The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1984, Side 18

16
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SUMMER, 1984
AN HISTORIC TOUR OF “ICELANDIC
WINNIPEG”
by Eric Jonasson
Many people today, regardless of their
backgrounds and upbringing, have a notice-
able aversion to the study of history. In
many cases, this reluctance to delve into
the past has been acquired or reinforced by
our school system — which often tended to
place a stronger emphasis on “memo-
rizing” history rather than on “experi-
encing” history. In recent years, however,
governments and private organizations
have been doing more to create “living
history” — building pioneer villages
which depict day-to-day life during pre-
vious eras, providing interpretive centres at
our historical parks to add more meaning to
these sites, remodelling historical buildings
to create an atmosphere of history yet
making them functional structures for
today’s world, organizing walking and
driving tours to historical locations so that
people can visit the actual sites where
history was made, to name but a few.
These parks, villages, sites and tours are
now being sought out by more and more
people, many of whom would never dream
of looking between the covers of a history
book for any reason!
Icelanders first arrived in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, in October 1875, and have been
part of the history of the city since that
time. In the years before 1900, the Ice-
landers were a relatively large and notice-
able ethnic group in Winnipeg, often con-
stituting 5- 10% of the total population of
the city. Even during the first half of the
20th century, after the influx of other
immigrants diluted their numeric impor-
tance in the city, the Icelanders managed to
retain their cultural uniqueness as a group
by concentrating in specific neighbour-
hoods. Although the mobility of the civic
population since the end of the Second
World War has resulted in the general
disappearance of a purely Icelandic district
in Winnipeg, the ethnic group still tends to
cling to its “traditional” neighbourhood in
the old “West End”, with others moving
westward from here into the outlying
suburbs. Even today, Winnipeg is still
regarded as having the largest urban con-
centration of Icelanders outside of Iceland
itself — a claim which has been generally
undisputed for at least a century!
This tour of selected historical sites
traces the general movements and history
of the Icelanders in Winnipeg from their
arrival in 1875. It encompasses a relatively
large territory, and to drive it without
stopping will take at least one hour in light
traffic. However, to get the greatest benefit
from the tour, it is best to allow at least
two/three hours (or more), and to expect to
stop on several occasions to experience the
sites on foot. To avoid traffic congestion,
Sunday is probably the best time to take the
tour, and taking along a general map of the
city will reduce the possibility of getting
hopelessly lost. A map showing the tour
route and the historical sites is also in-
cluded in this article. The site numbers
used on this map correspond with the
numbers used below for the descriptions of
the sites. Have fun!
* * *
Start the tour at the Manitoba Legis-
lative Buildings (corner of Broadway Ave.
and Memorial Bovd.). Travel east along
Broadway to the corner of Broadway and
Kennedy St., passing
1. STATUE OF JON SIGURDSSON,
1811-79 (Legislative Building grounds)