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ELCOME. TO THE. ElGHBOURHOOD
HE FOCUS OF THlS
history is the three Winnipeg communities of Armstrong's Point, West Broadway, and Wolseley (including West Wolseiey). In modern Winnipeg this area is bounded by the Assiniboine River on the south, Portage Avenue on the north, Osborne Street on the east, and Omand’s Creek on the west. St. James Church, Polo Park, the Legislative Buildings and Memorial Park, and the University of Winnipeg, although just outside these boundaries, are significant focai points and have a role in our communities,
The earliest European maps and descriptions of this area describe it as ”beautifui prairie” - grassland rising gently from the Assiniboine River, with occasional stands of trees, and a fringe of woodland along the river and on Armstrong’s Point. The land was laced with creeie, including Catfish (Omand’s) Creek, Spence’s Creek and Colony Creek. Early settlers used the creeks for water (cleaner than the Assiniboine), skated and boated on them, and fished in them. Spence’s Creek, which ran from northwest to southeast diagonally across James Spence's farm, seems to have disappeared eariy in the history of West Broadway, white Colony Creek survived until eariy in the 19005. flmand's Creek at the western edge has been the focus of a major community preservation and restoration effort. Mary Ann Good, the Tree Lady of Wolseiey, began planting trees in the 18605, and most of the elms which shade the streets today were planted before World War I.
Our neighbourhoods today are home to about 14.0% people. We face many of the problems and chailenges of any older urban neighbourhood -— flight to the suburbs, aging infrastructure, striking inequality of income and opportunity among our residents. We aiso have a strong sense of community identity and pride. We enjoy rich ethnic and cuitural diversity, a high level of tolerance, and a tradition of social responsibility and concern. This history brings together the stories of many people whose lives and work built the communities we iive in today. i have enjoyed getting to know my neighbours, past and present, and i hope you will too.
I began this project thinking it would be easy to write a brief history, add some personal stories and a few photographs, and put it all together. It turned into a much iarger tasiti i agonized over having to edit some of the stories given to me and hope there will an opportunity to use more of this information. i hope others will continue to document the history of their houses, schoois, community organizations, save old photographs or letters found during renovations, write down recollections of community life, and interview older relatives and neighbours. Our history is not over. it is happening every day, just down the block.
FACING PAGE:
Map of Wolseley Constituency, i 998