Celebrating Manitoba Black History

Over the years, I have written about many prominent people and places that celebrate the history of Manitoba's Black community. Here are the links all in one place!

At the Black History Manitoba website, you can find out more about upcoming events and projects. 

Hewburn Nathaniel Greenidge (1893-1921) came to Winnipeg in 1913 to enroll at the Manitoba Medical College. The war interrupted his studies, but in 1920, he became the first Black to graduate from the University of Manitoba and Manitoba's first Black doctor.

- H. N. Greenidge: Manitoba's first Black doctor West End Dumplings

Norman and Sarah Lewsey came to Winnipeg from Guyana in 1908. They raised a large family and welcomed many newcomers from their home country as lodgers in their home. 

- Norman and Sarah Lewsey West End Dumplings

Percy Haynes (1911-1992) is one of my favourite personalities from Winnipeg's past. He was a star athlete, celebrated musician, the first Black to serve in the Royal Canadian Navy, and an all-around community leader. He is best remembered for Haynes' Chicken Shack, the long-time Lulu Street restaurant / night spot that played host to the likes of Harry Belafonte and Oscar Peterson.

- Percy Haynes West End Dumplings (an expanded version in the Free Press)
- 257 Lulu Street Winnipeg Places
- Farewell to 257 Lulu Street West End Dumplings

Billy Beal (1874-1968) was a Renaissance man who settled in the Swan River region in 1906. He was the long-time secretary of the local school division, an amateur astronomer, the doctor's helper, and ran the region's first library using his own vast collection of books.

- Swan River's Billy Beal (an expanded version in the Free Press)
- Every inch a Gentleman Winnipeg Free Press
- On the trail of Billy Beal West End Dumplings

George Beckford (1890-1976) seemed reluctant to become a railway porter, one of the few jobs dominated by Blacks in early Winnipeg. In the end, he spent 34 years with the CNR and became a respected local labour leader.

- Labour Leader George Beckford
- Longtime porter became labour leader, pillar of black community Winnipeg Free Press

Reverend Dr. Joseph T. Hill (1877-1949) was a southern American preacher who spent many summers as a popular guest preacher at predominantly white churches in Winnipeg in the 1920s and 1940s. He is credited with founding Pilgrim Baptist, Winnipeg's first Black church.

- Rev. J. T. Hill, his Winnipeg summers, and the founding of Pilgrim Baptist Church

Winnipeg's Aaron Black Jr. (1945- ) is often overlooked when celebrating early Black hockey pioneers, largely because he spent his career in the WHA, not the NHL. He is considered the second Black professional hockey player and the first to score a hat trick at the pro level.

- Aaron Black Jr.: The second Black professional hockey player

Photographer L. B. Foote took this photo of the Railway Porters' Band of Winnipeg on the front steps of the Bank of Montreal Building at Portage and Main in 1922. I was curious to find out the backstory of what turned out to be a short-lived part of Winnipeg's musical history.

- Behind the Photo: Railway Porters' Band of Winnipeg West End Dumplings

The nondescript Craig Block on Main Street is one of the few remaining buildings directly associated with Winnipeg's early Black community. In 1922, it became home of the locally organized Order of Sleeping Car Porters, which some claim is the first Black union in North America. Other Black organizations joined it and the building became a community hub.

- Craig Block, 795 Main Street Winnipeg Places

Many Black celebrities have dropped in on Winnipeg over the decades. Here is the backstory of some of these visits.

- Duke Ellington, Omar Williams, and their Banning St. jam session West End Dumplings
- The day Sammy Davis Jr. came to town West End Dumplings
- Jesse Owens at Osborne Stadium (an expanded version in the Free Press)

H. N. Greenidge: Manitoba's first Black doctor

 © 2026, Christian Cassidy. Please respect my research.

May 20, 1920, Winnipeg Tribune

Hewburn Nathaniel "Hubert" Greenidge made Manitoba history three times. Once in 1913, when he became the first Black student to enroll at the Manitoba Medical College, again in 1920 when he became the first Black student to graduate from any of the University of Manitoba's colleges. As a medical graduate, he also became Manitoba's first Black doctor.

Greenidge was here for a short time, and sadly had a short life, but he relied on a network of friends, family, and expats from his home country to achieve his goals.

Here's a look back at his story. For more of my Black History Month posts.

October 15, 1913, Winnipeg Free Press

A small item in the Winnipeg Tribune of October 13, 1913, noted that earlier that day, the "Manitoba Medical College has its first negro student, H. J. Greenridge (sic), a native of British Guiana." A couple of days later, the Winnipeg Free Press said he was the first Black student to enroll at any of the U of M's colleges, though the present-day U of M does not claim the first to enroll, just the first to graduate.

