| Winnipeg 1912 Contributor(s): Blanchard, Jim (Author) |
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ISBN: 0887556841 ISBN-13: 9780887556845 Publisher: University of Manitoba Press OUR PRICE: $26.06 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2005 Annotation: 1912 was a red-letter year for Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dubbed the "Chicago of the North," Winnipeg was the boom town of boom towns dominated by the technology of the day: 27 different rail lines and the world's largest rail yards controlled by a single company; 300 electric street cars rumbling from city centre to the growing suburbs; motor cars and taxis dominated the city streets; and coal-fired furnaces warmed the homes of the city's upper classes. Overwhelmingly a commercial city, Winnipeg became for a time the metropolis of the west until the rumblings of the First World War ended the flow of investments, and immigration, construction and economic activity ground to a halt. Beautifully illustrated with period photographs, Winnipeg 1912: Diary of a city is a lively and entertaining account of a vibrant and prosperous city unaware of its impending demise. Author Jim Blanchard follows the activities of Winnipeg's business and community leaders over the course of the 12 months of 1912, revealing in intimate detail the day-to-day life of the burgeoning metropolitan centre of western Canada. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Canada - Post-confederation (1867-) - History | Social History |
| Dewey: 971.274 |
| Physical Information: 0.69" H x 6.34" W x 8.22" (1.01 lbs) 278 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Canadian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: At the beginning of the last century, no city on the continent was growing faster or was more aggressive than Winnipeg. No year in the city's history epitomized this energy more that 1912, when Winnipeg was on the crest of a period of unprecedented prosperity. In just forty years, it had grown from a village on the banks of the Red River to become the third largest city in Canada. In the previous decade alone, its population had tripled to nearly 170,000 and it now dominated the economy and society of western Canada. As Canada's most cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse centre, with most of its population under the age of forty, it was also the country's liveliest city, full of bustle and optimism. In Winnipeg 1912 Jim Blanchard guides readers on a tour through this golden year when, as the Chicago Tribune proclaimed, "all roads lead to Winnipeg." Beginning early New Year's Day, as the city's high society rang in 1912 at the Royal Alexandra Hotel, he visits the public and private side of the "Chicago of the North." He looks into the opulent mansions of the city's new elite and into its political backrooms, as well as into the crowded homes of Winnipeg's immigrant North End. From the excited crowds at the summer Exhibition to the turbulent floor of the Grain Exchange, Blanchard gives us a vivid picture of daily life in this fast-paced city of new millionaires and newly arrived immigrants. Richly illustrated with more than seventy period photographs, Winnipeg 1912 captures a time and place that left a lasting impression on Canadian history and culture. |
Contributor Bio(s): Blanchard, Jim: - Jim Blanchard is the Head of Reference Services at Elizabeth Dafoe Library at the University of Manitoba. He is a former president of the Manitoba Historical Society and is the author of Winnipeg's Great War: A City Comes of Age and Winnipeg 1912, and is the editor of A Thousand Miles of Prairie: The Manitoba Historical Society and the History of Western Canada. |