Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
's North End is a large urban area located to the north and northwest of
Downtown Winnipeg
Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the ...
.
[ Paskievich, John. The North End Revisited, Photographs by John Paskievich. University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg 2017.] It is bordered by the
Red River on the east, the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
(CPR) mainline on the south, the City of Winnipeg boundary (Brookside Boulevard) on the west and Jefferson Avenue, Keewatin Street, Carruthers Avenue, McGregor Street and the lane between McAdam and Smithfield Avenues on the north. It is the northern section of the City of Winnipeg as it existed prior to the
1972 municipal amalgamation. Winnipeg's northern suburbs such as
West Kildonan and
Old Kildonan are not considered part of the North End. The CPR mainline and its Winnipeg yards, which are one of the largest railway yards in the world, act as a physical barrier between the North End and the rest of Winnipeg to the south.
[Gourluck, Russ. The Mosaic Village, An Illustrated History of Winnipeg’s North End. Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, 2010, page 14.] This has resulted in the North End remaining a very distinct and unique part of Winnipeg.
The areas to the east of McPhillips Street are considered the Old North End, and were developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, while the areas to the west were generally developed in the 1940s and later. The North End is primarily residential, though there is some light industrial development in Inkster Industrial Park and adjacent to Oak Point Highway and Brookside Boulevard.
History
The site of the North End was part of the
Selkirk Settlement, which was established in 1812. The boundaries of the narrow farm lots surveyed by Peter Fidler early in the 19th century form many of the east-west streets in the North End, and many of these streets are named after settlers who lived in the area, such as Pritchard, Inkster, and Bannerman. The North End is located in the
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
Parish of St. John, and much of the North End was referred to as "St. John's" in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The
City of Winnipeg was incorporated, and its northern boundary was Burrows Avenue. Gradually the boundary of the City of Winnipeg was extended north and parts of the North End today are in the Parish of Kildonan. It is one of the oldest settled parts of Winnipeg. It was the location of
Fort Douglas
Fort Douglas (initially called Camp Douglas) was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah. Its purpose was to protect the overland mail route and te ...
, built by the
Selkirk settlers in 1812. The present-day North End was divided into long, narrow farming lots occupied by Selkirk Settlers.
The arrival of the
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...
to Winnipeg would have a significant impact on the development of the North End as a largely working class neighbourhood. The main railway passed through what was then the northern end of the small City of Winnipeg. The presence of this busy railroad and associated rail yards would effectively divide the North End from the rest of the city. As Winnipeg began to experience rapid growth in the late 19th century, the North End began to develop as a largely working class residential area, beginning in the 1880s. Streetcar service on Main Street commenced in 1892, although early patrons were forced to walk across the railway tracks for transportation to Downtown Winnipeg until completion of the Main Street underpass in 1904.
By the 1910s the area was heavily developed and had a large population of immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe. The area was known for its high incidences of extreme poverty and relatively high prevalence of diseases such as
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...
and
cholera
Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
. In the
Winnipeg General Strike
The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most famous and influential strikes in Canadian history. For six weeks, May 15 to June 26, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which at the ...
of 1919, the North End, as a working class area, was largely pro-strike.
[Penner, Norman (ed.). Winnipeg 1919: The strikers’ own history of The Winnipeg General Strike, Second Edition. James Lorimer & Company, Publishers, Toronto 1975.]
The area has long been acknowledged as the most socially deprived part of the city of Winnipeg. Parts of the area, especially east of McPhillips Street and south of Mountain Avenue are marked by high drug use and its associated crime and
gang violence
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends, or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collecti ...
. Since the 1980s, attempts to revitalize parts of the North End have been made with many grassroot organizations sprouting up along with many not-for-profit organizations. Together with neighbourhood grants and the grants through Manitoba Hydro, the area has seen a major improvement in its housing. Manitoba Hydro's grant alone accounted for a large number of homes to be totally insulated and have their furnaces upgraded.