The Manitoba Medical College building he attended still stands on Bannatyne Avenue, now known as the Medical Services building.  

Greenidge was born in Georgetown, the capital of British Guiana (known as Guyana since 1966), on November 1, 1893. This family post on Instagram says he was the eldest of seven children and that the "four oldest were sent to Canada to live with their mother’s sisters who had emigrated from Barbados in the 1890s."

It is unclear when the Greenidge children came to this country. That last name cannot be found in Canadian census records of 1906 or 1911. 

As a young man, Greenidge traveled to England, where he attended extension lectures at the Cambridge College of Preceptors. He opted to enroll at the Manitoba Medical College to "see what Winnipeg had to offer". 

Greendige's first Winnipeg workplace and Lewsey, his first landlord

Greenidge's name appears for the first time in Winnipeg in the 1913 edition of Henderson's Street Directory, the data for which would have been compiled in 1912. His occupation is listed as a shoe shiner at the Sterling Bank Barber Shop. It was owned by E. L. Doerr and located in the basement of the newly opened Sterling Bank Building on Portage Avenue.

As for his place of residence, Greenidge is renting a room in a duplex located at 526 Simcoe Street in the West End. The owner of the house was Norman B. Lewsey, who also worked as a shoe shiner at Sterling and lived there with his wife and two children.

Lewsey was a former sergeant in the British Guiana police force who came to Winnipeg in 1908. At whatever house the family lived at, they always took in boarders to help pay the bills and be a welcoming presence for new immigrants. (Read more about Lewsey here.)

936 Alexander in the 1916 Census of Canada (Library and Archives Canada)

In the 1915 street directory, which would have been compiled in 1914, we find Greenidge renting a room at 936 Alexander Avenue with the occupation of carpenter. His brother Arnold, a tailor, also lived there.

This was the home of William Haynes, his wife Frederica, and their five children. William came to Canada in 1910 from British Guiana, followed by his wife and what was then three children in 1911. He was a carpenter by trade, so Greenidge likely worked for him.

Greenidge lived at this address until 1916, went to war, and returned here in 1918 when he was discharged.

It must have been a packed house, as a 1920 for sale ad describes it as a "5 room cottage". The house and an adjacent one burned down in 1997, but they likely looked similar to the neighbouring ones still on the street.

The Haynes family moved in 1920 to a much larger property at 257 Lulu Street, where William set up a workshop. One of their sons, Percy, carried on the family business, and with his wife Zena converted it into Haynes Chicken Shack in 1952.

As was the case with many students in this era, the First World War interrupted Greenidge's studies.

Greenidge enlisted on November 21, 1916, and was assigned to No. 2 Construction Battalion CEF, which was based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was the first and only all-Black battalion-sized formation in Canadian military history. (For more about its history, see here and here.)

In his attestation papers, Greenidge listed his brother Arnold at 936 Alexander Avenue as his next of kin, though he would relocate to Toronto before the war ended. Another name that appears in his file is Viola Greenidge, who rented a room at the home of Mrs. A. A. Cole at 812 Banning Street.

According to his military service file, Greenidge left Halifax on March 25, 1917 aboard the S. S. Southland (formerly the Vanderland) and disembarked in Liverpool on April 7. The battalion arrived in France on June 4, 1917.

No. 2 Construction Battalion spent most of its time in the forested area of south-east France to establish a series of logging camps. They felled trees and supplied raw lumber and finished wood products that were shipped by rail to allied forces for use in trenches, camps, and other infrastructure.

Discharge papers, Library and Archives Canada

Greenidge served for 2 years and 12 days before he was discharged back to Winnipeg on December 2, 1918.  It was noted on his discharge papers that he had reached the rank of corporal and that his conduct as a soldier was "very good". 

The reason for the discharge was the Canadian government's order that all medical and dentistry students who had completed at least one year of their education before enlisting be sent home. This was to combat alarmingly low enrollment levels at medical schools across the country.

Greendige returned to 963 Alexander, but by then his brother had relocated to Toronto.

Greenidge resumed his studies, and in May 1920 he graduated with his medical degree. He was the first Black to graduate from the University of Manitoba and Manitoba's first Black doctor. 

The Winnipeg Tribune said that he was planning to attend the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the fall before returning to his home country to practice. (An Oliver Campbell Greenidge graduated with a diploma in tropical medicine from there in 1904 - perhaps he had a family connection to the institution?)

