Wedding photo sparks memories of Elmwood
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/11/2021 (1411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A picture speaks much more than words about the earlier days of Elmwood and its dynamic bustle along Henderson Highway.
Rodney Mitenko says it was Sat., June 26, 1954, when his parents posed on the steps of the Elmwood Building before their wedding reception was to begin inside at the Elmwood Community Hall on the second floor. They had just exchanged vows at Holy Eucharist Church on Watt Street at Larsen Avenue, in a building now demolished after a much larger church was built at the corner of Munroe Avenue and Watt that Mitenko attended while growing up in the neighbourhood.
Readers might recognize the handsome Elmwood Building at 189 Henderson Hwy., although its impressive neon sign is no longer there.
I can only imagine the swirl of activity at this corner. The Elmwood Building opened in 1929 as residential and professional office space with the popular hall upstairs. It has since been renovated into prime residential units.
Next door to south, where JC’s Tacos and More restaurant now resides, was Postal Station F, built in 1935 by the federal government, where locals picked up their mail. One can only guess at how many eyes glanced at the public message board that remains on its north wall.
Another door down, at 185 Henderson Ave., is the stately house that was the home of the famous Hamilton family, with office space for Dr. T. G. Hamilton’s medical practice. T.G’s son Glen continued a medical practice there until his retirement in 1980.
For the happy couple in the photograph, 551 Jamison Ave. was the home where they raised four boys, close to the East End Cultural Centre where Mitenko and his brothers spent many happy hours. The family later moved to 340 Bronx Ave.
Mitenko remembers fondly that, sometime around 1970, he went downtown to see a movie with his friends. Spending their allowances, he and his friends had to walk home. It began raining hard as they passed by Hamilton House, where they ducked for cover on its spacious front porch.
Suddenly, recalls Mitenko, the front door opened and a pleasant older lady greeted them. After he explained why they were there, she re-emerged with a plate of cookies for the boys.
Mitenko thinks this might have been Phyllis, Dr. Glen Hamilton’s wife.
Hamilton House was recently purchased by the owner of Gags Unlimited, who will relocate her business there along with a plan to open AirBnB apartments on the upper floors where the Hamiltons once lived, among the very rooms where the historic psychic research took place seeking evidence of the spirit world.
Shirley Kowalchuk is a Winnipeg writer who loves her childhood home of East Kildonan where she still resides. She can be reached at sakowalchuk1@gmail.com
Shirley Kowalchuk
East Kildonan community correspondent
Shirley Kowalchuk is a Winnipeg writer who loves her childhood home of East Kildonan, where she still resides. She can be reached at sakowalchuk1@gmail.com
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Shirley Kowalchuk
East Kildonan community correspondent
Shirley Kowalchuk is a Winnipeg writer who loves her childhood home of East Kildonan, where she still resides. She can be reached at sakowalchuk1@gmail.com
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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