Historic Sites of Manitoba: Swift Canadian Wholesale Market (312 William Avenue, Winnipeg)

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Photos & Coordinates | Sources

Formerly the site of a lumber yard beside the Roblin Hotel, this structure at the southeast corner of William Avenue at Adelaide Street in Winnipeg was built at a cost of about $58,000 by the firm of J. McDiarmid in 1911-1912. The three-storey brick, masonry, and reinforced concrete structure was built for the Swift Canadian Company Limited (SCCL), a wholesaler for an array of goods including meats, dairy, poultry, and other products. The company was formed when the Swifts Company of Chicago acquired J. Y. Giffin and Company a few years earlier and, in January 1911, renamed it as SCCL.

The basement had meat coolers, soaking vats, pickling facilities, fire pits for smoking meats along with water and heating utilities, coal fuel storage, and an engine room with a 25-ton direct motor compressor. On the first floor was a showroom, market sales area, offices, delivery facilities, and a large beef cooler with rail-hanging capacity for six train-car loads of beef. The second floor housed freezers, butter churning room, smoking room, and hanging and packing rooms. The third floor contained large freezers, egg candling room, along with further hanging and smoking rooms. On the roof was a cooling tower for the ammonia-based cooling system which ran throughout the building. Operational on-site capacity later expanded to include a creamery.

The building was unveiled to the public with a two-day opening sale on 12-13 April 1912. Among the hundreds who attended the opening were Winnipeg mayor Richard Deans Waugh and members of the Board of Control. The dignitaries were toured through the facility by local manager W. T. Warren, who showed them its machinery and refrigeration facilities.

A memorial tablet containing the names of 84 Swift Canadian employees who served during the First World War was unveiled on 8 April 1919 by Captain John W. Wilton at the company’s Elmwood plant. Nine of its Winnipeg employees were killed in action, a list of whom is given below. The tablet was eventually given to the Elmwood Legion (Branch No. 9) at 920 Nairn Avenue in Winnipeg.

Over the past century, the building as hosted a variety of occupants.

Photos & Coordinates

Swift Canadian Company at its opening (April 1912) Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 10 April 1912, page 9. Swift Canadian Creamery (no date) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Dairy Branch photograph album (A 0267), GR12085, G 1916. Swift Canadian Wholesale Market (July 2015) Source: Nathan Kramer Swift Canadian Wholesale Market (October 2022) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Swift Canadian Wholesale Market (October 2022) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Swift Canadian commemorative tablet for Firest World War casualties in the Elmwood Legion Branch No. 9 (April 2021) Source: Nathan Kramer Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89963, W97.14225 denoted by symbol on the map above

First World War Casualties

Name	Occupation	Service	Rank	Birth Date	Death Date
William Victor Atherford	Carpenter	7th Port Construction Company, Royal Engineers	Sapper	1882	7 October 1918
William Stanley Gordon Barker [St. Lukes]	Livestock Buyer	205th Training Depot Station, Royal Air Force	Second Lieutenant	15 September 1894	21 June 1918
William McMaster	Clerk	3rd Battalion, Canadian Machine Gun Corps	Private	16 October 1898	27 August 1918
Ernest Samuel Meyer [Next of Kin]	Credit Manager	8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	24 April 1886	9 August 1918
Ephraim D. Mitchell	Commercial Traveller	2nd Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery	Gunner	10 February 1887	15 September 1916
James Garfield Raine [Next of Kin, St. Giles]	Clerk	3rd Company, Canadian Machine Gun Corps	Private	20 September 1895	9 November 1917
Charles John Robertson	Cashier	27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Lance Corporal	20 November 1891	28 April 1918
James Robinson MM [Next of Kin]	Clerk	27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	9 August 1897	1 October 1918
Johan “Reilly” Zachary [Next of Kin]	Clerk	8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	14 August 1889	5 August 1917

Sources:

“Swift Canadian Co.” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 December 1910, page 5.

“Packing firm change,” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 December 1910, page 5.

“Permit has been issued for Sterling Bank Building,” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 August 1911, page 1.

“Formal opening,” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 April 1912, page 9.

“Wholesale market for Winnipeg,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 April 1912, page 5.

“Hundreds attend opening ceremony,” Winnipeg Tribune, 12 April 1912, page 6.

“Swifts to unveil memorial tablet,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 April 1919, page 12.

“Swifts honor fallen heroes,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 April 1919, Page 9.

We thank Glen Toews for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Darryl Toews.

Page revised: 29 March 2023

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