The news of his graduation was picked up as a wire story and reprinted in several Canadian and American newspapers.

1921 Census of Canada (Library and Archives Canada)

Dr. Greenidge opted to stay in Winnipeg for another year, as he can be found in the 1921 census living upstairs at the Harris Block at 267 Selkirk Avenue with his occupation listed as doctor. Street directories do not indicate where he was practicing. 

Also living on his floor were three men who all worked for the CPR: William Smith from the USA, Clifford Davis from the British West Indies, and another American.

November 30, 1921, Winnipeg Free Press

Sadly, Dr. Greenidge never made it to Liverpool.

Not long after the census was taken, he returned to Georgetown to see his parents. There, he fell ill for five months before he died on November 20, 1921 at the age of 28.

A cable was received by friends in Winnipeg with the news, and the Winnipeg Free Press posted the notice shown above. (The notice incorrectly states that he served with the Army Medical Corps, but his military file indicates that he served with No. 2, Construction and was discharged by the Medical Corps.)

The last mentions of Dr. Greenidge that can be found in Canadian newspapers of the era are a series of in memoriams from his siblings in the Montreal Star through the 1920s.

Footnote:

No. 2 Construction Battalion in November 1916, likey in Canada before shipping out
(City of Windsor Archives)

The No. 2 Construction Battalion was officially disbanded in September 1920 without ceremony or official recognition.  

In July 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology to the descendants of battalion members for the racism they faced during and after the war. It was awarded the France and Flanders Battle Honour 1917-18, and $2.25 million from the Veterans Affairs Canada Commemorative Partnership Program to tell the stories of the Battalion and other Black veterans. (Here's a related CBC news story.)

A descendant of Greenidge was on-hand at the ceremony to receive the No. 2 Battalion Apology Medal.

For more about Greenidge and other Black veterans, see the website Canadian Black Veterans

For more of my posts and columns celebrating Manitoba's Black history!

Manitoba's Black History: Norman and Sarah Lewsey

 © 2026, Christian Cassidy. Please respect my research.

Lewsey obituary photos

This is the story of Norman and Sarah Lewsey, who came to Canada in 1908 by way of British Guiana (known as Guyana since 1966). They not only raised a large family but also took in lodgers, acting as a welcoming committee to others in the Guyanese and larger Black community.

Mr. Lewsey was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and was a police sergeant in the British Guiana police force. That is where he met and married Sarah Frances Hope on April 30, 1907. It was likely Norman's second marriage.

The couple came to Winnipeg in 1908, aged 35 and 24 respectively, and had eight children: Edna, Irene, Laura, Evelyn, Cecil, Lawrence, Clarence, and Charles. Charles died in 1925 at the age of eight.

Gustavus (Gus), one of Mr. Lewsey's sons from his previous marriage, came to Winnipeg around 1911 as a young teen and also lived with them. 

1911 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada

The Lewseys first appear in the Winnipeg Street directory of 1910, the data for which would have been compiled in 1909. They lived at 309 1/2 Notre Dame Avenue at Adelaide Street (now demolished).

This was a mixed-use building with Clackson's watchmaker and jewellers on the first floor and initially one large suite upstairs. The view from their doorstep looking east towards downtown would have looked similar to this, and the Winnipeg Opera House was across the street. 

The 1911 census entry (pictured above) shows the Lewseys living at this address with Gustavus Lewsey, a son from Mr. Lewsey's first marriage, their first daughter, Edna, who was born in 1911, and three lodgers.

Unfortunately, the census entry for the household contains many errors. It lists everyone as coming from Ontario, the Lewsey ages are wrong, and there is no race noted, which would have been clue as to whether the roomers were also Guyanese, or at least from the city's Black community.

January 7, 1905, Winnipeg Tribune

Mr. Lewsey's listed in the street directory as a porter at United Cigar Store and Barber Shop located in one of the office buildings at Portage and Main. The following year, he was a porter at barbers Ostrander and Hughes in the basement of the Union Bank building at Main Street and William.

Barber shop porters did maintenance, cleaning, and services other than cutting hair. These were the days when men stopped at a full-service shop, such as the ones in the city's business district where Lewsey worked, to also get a shave, shoe shine, hair tonic, and their head, neck or scalp massaged. The Union Bank barber shop offered baths when it first opened in 1905 and had a manicurist booth until around 1912.

970 Alexander in 2024 (Google Street View)

The couple moved to a small house at 970 Alexander Avenue later in 1911, and Mr. Lewsey is now a porter at another United Cigar Store Barber Shop. There are two others listed as living with them. Fred Lewsey, no occupation listed, and a roomer named William Haynes.

