© 2012, Christian Cassidy. UPDATED 2026!
The clubhouse for Orioles Community Club, now Valour Community Centre - Orioles Site, turns 75 in 2026! To celebrate, I've gone back to this 2012 blog series and made updates to links, images and information as there is a lot more archival material available online today.
Orioles ca. 1979, showing both H-huts (City of Wpg Archives)
Orioles Community Club started the 1970s with a new name: Orioles Community Centre.
Starting in 1969, the city's ads and notices began referring to the venues as "Metro Winnipeg Community Centres". This was further entrenched in 1971 when the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres was created to act as an arm's-length body between city council and the centres to provide funding and other resources.
Individual clubs changed their names to centres, but for early ones that had been known as clubs for 20 years or more, the terms centre and club were used interchangeably for years.
The 1970s were a busy decade for Orioles Community Centre.
The centre's catchment area reached 22,000 people and was one of the largest in the city. Programming expanded to include everything from drama classes to gymnastics, and it utilized not only the Burnell Street clubhouse, but also area schools such as John M. King, Sargent Park and Greenway.
Dozens of teams played out of the club each year. In 1971-72, an additional rink was added to the north grounds of the centre and the following season it entered a total of 18 hockey teams in city leagues.
In 1973, Orioles celebrated its 25th anniversary with a carnival, midway and street parade. It ended in style with a 25th anniversary dinner and dance at the Maryland Hotel.
November 22, 1987, Winnipeg Free Press Weekly
A full-sized gymnasium was built at the west end of the site in 1987. It was named in honour of Charlie Barbour, the man who established the community club system some forty years earlier. He died in 1975, but members of his family were on-hand for the dedication ceremony.
The gym was a game-changer for Orioles as it could repatriate many of its programs from nearby schools, and offer new ones. In terms of fundraising, it could be used for large bingos, teas and be rented out for socials.
All of the activities that began in the 1950s continued through the 1970s and 1980s, with some variations.
It should be noted that tracking community club activities gets more difficult from the 1970s onwards. The larger number of clubs meant they were less of a novelty, and extra space in the sports pages of the daily papers competed with professional, university or high school athletics. During this time, several community newspaper sprung up that picked up the slack.
The music program moved away from being a marching band to a drum corps and a drum and bugle band.
The two continued to perform together. Above is a 1974 photo of the drum corps and majorettes before a trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they placed fifth for best performance.
The winter and summer carnivals also carried through the 1970s and into the 1990s, and their popularity extended beyond the Orioles catchment area.
The summer festival often included a midway in the park space behind the club and the addition of the gym allowed more indoor activities.
The winter carnival also remained popular and hosted more events thanks to the gym. The hockey tournament associated with the festival weekend became a sponge hockey tournament in 1987.
In terms of sports, hockey in winter and baseball in summer remained as popular as ever, but they were joined by new entries.
The two continued to perform together. Above is a 1974 photo of the drum corps and majorettes before a trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they placed fifth for best performance.
February 1, 1979, Winnipeg Free Press
The winter and summer carnivals also carried through the 1970s and into the 1990s, and their popularity extended beyond the Orioles catchment area.
The summer festival often included a midway in the park space behind the club and the addition of the gym allowed more indoor activities.
The winter carnival also remained popular and hosted more events thanks to the gym. The hockey tournament associated with the festival weekend became a sponge hockey tournament in 1987.
April 25, 1974, WInnipeg Free Press Weekly
In terms of sports, hockey in winter and baseball in summer remained as popular as ever, but they were joined by new entries.
In 1970, the Fort Garry Community Club brought a new sport to Winnipeg called ringette. The province sponsored demonstrations in the hopes that it would catch on as a winter sport for girls (previous attempts at girls' hockey had failed.) Other clubs began playing in 1972, and by 1976 Orioles had several teams at different age levels.
In the early 1980s, sponge hockey tournaments were held at the club and continued for years to come.
The Orioles Boxing Club, which is still active, was formed in 1994 under Reg Bruno. The club has produced several national champions, including Ryan Savage, David Lao and Roberto Romero. In 2011, Julio Escorcia Jr. was sliver medallist at the Canada Winter Games.
As the 1990s continued, Orioles faced the same pressures. That first generation of 30 and 40-year volunteers began aging out. Demographics in the catchment area also began changing, with a drop in homeownership rates and an increase in new immigrant and Indigenous families.
September 9, 1998, Winnipeg Free Press
At the start of the noughties, Orioles had the second largest catchment area of any community club in the inner city at 13,870 (1). In the neighbourhoods it served, St. Matthews, Spence and parts of Daniel McIntyre, the average family income was 57% of the city average, and the rate of single-parent households was the highest in the city at 31% (2).
Programming at the club changed due to a lack of volunteers and to reflect the needs of the neighbourhood. Organized sports and dance classes made way for youth drop-ins and a free lunch program. In 2000, the Orioles Learning Centre, which taught basic literacy, GED and job-finding skills, opened.
The City of Winnipeg released its Public Use Facilities Study (PUFS) report in July 2004. It examined the condition and usage at all city recreation facilities.
It made several recommendations regarding the West End, including an expansion of the Sargent Park Recreation Centre (now Cindy Klassen Recreation Complex), a possible new community centre at Portage and Sherbrook (that did not happen), and the closure of the Orioles' wading pool (which did happen for a time).
