The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1984, Qupperneq 28

26
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SUMMER, 1984
nant of the Icelandic businesses which
once dominated this block. “Bjoms-
son’s Book Shop and Bindery” (at 702
Sargent in 1945) was only one of a
great many practitioners of the used
book trade who established themselves
at some time or another along Sargent
Ave. Across the street (at 695) was the
“Columbia Press”, where “Logberg”
(one of the two Icelandic-language
weeklies) was published from 1923
until its amalgamation with “Heims-
kringla” in 1959.
42. HONG SING LAUNDRY (715 Sar-
gent Ave.). Although this is obviously
not a distinctly Icelandic business, it
certainly must have received its share
of patronage from the Icelanders along
Sargent, and its walls must have wit-
nessed many conversations 'on Ice-
landic affairs during the heyday of the
Icelandic community in the area. Estab-
lished by the end of the First World
War, this laundry was still in operation
as late as 1959.
Driving west along Sargent, turn left
(south) at Home St. Just after you turn, you
will see a small apartment block on your
right. This is
43. JON BJARNASON ACADEMY
BUILDING (652 Home St., south of
Sargent Ave.). The Jon Bjamason
Academy (est. 1913) was the first and
only Icelandic-language high school in
North America. This building, the first
“permanent” home for the Academy,
was built in 1923, and served the Ice-
landic community until it was closed
in 1940. The present building now
houses several apartments. The Acad-
emy complimented and later replaced
(1927) a program in Icelandic which
had begun at Wesley College in 1901.
Secondary and post-secondary instruc-
tion in Icelandic ceased after the Acad-
emy was closed in 1940. Since 1952/53
courses in Icelandic have been offered
at the University of Manitoba (the
Chair in Icelandic Studies was created
at this university when the Icelandic
community raised a sufficient amount
of money to establish an ‘ ‘endowment
fund” for this purpose in 1951). The
Icelandic Collection (part of the Eliza-
beth Dafoe Library complex) at the
University of Manitoba contains the
largest collection of Icelandic-language
publications in Canada. Recently, both
the University of Manitoba and the
Winnipeg School Division No. 1 have
been offering evening courses in Ice-
landic for interested people.
At Home St. and Ellice Ave., turn right
(west) along Ellice. You will pass
44. SKJALDBORG CONGREGATION
SITE (NW comer Ellice and Burnell
St.). This Lutheran congregation built
a church on this site in 1913 to accom-
modate those people in the “West End”
who lived a considerable distance from
First Lutheran Church (then located at
Sherbrook and McDermot). It was
served by Rev. Runolfur Marteinsson
st first, and was also the first site of
the Jon Bjamason Academy (1913-15)
under the direction of Rev. Marteins-
son. The church was disbanded in
1923 and merged with First Lutheran
Church after the latter moved to its
new location on Victor St.
Turn right (north) at Garfield St., and
follow it north to Sargent Ave.
45. BIRTHPLACE OF THE “ICE-
LANDIC-CANADIAN” MAGA-
ZINE (869 Garfield St.). This site
was the home of Hjalmur F. and
Holmfridur (Freda) Danielson, two
strong figures in the establishment of
the “Icelandic-Canadian” magazine.
Their home was long the centre of
magazine activity, and is the acknowl-
edged birthplace of the periodical.