Haynes came to Canada in 1910 from British Guiana and was joined the following year by his wife, Frederica, and three children. The family then moved a couple of blocks east to 936 Alexander Avenue (now demolished) and eventually to Lulu Street. Son Percy opened Haynes Chicken Shack there in 1952. (Read more about the Haynes' here.)

526 Simcoe in 2015 (Google Street View)

In 1912, the Lewseys family moved to 526 Simcoe Street, and Mr. Lewsey is a shoe shiner at the Sterling Bank Barber Shop in the basement of the newly opened Sterling Bank Building on Portage Avenue.

Here, they also took in lodgers, such as Hewburn Greenidge, a recent arrival from Guyana who worked with Mr. Lewsey at the barber shop. Greenidge then moved to 936 Alexander Avenue, the Haynes residence, enrolled in medical school, took a break to serve in the War, and in 1920 became Manitoba's first Black doctor. (Read more about him here later this month!)

1931 Census of Canada (Library and Archives Canada)

By 1915, the Lewsey family moved to a home they would stay at for several years to raise their growing family. 59 Gallagher Avenue (now demolished) was in the city's Weston neighbourhood, nicknamed "CPR Town", for its proximity to the CPR Weston Yards.

The remainder of their eight children were born at this house. Sadly, their son Charles died here in 1925 at the age of eight.

During this time, Mr. Lewsey continued to work at barber shops until 1918 - 1920, when he was a porter at the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. He was a shoe shiner at the Grain Exchange Barber Shop in 1922, and the following year began a decades-long career as a porter with the CNR working from Union Station.

May 27, 1939, Winnipeg Tribune

Mrs. Lewsey, when not raising her children and looking after lodgers, was involved in Pilgrim Baptist Church. She was a charter member of the church, which was a founding member of back in 1924.

In her book North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955, Sarah-Jane Mathieu notes that in cities across Canada through the inter-war years, councils of Black women associated with churches, Masonic groups, or YWCAs, "lectured on proper nutrition, sanitation, education, finance, and racial uplift" to their community.

Mathieu lists Sarah Lewsey as one of eleven "powerful matriarchs" who did this counselling in Winnipeg. 

February 21, 1942, Winnipeg Tribune

During Mr. Lewsey's tenure with the CNR, he was for a time an executive member of the porters' union and part of its mental welfare association. He also sat on the CNR's Veterans committee.

Though he retired in 1940, Lewsey didn't stop working. He became a shoe shiner at the Union Station shoe shine stand, which kept him close to three of his sons, who also became CNR porters. 

A man who fondly remembered Lewsey from his railway days was C. P.  Porter, a former editor of the Winnipeg Telegram newspaper, who in his old age was a columnist at the Winnipeg Tribune, often under the nom de plume "Old Timer."

Porter did a lengthy interview with Lewsey for the Tribune in February 1942, where the former porter spoke about his family, his outlook on life, and stories from his time at the railway. (You can read that column here.)

423 McKenzie in 2017 (Google Street View)

The Lewseys moved again in 1944 to a two-storey house at 423 McKenzie Street. They celebrated their 40th anniversary here with a gathering of family and friends on April 30, 1947.

For the first few years, some of their children lived with them. Lawrence, for instance, moved with his parents and stayed until around 1953. Cecil lived here immediately before and after serving in World War II. Evelyn lived here in the early 1950s after she became a nurse at the General Hospital. 

Edna Lewsey and her husband, Lionel West, lived here for a time in the early 1950s. Lionel West and Lawrence Lewsey were business partners for a few years in the Liberty Pool Room, the successor to the Union Pool Room in the Craig Block at 795 Main Street.

November 24, 1956, Winnipeg Free Press

By 1954, it appears that everyone had moved on to their own domiciles and it was just Norman and Sarah at home.

Norman's name made the newspapers a few times as part of a seniors' bowling league. The last mention of him playing was in 1961 at the age of 88.

Norman Lewsey died at Princess Elizabeth Hospital on October 17, 1963 at the age of 90.

Sarah remained at the house for a time before moving to 638 Linden Avenue, presumably the home of one of her children. She died at age 95 on May 19, 1979, at Grace Hospital. Her obituary noted that she was the last charter member of Pilgrim Baptist Church and had been the oldest living Black pioneer in the city.

For more of my posts and columns celebrating Manitoba's Black history!

The neighbourhood around Isaac Brock School

© 2026, Christian Cassidy. 

1912 Henderson's Street Directory

Someone asked in a Facebook group  about the origins of wee Percy Avenue in the West End, so I thought I would check it out.

