West Wolseley

Churches, Crossings, and The Paddock Coffee Bar

Quick housekeeping: West Wolseley was one of the first neighbourhoods I visited for this project almost a year ago. I delayed publishing it, as my vision for this neighbourhood project and what each of these posts would contain, only solidified later. I thought I might want to walk through the neighbourhood again and take more photos, however, I’ve decided to publish the post and images as they are.

West Wolseley. Sounds more like a name that Winnipeg real estate agents come up with to make the area seem more desirable (I’m looking at you, “North Wolseley”). Perhaps it was, but either way, the name is official now. At least official to the city.

There are a couple of turn-of-the-century houses that nod to the “Wolseley” aesthetic. However, the eclectic mix of townhouses, apartment buildings, and an old wooden church with its cemetery, make the area feel distinctly different.

The northern boundary marker is Portage Ave, and the Assiniboine River makes up the southern boundary. Route 90 acts as its western boundary with the rail line that passes by Empress Street, crossing over Portage at its eastern edge.

History

Churches

While the village of Winnipeg was incorporated into a city in 1873, the West Wolseley area continued being part of the Parish of St. James, as it had been for several decades prior. The area that made up the neighbourhood of West Wolseley held the parish’s namesake, the St. James Anglican Church. Located in the centre of West Wolseley and just off of Portage Avenue, the church is one of the oldest wooden churches in Western Canada still in use, holding regular services during the summer months.¹

Artist's rendering of St. James Anglican Church, c.1855. The tower would be removed in 1871.

The church was built in 1851 on a spot along the Assiniboine River with a higher elevation to help in times of floods. During the initial decade after construction, the congregation had a population of 100-200 people, compared to the parish population of 500, which included European and French Canadian settlers, as well as Cree, Saulteaux, and Métis inhabitants.²

The land surrounding the church would eventually be filled with the graves of the locals of the parish as well as prominent Winnipeg figures. Writing in the Winnipeg Free Press, Kevin Rollason described the past he encountered while strolling through the cemetery.

Many of the headstones are a who’s who of St. James. They include names that are now used for streets, schools and buildings, including Inkster, Bruce, Pinkham, Chapman and Fidler.

But there are also babies — so many babies. There were likely many tears shed in the several pockets reserved in the cemetery for clusters of young children. Small headstones, either flush on the ground or rising up from the grass, mark where the children, either at birth or just a few months or years into their lives, were buried.³

Crossings

In 1882, West Wolseley was absorbed into Winnipeg, becoming the outskirts of the, still distant, expanding city. In the first decade of the 20th century, the streetcar line running down Portage Avenue was extended to the area. The current-day residential patch just west of the St. James church’s property started to form with turn-of-the-century houses being built and street names such as Tylehurst, Richmond, and Kintrye appearing on maps of the area.

Meanwhile, the Sisters of Charity (Grey nuns) outgrew their facilities in downtown Winnipeg. In 1907, they moved and opened St. Joseph’s Orphanage located at 1476 Portage Avenue, just east of the grounds of St. James Anglican Church.

The facade of the St. Joseph’s orphanage from Portage. This undated photo was taken after the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul took over the building, running St. Joseph’s Vocational School from 1938 to 1979. (Photo used with permission).

Access to the area, which had been primarily Portage Avenue and the Assiniboine River, expanded in 1908 with the building of the Canadian Northern Railway (CNR) bridge across the Assiniboine River, connecting the Tuxedo area south of the river.

The train bridge was part of the CNR’s Oak Point subdivision. Later on, this railway would be further expanded to run as far north as Gypsumville, Manitoba.

Map 1 (1911): A map of the area showing the streetcar line (red), St. Joseph’s orphanage, and the CNR bridge on the neighbourhood's western edge. Two bridges (Midland Bridge and CPR Bridge) appear on the eastern edge. I haven’t been successful in finding any information regarding their construction or how they eventually developed into the single Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Bridge that is there today. (The map has been cropped.)

Despite the CNR Bridge being exclusive to travel by rail, this new access point was used vigorously by pedestrians, causing safety concerns. The Polo Park Racetrack (horse racing) would open in 1925 across from West Wolseley, on the north side of Portage Ave, bringing in even more traffic and activity to the area. The St. James bridge, which ran right beside the C.N.R. bridge, was built in 1935.⁴

North exit on the St. James bridge. Taken sometime after 1935. The houses on the left are where the Viscount Gort stands today and the buildings on the right run along the CNR train tracks. (Current view here.) Photo courtesy of the City of Winnipeg archives.

