Grant Park is a neighborhood in the River Heights area of southern Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its general boundaries are Grant Avenue to the north, Stafford Street to the east, the CNR Mainline to the south, and Cambridge Street to the west.
History
The Grant Park neighborhood was one of the last areas in the former City of Winnipeg to develop. The land around what would become Grant Avenue—now one of Grant Park’s most famous streets—was first created with the introduction of the Harte Subdivision for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (later Canadian National Railway) in 1908. 7 When the ground of the railway track sank between Pembina Highway and Cambridge Street, the builders had to refix it with cement, rocks, and gravel. This track was later declared surplus and sold to the City. The tracks were removed, the ground was redone, the street expanded to include a service road and renamed Grant Avenue. Bed Bug Exterminator Winnipeg
From the early 1900s to 1960, some areas along the rail line in present-day Grant Avenue became home to a Métis shanty town known as Rooster Town. At its peak in the 1930s, Rooster Town reached from Winnipeg’s Stafford Street to Lindsay Street. Following World War II, with the uniquely fast rate at which Winnipeg was suburbanizing, development on cheap land just north of Rooster Town led to new homes beginning to infringe on Rooster Town territory. In 1949, the children of Rooster Town saw their first opportunity to receive an education with Rockwood School’s construction in the settlement’s northeast corner.
In the late 1950s, residents of Rooster Town were pressured to relocate their homes to make way for the construction of a new shopping center, today’s Grant Park Shopping Centre. In 1959, the remaining residents were evicted, and their homes were burnt or torn down. The neighborhood around the schools became more organized because of Rockwood School and Grant Park High School (which opened in 1959). Finally, by the early 1960s, Rooster Town was absorbed by a new middle-class suburb of ratepayers.
In the late 1960s, construction for the Grant Park Shopping Centre complex was complete; it originally featured Woolco, Gambles, Safeway, and Dominion stores. The Pan Am Pool was also built so Winnipeg, MB could host the 1967 Pan American Games. Until 2006, Pan Am was home to the Canadian Aquatic Hall of Fame. Also, around the same time the shopping center and pool were being constructed, various mid-rise and high-rise apartment buildings were being built. Some of the apartment blocks have undergone significant interior and exterior renovations.
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