Percy Avenue first appears in the 1912 edition of Henderson’s Street Directory, the data for which would have been compiled in 1911. (Someone speculated it might have been named for Percy Haynes, but he was just born in Guyana in 1911).

I wrote a street name origin column for the Free Press Community Review for three years, and what struck me is how informal the naming of streets was. A section of the city would be surveyed, and someone at the city surveyor’s office would have to come up with 10 or 20 street names ASAP to get them on the agenda of the next council meeting so that they could go in line for eventual subdivision.

A favourite was to choose names associated with the landowners. That’s why in the oldest parts of the city, you find runs of first names. For instance, the Robert Logan estate has Logan, then descendants Alexander, Lizzie, Harriet, Lily, Owena, Stanley, and Mary (renamed Martha in 1893 to save confusion with St. Mary). Same on the Ross estate, Bannatyne estate, etc.

Sometimes even the surveyors would get in on the act. George McPhillips named McPhillips after himself, and there are other McPhillips family names here and there.

When the city surveyor's office ran out of names, they might choose some landmark from that landowner’s region back in the old country, or something generic to round out the list.

Every year or two, the city would have to change a bunch of street names because they sounded too much alike (Vickers and Victor), looked the same when handwritten (Horne and Home), or were the same as a street name in a neighbouring municipality.

My best guess would be that Percy was a name associated with someone who owned that piece of land or someone who surveyed it! We'll never really know, as council minutes only passed the lists of names; no background information was recorded. 

Some more interesting odds and ends I found while researching this piece...

Above are images from McPhillips’ 1910 map and Hathaway’s 1911 map of Winnipeg. You can see that the neighbourhood around Percy Avenue was still in development at that time.

Early maps like these usually make neighbourhoods look more settled than they were, as they showed what was on the ground and near-term development plans so that the map wasn't out of date before it was printed.

For instance, in 1911, Clifton Street only had 23 houses on it, 22 of those between Wellington and Richard avenues and one between Richard and Notre Dame. Much of the street likely resembled a slightly windy, gravel country lane with no sewer or water that probably didn't line up form block to block.

The Clifton School you see on the map was located on the west side of Clifton at Barratt Avenue, though Barratt didn’t come about until 1910. It first appears in the 1912 street directory, the data for which would have been compiled in 1911. 

March 15, 1913, Winnipeg Tribune

More development in the neighbourhood around Percy Street:

July 1908: Winnipeg School Board files plans with the city for Clifton School on Clifton Street. The wood-frame building was ready for students for the start of school on September 1st.

December 1908: The city approved funding for the construction of a water main from Portage Avenue to the school the following year.

March 1910: J. B. Mitchell from the school board appeared before a city council committee meeting to ask that a sewer line be laid from Portage Avenue to serve the school. It would take a couple of years for this to come about. 

September 1910: The city requests from the school board the t"most southerly fifty feet in width of the Clifton School site, the property so transferred to the city for the purposes of street openings as demanded by the vendors."

1911: Barratt Avenue and Percy Avenue first appear in Henderson's Street Directory, likely part of the 50 feet of land noted above.

September 1911: The city requested from the school board the "most westerly 16 feet of depth through the entire (Clifton) school property" so that it could widen Spruce Street. In return, the city transferred a portion of Wolver Avenue that projected onto the school site to the school board. (That's why Wolever cuts off where it does.)

March 1913: Tenders are advertised for the construction of Isaac Brock School. It opens by the end of the year.

June 1914: Tenders are advertised for the purchase and removal of the old Clifton School building from the Isaac Brock grounds.

1952: Building permits are issued for the first house on Percy Avenue, number 1261, and the first house on Barratt Avenue, number 1266. 

1953: The remaining five houses on Barratt Avenue are built.

1954: The remaining four houses on Percy Avenue are built.

Some good shard news at Portage Place!

© 2026, Christian Cassidy

There's some good news on the shard front after the fiasco of Air Canada Park last year. 

I noticed on the portion of Portage Place that is now being demolished that the terra cotta shards on the façade were removed beforehand. I’ve been told they’ve been put into safe storage to be reused in the new project.

If you didn’t notice these shards before, you’ve certainly seen their siblings around town. They were once part of the building at the northeast corner of Portage Avenue and Vaughan Street that in 1928.

The building's official name and address at the time of opening was the Sterling Building at 425 1/2 Portage Avenue. It contained office space upstairs and several retail units on the main floor that spanned the addresses 425-431 Portage Avenue / 285-287 Vaughan Street.