The North End was considered Ward Three in the Old City of Winnipeg and historically voted for left of centre parties. It was represented by
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada. Founded in 1921 under conditions of illegality, it is the second oldest active political party in Canada, after the Liberal Party of Canada. Although it does not currentl ...
aldermen (
Jacob Penner and
Joseph Zuken) from 1933 to 1983. The area also elected communists
James Litterick and
Bill Kardash
William Arthur Kardash (June 10, 1912 – January 17, 1997) was a politician and member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1941 until 1958. He served as Winnipeg MLA from 1941 to 1958, as Worker's Candidate at first, then as a repres ...
to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly. From the 1990s until recently, the area has tended to support the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
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* The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...
in Federal elections.
Neighbourhoods
The boundaries of the North End contain 18 neighbourhoods:
North Point Douglas,
Lord Selkirk Park, Dufferin, Dufferin Industrial and William Whyte, which are parts of the Point Douglas South neighbourhood cluster, Mynarski, Burrows Central, Robertson, Inkster-Faraday, St John's, St. Johns Park and Luxton, which are parts of the Point Douglas North neighbourhood cluster, Weston Shops, Inkster Industrial, Burrows-Keewatin and Shaughnessy Park of the Inkster East neighbourhood cluster, and
Tyndall Park and Oak Point Highway of the Inkster West neighbourhood cluster. The neighborhoods in bold are a part of the "Old North End".
[Paquette, A.J., ''Markings : scenes and recollections of Winnipeg's North End'', Loch & Mayberry Fine Art Inc., Winnipeg, 1995.]
Crime
In 2011, there were 18 homicides in the North End alone, making a rate per 100,000 people at 32.6,
[ ] but the following year there were 6, making the rate 10.2. Midway through 2013, dropped to 7.2. In 2018, there were 8 homicides in North End, making the homicide rate 14.4
In the Old North End in 2012, there were 374 robberies (1175.0 per 100,000 residents), 352 auto thefts (1105.9), 624 break-ins (1960.4) and 17 shootings (53.4).
[Crime in Winnipeg by Neighbourhoods (2012)](_blank)
, info gathered fro
CrimeStat
Retrieved December 3rd, 2013
Although the North End is infamous for its crime rates to Winnipeggers, crime in the North End, especially violent crimes, are much more densely concentrated in its southern and eastern halves: south of Mountain Avenue and east of Arlington Street, which constitute the neighborhoods of Dufferin, Lord Selkirk Park, North Point Douglas and William Whyte. The table below shows the crime rates of various crimes in each of the North End neighborhoods. The crime data spans 5 years from the year 2017 to the year 2021. The rates are ''crimes per 100,000 residents per year''.
Demographics
The population of the North End according to the 2006 Census, is 55,240 people (Old North End: 31,830).
Famous people
Game show host and producer
Monty Hall
Monty Hall (born Monte Halparin; August 25, 1921 – September 30, 2017) was a Canadian-American radio and television show host who moved to the United States in 1955 to pursue a career in broadcasting. After working as a radio newsreade ...
, novelists
Adele Wiseman, comedian
David Steinberg
David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid-1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on ...
, journalist
, politician
Lloyd Axworthy, musician
Burton Cummings of
the Guess Who
The Guess Who was a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1965. The band found their greatest success in the late 1960s and early 1970s, under the leadership of singer/keyboardist Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman, wit ...
, scientist
Louis Slotin, Olympian
Martin Riley and
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
players
Bill Mosienko and
Terry Sawchuk
Terrance Gordon Sawchuk (December 28, 1929 – May 31, 1970) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kin ...
.
References
http://www.winnipeghomicide.org/maps.html
External links
Ted Baryluk's GroceryThe Jews of Winnipeg
{{WinnipegNeighbourhoods
Jewish communities in Canada
Jews and Judaism in Winnipeg
Neighbourhoods in Winnipeg
Ukrainian-Canadian culture in Manitoba
Urban decay in Canada