On the very east side of West Wolseley, the Portage Avenue Subway⁵ was constructed between 1936 and 1937.

Taken in 1938. Looking west at the Portage Avenue Subway in the background with the Omands Creek bridge in the foreground. In the distant background on the right, you can just make out the word “Polo” as part of the Polo Park grandstands. Photo courtesy of the City of Winnipeg archives.

Winnipeg flood of 1950. View looking east down Portage from the Portage Avenue Subway train bridge. (The second photo in my "Photos and Observations” section displays the same view today.) Accessed via Flickr.

Map 2 (1950): A zoning map shows West Wolseley in the early post-war era. At the time Doreen Street is the only road on the east side of West Wolseley. See the 1962 photo later on to see the houses on the street. (The map has been cropped.)

The Paddock

Winnipeg gambling baron Stan Zedd, who had made a name for himself in the 40s and 50s, wanted to build a restaurant based on a Californian establishment he had visited. He started building a restaurant at 1540 Portage, but after running into financial trouble, brought in other investors who ended up buying him out and opening it in 1952.⁶ Amongst these investors was the eventual sole owner of the restaurant, Parry Orestes. His son Mel would join him, later becoming the owner himself.⁷

Newspaper ad for the Paddock Accessed via Flickr

In writing on Mel Oreste’s life, Bill Redekop, in the Winnipeg Free Press, described the particular aesthetics that made Paddock such a unique restaurant.

The Paddock was racetrack-themed with the main dining room called the Turf Room. The upstairs banquet room was the Winner’s Circle, the cocktail bar was called the Starting Gate Lounge and the ground floor coffee shop was the Horseshoe Coffee Bar.”⁸

It was also the first restaurant in the city with a parking lot.⁹

1960 photo looking west on Portage. The Paddock with its parking lot is visible near the bottom. Accessed via Blogspot. Photo courtesy of the City of Winnipeg archives.

The Polo Park racetracks moved to Assiniboia Downs in 1956, with the former Polo Park grounds becoming the Polo Park Mall, opening in 1959. That same year, and probably partly due to all of the new mall traffic (this was the heyday of the automobile), the Empress Street overpass was built. This extended Empress south over Portage, looping around the St. Joseph’s vocational school grounds (formerly St. Joseph’s orphanage), connecting onto Doreen Street (see Map 2) and allowing motorists to quickly exit onto Portage. Trying to create a partial cloverleaf interchange and merging into a formerly quiet dead-end street, caused the Empress overpass loop to be a bit askew and have a particularly sharp corner.

West Wolseley in 1962. The St. James Bridge overpass was recently completed (the bridge in between the older St. James bridge and the CNR train bridge) and only a couple of years after the Empress Street overpass. (See loop close to the top of the photo.) Accessed via Flickr. Yellow neighbourhood outline superimposed.

Despite the loss of the racetrack from the area, the Paddock continued on as an institution. Marylou Driedger, who worked there in the 1970s described how:

The Paddock’s coffee shop, however, remained a popular hangout for racing fans. They’d come in for breakfast and slip into one of the booths underneath the large bay windows that looked out onto busy Portage Avenue.

Over endless cups of coffee and breakfast specials, the racing fans would share information about the day’s races and which horses looked promising.

Once they had visited the track they’d drop back in for dessert or a late bite and discuss their wins and losses. If the gentlemen had a good day at the betting window it usually meant I’d get a bigger tip.¹⁰

The Paddock would close down in 1985 and the building was demolished in 1988.¹¹

St. Joseph’s Vocational School closed in 1979 and its buildings were demolished in 1979.

Looking south across Portage showing St. Joseph’s Vocational School in 1979 right before demolition. (Photo used with permission.)

St. Joseph’s Nursery, which had been operating within the school grounds since 1956, built a new daycare building on the same site at 1476 Portage, operating until the nursery closed down in 1992.¹² This building currently houses the Winnipeg Conservatory of Music.

St. Joseph’s Day Nursery reopened in a new building on the same site in September 1980. (Photo used with permission.)

Photos and observations

(Sadly, no field recording.)

I started at the southeast corner by the active bike path that hugs the river and weaves behind St. James church and cemetery.

City Hydro became Winnipeg Hydro in 1964. Manitoba Hydro bought Winnipeg Hydro in 2002.

The Portage Avenue Subway, at the eastern edge of West Wolseley. (See the 1950 photo in the “Coffee” section for the historical shot.)