Over the years, the Sterling name got dropped in favour of the name of the major tenant, for instance the Crescent Furniture Building or Scientific Building (for Scientific Beauty School). 

The architect of the building was the firm of Parkinson and Halley, established in 1926 as the successor to the venerable J. D. Atchison and Co., with offices in the Boyd Building. The main partners were Edward Parkinson and James Halley.

The firm appears to have been around for a short time, as it stopped advertising in 1929. Other buildings it designed were the Rossmore Apartments on Roslyn Road (1929), an extension to St. Joseph's Hospital in Kenora (1927), the Modern Dairy Building on rue Saint Joseph,  Crescent Auto Sales Building on Corydon (1928), an extension to the Union Stock Yards office building (1929).

The manufacturer of the terra cotta panels was the Midland Terra Cotta Company of Chicago. You can check out their 1925 catalogue here. This is where the architects may have chosen the panels from!

The building was torn down circa 1985 for the Portage Place development, but many of the terra cotta panels were removed for reuse in later projects. Aside from various places on the façade of Portage Place, inside the main floor hall at Place Promenade, outside the RWB School (now demolished), at The Forks, on the Playhouse Theatre expansion, and places that I can't even remember!

The nicest collection of these panels can be found on Main Street in the plaza between the Confederation Life Building and the Playhouse Theatre extension. Along this wall is a plaque that describes the panels and names the designers and manufacturers.

Winnipeg still has an incredible assortment of Terra Cotta-clad buildings still standing. If you ever get a chance to do the Winnipeg Architecture Foundation's Terra Cotta Tour with Gail Perry, do it! You can also download a copy of the walking tour guide at this link and guide yourself.

Farewell, Eatons Catalogue

 

My latest Free Press Community Review column looks back at the history of Eaton's catalogue. It was 50 years ago this month that the company announced it would do away with the iconic publication. The closure was felt particularly hard in Winnipeg, the Western hub for the catalogue, as it meant laying off over 1,500 Eaton's employees. Hundreds of others who worked for companies that supplied goods and services to the catalogue also lost their jobs.

Remembering Chan's Café and Chan's Moon Room (1941 - 1974)

  © 2025, Christian Cassidy

It is always fun to travel back to Winnipeg's post-war nightlife of big bands and supper clubs. When a member of the Chan family asked me to look into the history of Chan's Moon Room for them, I was more than happy to oblige.  

Chan's grew from humble beginnings as a family-owned Chinese food restaurant in 1941 to a three-storey cultural hub topped off by the iconic Moon Room supper club. Here is its back story:

Top: Undated postcard, 20th Century Studios, Winnipeg. (Source)
Bottom: Undated postcard of cafe interior (Source)

Chan’s Café first appears in the 1942 Winnipeg street directory, the data for which would have been compiled in 1941. It was located on the main floor of 426 Main Street, a space that had been home to the Astoria Café. The upper two floors contained other businesses, including a veterans' hall. (The building was demolished circa 1990 and is now a surface parking lot.)

Three relatives opened Chan's: Harry Chan, his cousin Wing Chan, and Jim Chan. (See more about the Chans of Chan's below.)

Some of the partners do not appear in earlier Winnipeg street directories, but they certainly would not have been new to Canada. The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, often referred to as the Chinese Exclusion Act, barred Chinese immigration to the country until its repeal in 1947. Thousands of men who came to Canada to build the railway found themselves unable to sponsor their families to come live with them once their work was done.

Manitoba's Chinese population grew by a couple of hundred people during the ban due to migration from other provinces.  Winnipeg's Chinese population in 1941, the year the restaurant opened, was 719. Because of the immigration ban, 679 of those were men, and just 40 were women. 

Charlie Foo (Source: Winnipeg Chinatown: Celebrating 100 years)

The business proved successful, and in 1945, Harry and Wing took on other partners, to create Chan’s Café Co. Ltd., including Au Hong "Charlie" Foo as president. 

Foo came to Winnipeg in 1919 at the age of 25. He worked as a tailor, and then for 20 years in sales at a meat distributor before joining Chan's.

By then, he was already well-known in the city. As head of the Chinese Nationalist League through the 1930s and 1940s, he was a go-to person for English-language newspapers to get commentary on current events in China. He was also on the city’s Community Chest committee (similar to today’s United Way) and organised fundraising drives in the Chinese community for local charities and Canadian soldiers during World War II.

Foo’s high profile made him the public face of Chan’s. He remained president of the company until he sold his interest in late 1973 and retired to Vancouver with his wife, Frances.

