Vignettes
/Greater Winnipeg / Adelaide-Forks
Free Press Building
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Founded by William Fisher Luxton and
John A. Kenny, the Winnipeg Free Press has long served
as the voice of the West. A cramped, clapboard shack at
555 Main Street was the first home of the paper. Beginning
as an eight-page weekly newspaper on November 9, 1972,
by year's end the Free Press had a circulation of nearly
1,200. Less than two years after its first issue, the paper
had become popular enough to reorganize into two publications:
the four-page Daily Free Press and the Free Press Prairie
Farmer.
Relocating to an area on McDermot Avenue populated with other
newspapers. This block was known as "Newspaper Row" and
was an attraction to citizens who would congregate outside
the offices of the Manitoba Free Press, the Winnipeg Telegram
or the Winnipeg Tribune to read the latest news posted on
the walls or shouted through megaphones.
