Of Bookish Things<p>Winnipeg made <a href="https://c.im/tags/Skyscraper" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Skyscraper</span></a> history 120 years ago with tower once tallest in Canada</p><p>Winnipeg&#39;s Main Street in the early <a href="https://c.im/tags/1900s" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>1900s</span></a> was still mostly mud and <a href="https://c.im/tags/prairie" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>prairie</span></a> gumbo, crosshatched by narrow wagon wheel tracks — vestiges of a frontier past as it teetered on the cusp of becoming one of <a href="https://c.im/tags/NorthAmerica" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NorthAmerica</span></a>&#39;s most robust cities.</p><p>In spring #1903 it crossed that threshold. That&#39;s when the corner of Main and William Avenue, the edge of a former creek bed, was chosen as the site for what would become western Canada&#39;s first skyscraper.</p><p>Construction of the Union Bank building marked a leap forward for the young city. Though it stood just 11 storeys tall, it towered over the two-and-three-storey buildings fronting Main.</p><p>When completed in November #1904, it was the second-tallest building in the <a href="https://c.im/tags/BritishEmpire" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BritishEmpire</span></a>. And for the next two years it was the tallest building in Canada.</p><p>&quot;It is odd to reflect that the site which will be covered by this big modern block was, not long ago, the bank of a <a href="https://c.im/tags/Coulee" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Coulee</span></a> or gully. The whole site of the city was either coulee or swamp,&quot; stated an article on May 23, 1903.</p><p><a href="https://c.im/tags/UrbanLandscape" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>UrbanLandscape</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Manitoba" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Manitoba</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Canada" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Canada</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/CanadianHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CanadianHistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/UrbanHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>UrbanHistory</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/History" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>History</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/CanadianGeography" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CanadianGeography</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Geography" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Geography</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Environment</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/UrbanPlanning" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>UrbanPlanning</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Winnipeg" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Winnipeg</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/HistoricalPhotographs" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>HistoricalPhotographs</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Photography" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Photography</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/HeritagePhotographs" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>HeritagePhotographs</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/union-bank-building-history-skyscraper-winnipeg-1.6838581" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/un</span><span class="invisible">ion-bank-building-history-skyscraper-winnipeg-1.6838581</span></a></p>