The 1950s were a decade of great expansion for the business. At the time, Chan’s Café Co. Ltd's principals were Charlie Foo, president, Harry Chan, vice president and manager, Wing Chan, secretary-treasurer. Ward Chan and Jim Chan were board directors.

The restaurant closed in the summer of 1954 for renovations and reopened as the “newly remodelled and ultra-modern” Chan's Café on August 17, 1954. 

Three years later, the space on the upper floors of 426 Main Street became available and it appears that Chan's bought the building. It spent $200,000 on an eight-month renovation that included the installation of an elevator. 

When it was done, the Lotus Room lounge and Pagoda Room dining room (with seating for 66) were on the second floor. The top floor contained three dining spaces, the Bamboo Room, Jade Room, and Golden Dragon Room, that could be opened into a single space to seat 200 for banquets or weddings.

The interior design, furniture and carpeting was by Simpson's contract division and the general contractor was R. J. Dupuis Construction Ltd. based in the neighbouring McIntyre Block. 

The upper floors opened to the public in November 1957.

August 4, 1959, Winnipeg Tribune

Chan’s decided to get into the supper club business in 1959. The upper floors were again renovated to create Chan’s Moon Room on the third floor and an expanded Lotus Room lounge on the second floor. 

The interior design and furnishings were again by Simpson's contact division and the general contractor was Grossman Ltd. of 516 Marion Street.

Supper clubs were all the rage from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. People could have a sit-down dinner while listening to a singer, followed by drinks and dancing late into the night with a live band. It was a whole evening of entertainment in one stop.

At their peak, there were a dozen sizeable supper clubs in the city.

The first mention of Chan’s Moon Room is in a “Maggie’s Mirror” entertainment column in the Winnipeg Tribune of July 31, 1959, when the author went to meet its first headliner, American Lurlean Hunter, before her show.

The club manager for the Moon Room was Jack Britton. He was responsible for sourcing and booking the entertainment from the time the club opened until he moved to California in 1963. 

The entertainment offered at Winnipeg's supper clubs was a mix of local and continental acts. The out-of-towners were often travelling headliners booked through an agency in Toronto or Chicago and would come for a week or two before moving on to the next city on their circuit. (Famously, an unknown Barbra Streisand played The Towers supper club on Kennedy Street in 1961 when she got the call to go to New York to audition for a Broadway musical, which made her a star.) 

Local entertainers made up the house band and were usually the accompanists for the headliners, who rarely came with their own musicians in tow. 

Chan’s Moon Room had several long-term house bands. From its opening year to at least 1966, it was the Bernie Shaw Trio made up of Bernie Shaw, Bobby Jackson and Owen Clark. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Ray St. Germain Trio were club regulars. 

Chan’s didn’t have the budget of a place like Rancho Don Carlos supper club on Pembina Highway to book star headliners like Oscar Peterson, Rosemary Clooney and Nat King Cole. Still, some of those who graced its stage had notable careers and some even settled in the city based on their experience here.

Ron Petty was a favourite in the Moon Room's early years. The American-born baritone was working the Chicago club scene when he made his first appearance in 1958. He decided to call Winnipeg home in 1962 and by December 1963 made his 16th return engagement to its stage.

Thanks to his touring and the attention he received on local radio, Petty got his own variety show on CBC Television in 1965 called the Roy Petty Show.

Bobbi Sherron was another American singer who, after playing three gigs at the Moon Room, decided to make Winnipeg her home. She had a long and influential career in the American and Canadian Jazz scene.

Undated photo. Unsure of this is a dining area or the Moon Room (Source: Chan family)

Chan’s Café continued to be a popular restaurant, but cracks began to appear in the city's supper club industry in the late 1960s. 

A new generation had its own idea of what an evening's entertainment was, and it didn't involve the supper clubs of their parents. There were now intimate tea rooms around the city featuring folk performers, and thanks to liquor law changes, live rock bands at cabarets in hotel beverage rooms.

To compete, some supper clubs, including the Moon Room, booked rock or country bands from time to time. Another trend it followed was hiring go-go dancers who performed to recorded music as cheap, filler entertainment.

February 17, 1972, Winnipeg Free Press

In February 1972, the Moon Room rebranded itself as “Chan’s New Moon Room” with the tag line “The Fun Centre of Winnipeg’s Entertainment World”. 

It wasn’t clear what the “new” meant, but with ads promoting continuous entertainment, discount drink prices, and local performers in place of traveling headliners, it likely meant they ditched the supper club format in favour of more of a hotel cabaret vibe. (The “new” was dropped for 1973.)

