The story of Belvidere and Portage

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/11/2016 (3315 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the 1860s, Robert Tait and his wife Jane — daughter of Assiniboia councillor John Inkster — built a home at Portage Avenue and Belvidere Street.

It was a beautiful brick home with solid oak flooring and walnut paneling. The Taits  lived in the home for the rest of their lives.

Robert Tait was a man of many accomplishments. Prior to Manitoba’s 1870 entry into confederation, there were tense negotiations and Tait was involved as the St. James delegate. On New Year’s Day, 1870, a horse race on river ice, which was won by Tait’s horse, helped to ease the tension.

Tait is credited with bringing several innovations to the Red River Valley, including the reaping machine, the horse-powered threshing machine, and a grist mill with a windmill near the front of his home.

His businesses included a ferry service, fur-trading store, and a farm. In 1873, he was a founding member of the Winnipeg Board of Trade and his 1912 funeral was one of the largest in Manitoba’s history. He deserves more historical recognition.

In the late 1930s, the Taits’ beautiful brick home was demolished. In 1944, the property was purchased by Deer Lodge United Church. Between 1946 and 1962, the church was built in several phases, and I fondly remember their teen dances.

In the last half of the 1970s, the Tot Shop Day Care (later known as Horizon Day Care) opened in one of the church buildings. The church closed in 2004 and the daycare relocated in 2006.

The last decade has not been kind to this corner. Strong community and political opposition nixed a large hotel proposal that was totally unsuited for the site. It would have created traffic problems and worsened the neighbourhood’s parking problems (which are due in part to the area’s proximity to Assiniboine Park).

In March 2012, demolition of the church buildings commenced and it was two-and-a-half years before it was completed. In the meantime, the site became Winnipeg’s No. 1 unsafe eyesore, which is ironic because the word ‘belvidere’ actually means ‘beautiful site.’ Both the City and the provincial department of workplace safety and health had to intervened to clean up the site, and I will never forget watching water from the site being pumped onto Portage Avenue during an evening rush hour.

I have a lifelong interest in Belvidere Street. My parents were married in my grandparents’ Belvidere Street home and my family has donated a memorial bench to Assiniboine Park, just on the other side of Portage Avenue, in memory of my uncle, Tom Bjarnason, a famous Canadian artist. 

I hope that this corner can once again become vibrant and I would like to one day meet the descendents of Robert Tait.

Fred Morris is a community correspondent for St. James. Reach him at fredmorris@hotmail.com