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History:
Winnipeg’s Old Market Square
Between 1890 and 1919, Old Market Square in Winnipeg was home to a lively central city market hall. Winnipeg has a long and rich history of public markets in the heart of the city. As soon as Winnipeg was incorporated as a city in 1873, its market committee, chaired by Alexander Logan, moved to select the best site for a combined town hall and market building. From among the several sites offered as free gifts by citizens, the committee chose the one it judged to be most central and accessible to the greater number of city inhabitants (figure 1). The entire project was fast tracked and resulted in poor construction and design flaws. The market facility was in operation by 1875 and within three years the market, and the city hall building to which it was attached began to crumble and was torn down. In 1886, a new city hall was opened on the same site, and by 1889-90 a new and elaborate freestanding market, designed by George Browne Jr., was opened alongside it (figure 2).
For many years the market served Winnipeg and became a popular central place within the heart of the city. Between 1876 and 1919 the market was an important enough civic institution that it merited a committee of council to manage its affairs. Called the Market Committee or Market Court, its responsibilities included setting and revising stall rents, policing short weight and unclean premises by stall keepers, and settling claims for spoiled meats. Operating as a property manager the Market Courts ensured gradual improvements such as gas lighting in 1886, updating to electricity by 1890. Due to general disrepair and damage from fire, the market underwent extensive renovation around 1890. It is interesting to note that although a number of options existed for redevelopment, the most elaborate and expensive design was chosen, which included the addition of a second floor to the original market (Park, 1983).
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By the 1920’s, Winnipeg centre slipped slightly to the west and south of its original location, drawn by growth and development in these directions. Even the Hudson’s Bay Store reinforced the shift by opening a new store on Portage Avenue several blocks south of Main in 1906. After the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, civic leaders in city closed the market, judging it to be unnecessary and simply a forum for political unrest; it was thought that because the market was such a focal point for congregation it would continue to serve as a staging ground for "plots against the government" (Merrett, 2001). By 1919, Winnipeg’s civic values were firmly based on its economic prospects as a transportation hub and as a centre for business and finance. Although other produce markets were set up in Winnipeg, the public market was converted, symbolically in retrospect, to civic offices. Until the 1960’s the original market operated as civic space, the market tradition continued to thrive during this period with vendors occupying outside stalls along the perimeter of the building. In 1964 the market building was demolished to make way for the new Civic Centre Complex. The historic market building, was torn down and replaced with the Public Safety Building (figure 3). The only evidence of the original marvel that once occupied this site is a small plaque on the northeast corner of the Public Safety Building paying tribute to the former tenant of Market Square.
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In an effort to renew the market tradition in Old Market Square a group of merchants and area property owners called the Old Market Square Association decided to recapture the atmosphere of the old market by initiating the operation of a weekly outdoor farmers’ market in 1976. The market was active on weekends during the summer months performing quite well and becoming popular with local residents and tourists to Winnipeg. In the mid – 1980’s a study was undertaken to consider the establishment of a year round market building somewhere in the Exchange Historic District. Indications from the 1976 summer farmers’ market showed that the idea would be highly successful (Park, 1983). Today, the farmers’ market from the late 1970’s no longer operates with any degree of frequency. The legacy of the Market Association, the vendor tents, remains largely underutilized except during large events in the Exchange such as the Fringe and Winnipeg Jazz Festival. It may have been concluded in the mid 1980’s to focus development on the Forks and the creation of a permanent market to exist within a festival market setting, which combines the ideals of a farmers’ market with retail, fine dining, recreation, and entertainment demands catering more to non-area residents and tourists to Winnipeg.
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