Vignettes
/ The Exchange
District / Main
Woodbine Hotel
Enlarge text: smaller | larger
Winnipeg’s first hotel, “The Royal Hotel,” was
opened in 1859 by Henry McKenney and was situated between
McDermot and Bannatyne Avenues, east of Main Street. By
the mid 1870s, there were over thirty-two hotels when the
population of Winnipeg was less than 8,000.
The Woodbine Hotel origins date back to these early frontier
days when it was known as Dufferin Hall. Built by Peter
Sutherland in 1878 at a cost of $1,000 Dufferin Hall was
a two-storey wood frame building 22 feet wide and about
twice as long. By 1881 it was sold and its name was changed
to the Woodbine to appeal to expatriates from eastern Canada
familiar with the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. Apparently,
it was only a saloon, with no rooms to let, so when Edward
H. Hebb bought the hotel in 1889, a dining room and billiard
hall were established on the second floor.
