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Clothing reflects boom years

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Published: July 25, 2002

Winnipeg was truly a city of dreams at the start of the 20th century.

As the population boomed, the city prospered and became a financial,

manufacturing and grain trading centre for the West.

Its period of prosperity is well told in the period dress displayed at

the Costume Museum of Canada in Dugald, Man., until September.

Dark long skirts and easily laundered white shirts of working women

sought to conceal the day’s dirt while elaborate evening attire was

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worn to grand balls, like the opening of the Hotel Fort Garry in 1913.

The hotel, located close to Union Rail Station, the legislature and

residences of Winnipeg’s wealthy on a tree-lined street, attracted the

glitter of beads and jewels of the elite and harkened the city’s coming

of age as more than a pioneer town.

“In such a building as this we cannot claim any longer to be pioneers,”

said Douglas Cameron, the lieutenant-governor of the day.

Men wore formal white ties, suits with tailcoats or cutaways and vests

in black with white shirts and ties. Women wore long gowns with trains,

decorated with beads, sequins or other fancy trim that left their necks

and arms bare.

Proper attire for Winnipeg’s Walker Theatre was almost as formal.

Travelling theatre groups, vaudeville, opera, theatrics and early

movies, even Charlie Chaplin, made their way through Winnipeg, playing

the Bijou, the Orpheum, the Pantages, the Walker, the Winnipeg, the

Grand and the Dominion.

The Walker opened in 1907 and could accommodate up to 2,000 people. It

became known as the site of the mock parliament held Jan. 29, 1914,

when Women of the Political Equality League presented a parody in which

disenfranchised men pleaded for the male vote.

Keeping up appearances was much more elaborate than today. Some might

spend as much on a hat as they would for a stove, about $10, to wear to

a special function. To go outside without headgear was like leaving

home with no underwear.

Spring usually meant it was time to buy a new hat at the Hudson’s Bay

store, the world’s oldest continuous commercial enterprise, dating back

to the 1600s. By early 1900, its old trading posts had evolved into

retail outlets, with the Winnipeg store reflecting the latest fashions.

A woman could buy her hat fully adorned or purchase decorative beads

and feathers and make her own imprint on an old or new hat.

Afternoon teas for women were commonplace, with gloves and hats worn

and small bite-sized dainties offered that would not mark silk gloves.

Those teas produced many meaningful tasks by groups like the Imperial

Order of Daughters of the Empire and Victorian Order of Nurses.

Philanthropy thrived during this time.

Winnipeg was a wealthy city, with its prosperity due to the grain trade

and British investment. Its population swelled to 200,000 in 1914 from

38,000 in 1900.

Most of Winnipeg’s wealthy could be described as self-made

millionaires, rising to success through hard work, luck and the ability

to capitalize on opportunities. Often they were simply in the right

place at the right time.

Augustus Meredith Nanton was one of Winnipeg’s 19 millionaires, with

his house, Kilmorie, considered one of the city’s showpieces.

On the city’s main business districts, women moved about in two-piece

wool serge suits topped off by hats. Streetcars, horses, people hurried

along and Winnipeg police, in their “bobby” hats, maintained law and

order.

Standard attire for men was a dark three-piece suit. A few wore

knickers and most wore hats.

The Winnipeg Grain Exchange, as it became known by 1908, built a new

building the next year. It handled a large cash market of more than 188

million bushels of wheat in North America.

Portage Avenue and Main Street the heart of Winnipeg’s business

district, were planned and laid out 40 metres wide, as part of a

ambitious plan by the city fathers.

Away from the office at sportier outings, people travelled to City

Park, first purchased as part of Winnipeg’s beautification plan in

1904, and now known as Assiniboine Park.

Women strolled about in lacy summer gowns, with parasols shading their

complexions. Men looked natty in their linen suits and straw boaters.

Children dressed more practically in cotton dresses or suits.

Trains were the main method of travel in the 1900s. Most travellers

wore sturdy clothing in dark colours. The rich would have private

compartments or their own cars and travelled with their luggage. Many

went to Montreal or New York and onward by boat to Europe.

The middle class might choose a sleeper car but the poor travelled

upright and took care of their own bags.

European immigrants came to Winnipeg via train from the United States

and Ontario, looking to new settlements out West.

Winnipeg’s Union Station had offices for colonization and immigration

to handle the many immigrants passing through. Built in 1911, it

featured separate waiting rooms for men and women and a general waiting

room for both.

By 1914, Winnipeg’s boom slowed. Immigration continued but fewer

building were erected as the city’s heyday slowly came to an end.

The Panama Canal opened in 1912 and allowed grain to be shipped west

and down to the canal and to Europe. That changed freight rates, once

favourable to Winnipeg.

Britain diverted its investment money from Winnipeg to fight a war in

the Balkans. As Britain entered an economic slump, so too did Winnipeg.

The First World War began, further weakening Winnipeg’s fortunes.

About the author

Karen Morrison

Saskatoon newsroom

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