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| Dad’s notes when shown the property in 1952. |
A home built in 1915 has unique challenges, and you best be prepared to maintain it. That means dealing with rather primitive technologies. The heating system, for instance, was a hand-stoked coal furnace, with cast iron hot water radiators throughout the house, a system dating back to the end of the 19th century.1
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| Hand-stoked coal furnace2 |
The cartoon was not overly exaggerated. Coal furnaces were monstrous contraptions. Often swathed in asbestos insulation, they burned coal in a roaring fire that conjured up visions of hell.
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| A vintage coal “octopus” furnace. |
Author Joe Campolo Jr. remembers:
And when fully stoked up the furnace creaked, groaned, banged and whiffed as the flames roared and the sheet metal expanded and contracted with the heat. It was a formidable entity.
When the coal truck came, as it did three or four times during the winter, that was an exciting time also. The metal coal bin door to the basement bin would be opened and a metal chute from the truck would slide through. The coal would be released into the coal bin amidst much banging, roaring and rumbling. Coal dust would be everywhere, and when done the silence seemed deafening.3
The basement of the St. Charles home had a separate wood and coal (bois et charbon) room. Deliverymen could dump coal down a chute through a small door in the basement wall and straight into the coal bin corner.
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| A typical delivery of coal: down the chute and into the coal bin5 |
There were many fuel companies and coal suppliers in Winnipeg, and they advertised often.
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| Don’t be fooled. Stoking a coal furnace wearing a tuxedo, top hat and white gloves is not recommended. [Wpg. Free Press, Oct. 25, 1956, p. 10] |
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| Expecting your wife to shovel coal is also unwise. Dad installed a stoker, a large metal bin that fed coal directly into the furnace by an auger. [Winnipeg Tribune, Sept. 24, 1947, p. 14] |
Heating the large uninsulated St. Charles house was a big expense. In 1952 Dad noted an annual fuel cost of $220, more than taxes, telephone and light/power combined.
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| At Bristol one day, Bill Habington was moaning about his heating bill. Dad had his, too, and dropped it on the table. Bill looked at it and shut up. |
Red River co-op was Dad’s coal supplier of choice.
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| Murray Fraser, No. 4005, was an early co-op member. |
The Red River Co-operative began in 1937 as a fuel supply company. General stores were added a few years later.
In the post war boom, grocery stores were becoming bigger and Co-Op felt they had enough members and demand and built one of the larger grocery stores of the day on Wall Street for around $750,000. The store had more in common with a Walmart in that it had general merchandise and a pharmacy as well as appliances. There was also a credit union, gas station and farm supply building. At the time there was only 4000 members of the Red River Co-Op but this investment proved to be very successful.6
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| The 20,000-foot Wall Street store was designed by Smith Carter Kateinikoff Associates. More than a grocery store, it was called a shopping centre, and included an adjacent gas station, credit union building and farm supply yard.7 |
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| An original full service gas station.8 A newer Co-op service station and convenience store still operate at Wall Street and Ellice Avenue. There are now over 50 Red River Co-op gas bars in Manitoba and in Ontario. |
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| The grocery store on Wall Street was considered a shopping centre, the Walmart of its day. While there to buy groceries and pay your coal bill, you could buy a lawn mower or television.9 |
The store opening attracted a lot of media coverage. Full-page newspaper ads were hard to miss. They offered plenty of bargains and encouraged new memberships.
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| With its extensive range of products and services, the Wall Street store could truly call itself a shopping centre. [Wpg. Free Press, June 18, 1958, p. 13] |
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| Winnipeg Tribune, June 24, 1958 (the day before the Grand Opening) |
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| Winnipeg Tribune, June 24, 1958 (left side of a 2-page spread) |
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| Winnipeg Tribune, June 24, 1958 (right side of a 2-page spread) |
Opening day finally arrived on June 25, 1958.
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| A large crowd showed up for the Grand Opening on June 25, 1958.10 |
By 1978 Red River Co-op had eight grocery stores in and around Winnipeg, and in 1979 they opened a $10 million Home Centre on McPhillips Street. However, 1980 was a year of “unemployment, stagnation and inflation all at the same time” in Manitoba, and the 70,000-member co-op was hit hard by the recession. High interest rates and fierce competition from new big box stores added more pressure.
It went from recording a $575,000 profit in 1978 to just a $19,000 profit in 1980 and the projections looking forward to 1986 were for a $7 million loss.