Chan’s Moon Room continued to get quality local performers for its stage. Ray St. Germain continued to play and even managed the club for a while in the early 1970s, but his burgeoning career took him away from the local scene frequently.  Other notable locals who graced the stage in the 1970s were Lenny Breau and Ron Paley.

As a last gasp to keep the club going, Bill and Alberta Saunders, veterans of Winnipeg’s club scene, were hired to take over the management of the club on July 1, 1973. By then, it was too late.

The last advertisement for Chan's and Chan's Moon Room appeared in the Free Press on February 2, 1974, promoting the restaurant and featuring the local dance band Grizzly Bare as the club's entertainment.

Undated photo, Source: City of Winnipeg Archives

Jimmy King noted in his “Night Beat” column of March 23, 1974, that Chan’s, the café and Moon Room, would close the following week after new owners from Hong Kong had purchased the building.

King praised the club for its 14 years and what it meant to Winnipeg’s entertainment scene. He concluded, "I for one will miss being able to drop into Chan's to say hello to Mr. Foo, the ageless owner and one of Winnipeg's nicest people."

On April 1, 1974, an invitation-only gala evening was held. King described it as a capacity crowd made up of former customers, musicians, and other entertainers who had graced its stage.

The closure of Chan’s Moon Room left Club Morocco, Koko’s, and the King’s Plate as the only non-hotel clubs left in the city. Club Morocco outlasted them all, lasting into the 1980s.

As for the building, the new owners renovated it inside and out.

Kum Koon Garden, a Cantonese-style restaurant that offered a buffet lunch and dinner, opened on the main floor and had a banquet hall on the top floor. According to Winnipeg Chinatown: Celebrating 100 Years, Kum Koon Garden was run by some of the younger staff and management of from Chan's Cafe. It operated from 426 Main until around 1989 when it opened a new building at 257 King Street in Chinatown and is still in operation.

In 1975, the former Lotus Room lounge on the second floor became Chez André's French Cuisine, which was replaced by Lindy's Steakhouse by 1984.

The building was torn down around 1990 and is currently part of a surface parking lot.

The Chans of Chan's

With the exception of Charlie Foo, Chan's Cafe Co. Ltd. was a family affair. These are some of the Chans who played a role in the café or supper club. The list is not complete.

Chan’s original family partners (top row):

Harry Chan was born in Canton, China and came to Canada in 1909 with his father. He returned to marry Ming Yee and have two children before the family returned to Canada in 1923. He worked at Chan’s until its closure in 1974 and died in 2001 at the age of 106.

Jim Chan was born in China and came to Manitoba in 1921. He married Choi Tai, and they had four children. He worked at Chan’s until its closure in 1974 and died in 1976 at the age of 79.

Wing Chan, a cousin of Harry,  was born in China and came to Canada at an early age and operated restaurants throughout Manitoba. he was likely in Dauphin before coming to Winnipeg to partner in Chan’s. He married Woo See, and they had three children. He retired from the business in 1966 and died in 1979 at the age of 91.

Jimmy Ward Chan came to Canada in 1910. He worked for Independent Fish during the 1920s and with his wife Betty ran the West Cafe through the 1930s. He died in 1971 at the ge of 78.

Joe Chan, not pictured, was a brother of Wing Chan and came from Dauphin to work at Chan's. He is not listed as an original partner, but as a chef. He died in 1944 before its development into a night spot.

A newer generation came along in the 1950s to help expand the business:

Kam Fon Chan was born in China, came to Canada in 1953, and was a chef at Chan’s. After Chan’s, he worked at other restaurants, including the Ho Inn. He died in 1984.

William Chan, the brother of Kam Fon Chan, was born in China and came to Canada in 1950. He worked at Chan’s until 1974. After its closure, he opened his own restaurant called the Blue Diamond on Notre Dame Avenue. He retired in 1996 and died in 1999.

Barry Chan, son of Harry Chan, was born in Taishan, China in 1923. He married Joyce in 1947, and  came to Canada in 1950. His wife and son joined him in 1958. Barry was assistant manager of the second-floor cocktail lounge and the Moon Room in the 1960s. After Chan’s closed, he opened the China Garden Restaurant. He retired to Toronto and died there in 2019. 

Other Images: 

The streetscape around Chan's when it opened in 1941.
(Source: City of Winnipeg Archives)

The streetscape around Chan's (bottom right) when the Moon Room opened in 1959
(Source: York University, John Warkentin fonds) 

Chan's Café matchbook 

(Source: eBay)

August 16, 1954, Winnipeg Tribune

Winnipeg Visitor's Guide, Summer 1958
(Source: Winnipeg Architecture Foundation)