© 2026, Christian Cassidy
Often I will see an old photo or ad and spend some time digging into its back story. Sometimes I find a great story, sometimes not. Either way, I learn a few things about the city's history. Here's my latest attempt. For more Behind the Photo posts.
The photo "Butcher's Turnout in market Square" was taken by pioneer photographer Israel Bennetto on July 15, 1887. A larger version can be found here in the City of Winnipeg Archives.
The image shows around 75 people, many on horseback, posing outside a building on a dirt road. We know that many of these people are butchers thanks to Bennetto's caption at the bottom of the image.
Israel Bennetto was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1860 and came to Winnipeg in 1880. He soon opened Bennetto and Co. photography studio on Main Street and was one of just four or five five photography firms listed in the street directories of the early 1880s.
Bennetto likely made his money in portrait photography, but sometimes took images of events or streetscences that could be cut down into postcards and sold at his studio.
You can read more about Bennetto in this post.
If you look at the window of the building the men are in front of it says Seymour House.
This was a large and popular hotel located north of City Hall overlooking the Market Building with an address of 37 Market Avenue West. It opened around 1884 and was owned by popular hotelier James Baird.
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The hotel didn't look like these images back in 1887. Like many pre-1900 hotels, like the Winnipeg and Woodbine, it started off small and grew over time with the city's fortunes.
A November 1890 Tribune story noted that, " ... Baird has begun the improvements to the Seymour House. The portion formerly used as an implement office and warehouse will be fitted up as a barber shop and sitting room. Next year, Mr. Baird will erect a three-storey brick addition to the hotel."
July 13, 1887, Manitoba Free Press
Why were these butchers gathering at Seymour House on July 15, 1887?
To celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, or 50 years on the throne, cities, towns, and villages across the Commonwealth held a day of celebrations, and Winnipeg was no different. The largest event was a "monster parade" that began at 1 pm at the CPR Station on Main Street and went to Broadway.
The parade's grand marshal was Fire Chief William McDobbie, and his fire brigade was at the head of the line. They were followed by a marching band, the Winnipeg Rowing Club, fourteen horse teams from various transfer/moving companies, and then a "mounted corps of butchers".
After the butchers there were more bands, other industry groups and trade unions, and "civic groups", like the St. Andrew's Society.
A Winnipeg Free Press review of the parade noted that, “It was not quite such a monster affair as visitors from large cities might have looked for”, but that it represented the city well.
As for the butchers, the review said that there were about 60 men on horseback and more in a pair of covered wagons with the motto "We Kill to Live" on the sides. It quipped that the turnout wasn't representative of the industry, as there weren't that many butchers in the city. Cowboys and "employees in the various departments of the butchering business" are what swelled the numbers.
As Seymour House is half-way through the parade route, it is unclear if the butchers gathered at the hotel before the parade for lunch and no doubt a few beverages, or if this was post-parade.
The Jubilee celebration gave Winnipeggers a civic holiday, and with July 15th being a Friday, it became a long weekend.
Other events were planned for the 15th and 16th, including a lacrosse tournament, an international regatta between the Winnipeg and Minnesota rowing clubs, and a 500-member choir Jubilee Concert at Grace Church.
Winnipeg hoped that the weekend would attract tourists from surrounding communities and even the U.S.A. It published a 23-page visitor's souvenir jubilee guide booklet for the occasion, which you can read in full here.
Bennetto's wonderful photograph is crisp and clear. He had a very patient group of butchers!
This is a photo you could spend a lot of time exploring to see the faces and fashions of 1887 working men. Here are just a few things I noticed:
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