In early October 1982 staff were asked to take a 10% wage reduction while the Co-op sorted out what it was going to do. On October 29, 1982 it was announced that most of its retail operations would be shut and their successful gas bar business would be examined. […] The original food store on Wall Street was the last to close. It was given a reprieve until the end of February 1983.
The number of gas stations were whittled down to just three as the Co-op struggled to sell off its larger properties in a recession. Its operating losses for the 1983 year were nearly $3 million.11
The Co-op reverted to its roots as a fuel supplier, and operated a few gas stations with attached convenience stores. They hung on, though, and were able to turn the corner in 2013 after Sobeys Inc. purchased 213 Safeway stores across western Canada. To avoid overconcentration in the market, the federal Competition Bureau ruled that 23 of these stores had to be sold. Red River Co-op bought four of the Winnipeg properties, and in May of 2014 they opened grocery stores on Main Street, in Southdale, St. Vital, and Grant Avenue.12
It’s been uphill since, even through the difficult Covid shutdown.
Red River Co-op is a profitable and growing Winnipeg-based retail co-op. Their core business includes fuel and convenience stations, food stores, pharmacy, commercial cardlocks and bulk petroleum and propane service.
Formed in 1937, they are currently owned and governed by more than 312,000 members and share the profits and success with them and the communities they live in. They serve the communities of Winnipeg, Gimli, Stonewall, Selkirk, Oakbank, Lorette, Teulon, Niverville, Ste. Agathe, Kenora, Dryden, Selkirk and Stonewall with a total of 49 locations.13
Red River Co-op is poised to celebrate their 100th year in 2037. They remain dedicated to their original principles. Ongoing initiatives include promotion of local products, support of local charities, and the expansion of their network of EV charging stations.
After the 1958 store was sold, it almost became a bingo hall. Instead, it became a discount clearance centre. It operated as Caprice Distributing, Odd Lots, and the current ValuLots store that includes a pharmacy, housewares, clothing and groceries.
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| ValuLots in the former 1958 Co-op shopping centre [Google maps] |
The kids’ colouring corner is long gone, however.
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Sources (retrieved November 2, 2025)
- John Van Doren, “A Brief History of Heating and Cooling America’s Homes,” October 26, 2007. https://sunhomedesign.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/a-brief-history-of-heating-and-cooling-americas-homes/
- Herbert Johnson, “Chivalry,” c.1921, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Contro No. 2016682183. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/acd/2a09000/2a09400/2a09453r.jpg
- Joe Campolo Jr., “The Written Word of Joe Campolo Jr.” blog. https://namwarstory.com/2021/11/the-old-coal-furnace-published-in-happenings-magazine-smartreader-11-18-2021/
- keto, “how to get a coal furnace blazing” YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vspxl-qKFaQ
- Gary Merrick, “Nova Scotia – Memories of Days Gone By” Facebook, posted March 2, 2023.https://www.facebook.com/groups/NovaScotiaMemoriesOfDaysGoneBy/posts/3579543122279993/
- John Dobbin, “The History of Red River Co-op,” Access Winnipeg blog, November 12, 2019. https://accesswinnipeg.com/2019/11/the-history-of-red-river-co-op-in-winnipeg/#google_vignette
- Christian Cassidy, “Red River Co-op’s first foray into the grocery business (1958 - 1983)” West End Dumplings blog, February 14, 2014 (rev. July 2016). http://westenddumplings.blogspot.com/2014/02/red-river-co-ops-first-foray-into.html
- Red River Co-op, “75 Years of Service” YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJXOpNmxZHI#t=16
- Red River Co-op, “75 Years of Service” YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJXOpNmxZHI#t=16
- Arlene Andrews, Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/gayle.wing.9/photos/grand-opening-of-the-co-op-shopping-centre-at-ellice-ave-and-wall-st-1958/2880340112354065/
- Christian Cassidy, “Red River Co-op’s first foray into the grocery business (1958 - 1983)” West End Dumplings blog, February 14, 2014 (rev. July 2016). http://westenddumplings.blogspot.com/2014/02/red-river-co-ops-first-foray-into.html
- Axs Media Network Inc., “Four Co-Op Food Stores Opening in Winnipeg,” Access Winnipeg blog, May 14, 2014. https://accesswinnipeg.com/2014/05/four-co-op-food-stores-opening-in-winnipeg/
- Manitoba Cooperative Association Inc., “Who is Red River Co-op?” March 2021. https://manitoba.coop/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Red-River-Co-op-Final-Profile.pdf
- Red River Co-op, “75 Years of Service” YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJXOpNmxZHI#t=16
