Mapmaker, mapmaker

While the house we grew up in was literally and solidly cemented in place in 1915, its address actually changed a few times: 

• River lot 95. 
• 86 St. Charles Street. 
• 400 St. Charles Street. 
• Corner of St. Charles and Taché Avenue. 
• Corner of St. Charles and Sansome Avenue.

It is intriguing to examine old maps to see these developments.

We think of St. Charles as a small village, but the Parish of St. Charles (established in 1855) was actually very large, and extended on both sides of the Assiniboine River from Headingley to the Parish of St. Boniface border in present-day River Heights.

Excerpt of an 1871 map of Manitoba. Established in 1870, Manitoba was a mere 130 miles (210 km) wide and 110 miles (177 km) tall and called the Postage Stamp Province.  [1]
(See Sources below for links to full size maps on Flickr.)

On maps like the one above, the St. Charles Church (first built in 1866) is a good landmark for pinpointing St. Charles Street. Post offices are also noted here, but the scale cannot identify whether the St. Charles Post Office was at the top of the street at Portage Avenue (the "Great Highway"), or elsewhere.

Winnipeg was a city of rivers (Assiniboine, Red, and Seine). The three rivers made mapping river lots a challenge, especially when they intersected. Long narrow lots allowed access to the river and houses there were closer together. This system was used in Quebec and brought west by French fur traders.

1874 "Plan of River Lots in the Parishes of St. Charles and Headingley"  [2]
The border between Headingley and St. Charles is the present-day east edge of John Blumberg Golf Course. St. Charles Parish extended to the city limits at St. James Street. On the south side of the river, it met up with St. Boniface Parish in River Heights. Tuxedo Park was built on St. Charles lots 5 through 24. According to local historian Dan Furlan, Charleswood was part of St. Charles Parish until 1913.  [3]
(Click on image for a larger view.)  

Excerpt from "McPhillips Plan of the Municipality of Assiniboia Manitoba (1907)"  [4]

This map clearly indicates that St. Charles Street was essentially River Lot 95 in the Parish of St. Charles. Again, the R.C. Church notation (red emphasis added) confirms this, as does an early handwritten "Ferry" at the bottom of the street. 

The ferry was originally located further east at a shallow buffalo crossing called "The Passage." It ran from 1870 to 1908 connecting "Ferry Road" (now Rouge Road) on the north side to Berkley Street, N. on the south side of the river. 

In 1908 (two years after St. Charles RC school opened), the ferry was relocated to St. Charles Street, which had deeper water and was more convenient for the school/convent, manse, and church. The ferry remained in operation until 1959, when the Perimeter Highway bridge was built just west of St. Charles Street.

"McPhillips Outline Map of Winnipeg & Vicinity (1909)"  [5]

The 1909 McPhillips map identifies St. Charles Street at Lot 95, with the church and the ferry location there. Another ferry is still noted to the east, likely its original Passage location. 

The St. Charles Ferry, c. 1909. The ferry appears to be heading south to Xavier Drive in Charleswood.  [6] 

By 1912, a boom year in the city, Winnipeg maps were getting more detailed — and colourful! It was also a notable year in St. Charles. It got a water pump, one block north of where our 1915 home would be built.

Winnipeg Free Press, December 28, 1912. (The Provencher Avenue in St. Charles was renamed Lepine Avenue in 1963.)

"West Sheet of Chataway's Map of Greater Winnipeg (1912)"  [7]

The excerpt above features the St. Charles Country Club. The name is confusing enough, as it is not the golf course at St. Charles Street only 5 km away. That was the Royaumont, now Glendale Golf & Country Club. Although the St. Charles Country Club was in the Parish of the same name, confusion was only compounded when it was proposed that the street on its west border be named St. Charles Boulevard. That name didn't last, and neither did the actual street. As in many suburban neighbourhoods, the area was redesigned with curving bays that replaced straight roads.

Also noted in the map above is the Kirkfield Park Race Track, where speedy horses, motorcycles, and automobiles thrilled crowds. This is also the site of the St. Charles airdrome of the 1920s. Swallowed by suburban housing, this site is largely forgotten, but it was an important airport before Stevenson Field, our current airport site, was established in May 1928.

The "Old Rifle Range" is the site of the Grace Hospital, which opened in 1967. South of the hospital on Sturgeon Creek sits Grant's Old Mill, a replica of the unsuccessful 1829 mill built by Métis leader Cuthbert Grant (1793-1854). This historical site opened in 1975.

There is no hint of the old Kirkfield Park oval raceway and St. Charles airdrome today. Who knew that Quail Ridge was in the infield?  [Apple Maps, annotated]

"Chataway's Map of Greater Winnipeg Enlarged & Revised Edition (1917)"  [8]

The excerpt above, north of Saskatchewan Avenue up to Sturgeon Creek, contains a curious little neighbourhood that includes "Fraser St." and "Pinkey Ave." Perhaps this enclave was planned but never built, because even the St. Charles streets we recognize (Isbister, Stewart, Buchanan and Knox) do not extend this far north. This area past Saskatchewan Avenue remains undeveloped even now.

"Stovel's map of Winnipeg, including St. Boniface and surrounding suburbs," 1917 [9] 

Another map from 1917 and another curiosity (above). Stovel's map also shows St. Charles Boulevard next to St. Charles Country Club, as well as St. Charles Street. It seems the two existed and confused people for several years.

But this map also includes an intriguing historical tidbit. Even in this low resolution excerpt, it clearly identifies St. Charles Post Office where our 1915 house is located, and not at Portage Avenue at all. This adds credibility, if not proof, to the tale that a post office was operated out of the front den of that house. In our own lifetimes, we can recall that mail was picked up from Schulting's corner store at Portage Avenue, then from banks of locked boxes on the street (near the water pump, I think), before Canada Post finally provided home delivery in 1964.

