, any of which may fit the criteria for municipal designation.
This remarkable group of commercial buildings vividly illustrates Winnipeg's transformation between 1878 and 1913 from a modest pioneer settlement to western Canada's largest metropolitan centre. The district's banks, warehouses, and early skyscrapers recall the city's dominance in the fields of finance, manufacturing, wholesale distribution and the international grain trade. Designed by a number of well-known architects, these buildings reflect an approach to architecture that was innovative, functional and stylish. The First World War and the Great Depression contributed to the end of Winnipeg's spectacular boom era, leaving the district virtually intact. Through the efforts of dedicated citizens since the 1970s, the Exchange District has been preserved as a distinctive legacy from a formative period in Canada's economic development.