Empress Overpass loop. Empress Street E rounds the loop and turns into St. John Ambulance Way (formerly Doreen Street). It was renamed in 2009. The last residential house along that road was there until at least 2018 (according to Google Street View). With the construction of the new St. John Ambulance office (building on the right side) in 2020-2021, the loop was redeveloped and its sharp curve was made more gradual.

St. James Church along with a foreboding sign.

I weaved through a couple of residential streets on the west side of the area. It was a combination of old turn-of-the-century houses and postwar builds along with several apartment blocks and townhouses.

The house on the left (the double-roofed house) has always caught my eye on my bike rides through the neighbourhood. Built in 1909, it is one of the oldest houses in the neighbourhood.

The neighbourhood is in the flight path of planes descending into Winnipeg Richardson International Airport.

Townhouses on Richmond Way

Houses at the end of Wolseley Ave W facing the river. Built (left to right) in 1912, 1986, and 1987

Looking down from the escarpment on the western edge of West Wolseley, where the CNR’s Oak Point subdivision line ran.

The gravel on the left of the photos is around where the rail line continued north, crossing Portage Ave, where the St. James Station stood (technically north of Portage so it’s outside of the neighbourhood boundaries). The tracks were ripped up in 1999 and the station was relocated outside of the city as part of the Prairie Dog Central Railway.

Olive Garden (plus the Red Lobster beside it): The site of the former Paddock Restaurant.

While the Paddock restaurant has come and gone, the A&W lives on.

The former “Blinds are Beautiful” store right where St. John Ambulance Way merges into Portage. The building has been torn down since I took the photo.

Parking lot view of Donwood West, a retirement home, which was built in 1988, just east of where St. Joseph’s Orphanage/Vocational School was.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Bridge runs on the eastern edge of West Wolseley. Colloquially called “Omand’s Creek Bridge,” it is part of the Burlington Northern Sante Fe (Manitoba) Railway’s short line, which exists entirely in the city.

If you made it to the end, thanks so much for being here! It takes a lot of time and effort to research and get the photographs for these neighbourhood posts, so any support is appreciated. Whether that is sharing and emailing it to friends and family, subscribing, or buying me a coffee, it all helps! Thank you.

Additional neighbourhood factoids:

• West Woseley was featured prominently in Propagandhi’s music video for “No Longer Young” off their most recent album. At around 40 seconds in, you can see band members walking through the St. James church cemetary grounds and also walking/biking along the bike path behind. Propagandhi is a renowned punk rock and metal band formed in Portage La Prairie and now based in Winnipeg.

Map 1: Hathaway, R. W., and J. K. Wright. Hathaway's Guide and Birds-Eye Map of Winnipeg. Map. Canada: R.W. Hathaway, 1911. https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2825450318.

Map 2: Metropolitan Planning Commission. Metropolitan Winnipeg Industrial Areas West Sheet [map]. 1:7,200. Winnipeg: Manitoba Dept. of Industry and Commerce, 1950. University of Manitoba Libraries Map Collection.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2131238236

1. According to their website. There is also a link to their YouTube channel with live-streamed services, giving you a glimpse of what the inside looks like.

2. Gerald Friesen. The Honourable John Norquay. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2020, pp 22

3. Kevin Rollason. "St. James Cemetery a Who’s Who of Local History." Winnipeg Free Press, August 15, 2016, https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2016/08/15/st-james-cemetery-a-whos-who-of-local-history.

4. For more info and history (including more photos!) on the St. James Bridge) Check out John Dobbin’s blog post on it.

5. A subway train bridge that runs over a road, also known as a viaduct or grade-separated crossing, is a structure that elevates the subway tracks above the road to ensure uninterrupted traffic flow.

6. Bill Redekop. "A Life's Story: Dedicated to Customers, Community." Winnipeg Free Press, December 15, 2018, passages.winnipegfreepress.com/article/id-45/Dedicated_to_customers,_community.

7. Declan Schroeder. "Time Travel: Recently Found Tourist Guide Offers a Glimpse at What Travellers — and Winnipeggers — Could Do in This City in 1958." Winnipeg Free Press, August 29, 2021, www.winnipegfreepress.com/featured/2021/08/29/time-travel-3.

8. Redekop, "A Life's Story."

9. Ibid.

10. Marylou Driedger. "I Worked at the Paddock Restaurant." What's Next?, March 1, 2012, maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/the-paddock-restaurant/.

11. Field of Dreams Brought It All in 1977 Polo Park Handicap. Assiniboia Downs, June 27, 2016, asdowns.com/field-of-dreams-brought-it-all-in-1977-polo-park-handicap/.

12. Winnipeg. Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul, providence.ca/our-story/history/missions/manitoba/winnipeg/.