The existence of "St. Charles Boulevard" is mysterious. While the street adjacent to St. Charles Country Club simply disappeared altogether at some point, the intent to have a so-named boulevard re-surfaced in 1962. Again, residents protested the absurd duplication.

Winnipeg Free Press, April 4, 1962

A year later, the City of Winnipeg recognized the confusion created by "certain streets that were a duplication of or similar to other streets in the Metropolitan Area" and announced that By-law No. 369 would make changes effective as of June 15, 1963. St. Charles Blvd. was renamed Banting Drive, and 20 other street names in the RM of Assiniboia were also changed.

Winnipeg Tribune, April 6, 1963

As the city expanded, the confusion did, too. St. Charles was no longer a distant village. Among the street name changes were cross-streets in the neighbourhood that had identical names to major avenues in St. Boniface, like Provencher (renamed Lepine), and Tache (renamed Sansome Avenue). Likewise, Langevin Street was renamed Gagnon Street.  

"Street Map of The City of Winnipeg Manitoba (1961)"  [10]

The problem of duplicated street names is evident even in this small excerpt from the 1961 map. Notice the Ferry Road across from St. Charles. This is likely the former Xavier Drive (later Cass Street), where the historic Caron House sits.

This map still lists the Ferry Road in Westwood, where the St. Charles ferry operated until 1908. It was eventually renamed Rouge Road. The third and remaining Ferry Road in Winnipeg still exists in St. James. The ferry is commemorated by a mural at 1874 Portage Avenue. [12]

Aside from some new cross-street names and more housing that filled in empty lots and fields, St. Charles remains much as we remember it. Neighbouring areas like Crestview and Westwood, however, were redeveloped with curving streets and bays.

A 1964 rendering from Winnipeg's Planning Division proposed formal parklands at the Perimeter Highway and Assiniboine River. A lovely thought, but the area remained largely untouched.

"Park Beside a Major Highway Bridge," 1964  [12]
The house shown between the picnic area and trailer park was that of Vic Mager. Another great old 2-1/2-storey brick farmhouse, it was torn down decades ago. The picnic area has long been used for garden lots. 

One last curiosity:

"Winnipeg Bed Rock Geology (1983)," Surveys and Mapping Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources  [13]

Ignore the  heavy green dashed lines. A close look at this map of our old neighbourhood reveals two tributaries of the Assiniboine River. One extends through Glendale Golf Course. The other one is more familiar to those of us who played on the river bank and knew the trench that filled with water in the spring. This ditch ran past the trailer park, and to the pile of rocks in the field just west of our house at Gagnon and Sansome. From there it headed east, where it might have gone underground, nourishing Lairds' gardens and extending through the golf course once more almost to Portage Avenue.

Google maps confirm that this tributary is no longer evident. The only remaining clue: the odd little pump house. It may have been built when proper sewers were installed, but perhaps it affected the creek at that spot, too.

The tiny pump house between St. Charles and Gagnon streets (view looking north from Sansome Ave.)

Sources (retrieved August 1, 2022)

N.B.: Maps are from the extensive Manitoba Historical Maps collection on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps 

1. "Map of the Province of Manitoba (1871)," https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2230280043
2. "Plan of river lots in the parishes of St. Charles and Headingley, Province of Manitoba," https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/50743273603/in/photolist-2kj1xnD-2kj1yUr-2kj5iv8- 
3. Dan Furlan, "Charleswood's Historic River Lots," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyt1hvg-whs  
4. "McPhillips Plan of the Municipality of Assiniboia Manitoba (1907)," University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections (Margaret Pugh Collection), https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/3116088796/in/photolist-5KmLCU-6BAfe6-2nrvFW7
5. "McPhillips Outline Map of Winnipeg & Vicinity (1909)," https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/3762255790/in/album-72157622868092934 
6. The Rob McInnis Postcard Collection, Winnipeg Public Library, http://pastforward.winnipeg.ca/digital/collection/robmcinnes 
7. "West Sheet of Chataway's Map of Greater Winnipeg (1912)," https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2201273363/in/photolist-4mA6nS-4mw6T2-6JKm12
8. "Chataway's Map of Greater Winnipeg Enlarged & Revised Edition (1917)," https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/3002928816/in/photolist-5zmN7L-4nux4k-73tgVf-5sSxTb-zYDmdA 
9. "Stovel's map of Winnipeg, including St. Boniface and surrounding suburbs," https://www.flickr.com/photos/normanbleventhalmapcenter/13983658560/in/photolist-niFUvo 
10. "Street Map of The City of Winnipeg Manitoba (1961)," https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/3922733505/in/photolist-6YD31i-564Ryi-xtupTm-ybwEcS-ybwDDN-6YCMN4-6JwxRJ-6Jxi1f-6JxwPQ-7kqjLZ-6JwJeL-6JwdeA-6YnAnv-6Jx4JA-6JvBk1-4gsTKY-UoXwZj-8Y1T5g-xWkFjR-x79DUB-5x7P4C-2m1TMB8-xnRmbw-wrMn8K-6wBoaG-wjtGGx
11. The Murals of Winnipeg, http://www.themuralsofwinnipeg.com/Mpages/SingleMuralPage.php?action=gotomural&muralid=278
12. "Park Beside a Major Highway Bridge," 1964, https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/2653949657/in/album-72157603347076165 
13. "Winnipeg Bed Rock Geology (1983)," Surveys and Mapping Branch, Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/4052631423/in/photolist-7b7N8z-7bbjwL-7aypec-xg3M2U-7aCBsm-wjMpbq-wjP1Gc-ow4nec

 

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