There was a catch to the suggested improvements, though. "Mayor Sam Katz has maintained neighbourhoods won’t get new facilities unless they voluntarily close some old ones." (Feb 18, 2005, Winnipeg Free Press.) This led to a some community centre closures or amalgamations around the city.
During the debate over what should happen in the West End, Orioles received a major funding blow. The weekly CNIB Bingo, which earned the centre about $26,000 per year, relocated in 2005 due to the smoking ban at city facilities.
Amalgamation talks began in 2006 between three West End community centres: Isaac Brock (catchment area 5,050); Clifton (catchment area 4,820); and Orioles (catchment area 13,855).
An agreement was finalized in December 2006 that created the Valour Community Centre based out of the Isaac Brock site. It was noted that, "The Isaac Brock and Clifton sites both serve one neighbourhood each, Minto and Sargent Park respectively, and split the Polo Park area between them. Orioles serves St. Matthews, Spence, and a portion of the Daniel McIntyre neighbourhood." (1)
Orioles was rechristened Valour Community Centre - Orioles Site.
In 2007, the Daniel McIntyre / St. Matthews Community Centre, funded by the province's Neighbourhoods Alive! program, established offices in the basement of Orioles. DMSMCA, now known as the West End Resource Centre, moved to a larger space at the former West End Library in 2011, but two of the programs it created remain on the property.
One is the Orioles Bike Cage (2009) in the wading pool changing shack north of the centre. The responsibility of the cage was transferred to the Valour Community Centre around 2020. The other is the community gardens (2009) on the south side of the centre, which are still maintained by WERC.
The tradition of an annual winter carnival was also resumed with some summer festivals as well.
UPDATE
In 2017 - 2018, the grounds on the south end of the site, which in a bygone era were tennis courts in summer and skating rinks in winter received an extensive renovation to create a new public park and a larger community gardens area. The following year, it got a new exterior paint job.
In June 2025, the West End Resource Centre and Trees Winnipeg planted three new trees in the park north of the centre.
References:
(1) The Valour Community Centre Orioles Site in Transition
(2) Plan 2025 General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres
See my photo album of Orioles Community Club!
Next: Part 5 Lists and History Show and Tell
September 9, 1998, Winnipeg Free Press
At the start of the noughties, Orioles had the second largest catchment area of any community club in the inner city at 13,870 (1). In the neighbourhoods it served, St. Matthews, Spence and parts of Daniel McIntyre, the average family income was 57% of the city average, and the rate of single-parent households was the highest in the city at 31% (2).
Programming at the club changed due to a lack of volunteers and to reflect the needs of the neighbourhood. Organized sports and dance classes made way for youth drop-ins and a free lunch program. In 2000, the Orioles Learning Centre, which taught basic literacy, GED and job-finding skills, opened.
It made several recommendations regarding the West End, including an expansion of the Sargent Park Recreation Centre (now Cindy Klassen Recreation Complex), a possible new community centre at Portage and Sherbrook (that did not happen), and the closure of the Orioles' wading pool (which did happen for a time).
There was a catch to the suggested improvements, though. "Mayor Sam Katz has maintained neighbourhoods won’t get new facilities unless they voluntarily close some old ones." (Feb 18, 2005, Winnipeg Free Press.) This led to a some community centre closures or amalgamations around the city.
During the debate over what should happen in the West End, Orioles received a major funding blow. The weekly CNIB Bingo, which earned the centre about $26,000 per year, relocated in 2005 due to the smoking ban at city facilities.
An agreement was finalized in December 2006 that created the Valour Community Centre based out of the Isaac Brock site. It was noted that, "The Isaac Brock and Clifton sites both serve one neighbourhood each, Minto and Sargent Park respectively, and split the Polo Park area between them. Orioles serves St. Matthews, Spence, and a portion of the Daniel McIntyre neighbourhood." (1)
Orioles was rechristened Valour Community Centre - Orioles Site.
One is the Orioles Bike Cage (2009) in the wading pool changing shack north of the centre. The responsibility of the cage was transferred to the Valour Community Centre around 2020. The other is the community gardens (2009) on the south side of the centre, which are still maintained by WERC.
The tradition of an annual winter carnival was also resumed with some summer festivals as well.
UPDATE
In June 2025, the West End Resource Centre and Trees Winnipeg planted three new trees in the park north of the centre.
References:
(1) The Valour Community Centre Orioles Site in Transition
(2) Plan 2025 General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres
See my photo album of Orioles Community Club!
Next: Part 5 Lists and History Show and Tell
Orioles took on a life of it's own between 1960 and 1980. First there was the parade that carved a path through a good part of the neibourhood finishing up at the club where the Carnival was in progress, rides, cotton candy, you get the picture. Pretty sure that Baton trip in 73 was to Fargo not St Paul, least that is where my Mom and sister said they were going and given that we lived across the steet from the Volkman's they wouldn't have fibbed.
ReplyDeleteI played house league hockey there in 1972-74 ,best times ever my teammates were David backstroke and others ,the dances were awsome and movies too,Jeff busch lived on Beverly st
ReplyDeleteHave many happy memories spent at Orioles during the 50's and 60's, from tap dancing to Friday night canteens. Both my parents were very involved in the club with my Dad running the Bingo there for many years and my mother running the comic book exchange in the fifties (which used to attract at least 100 kids running around crazily with their clutch of comic books).
ReplyDeleteI attended my Girl Guide Brownie meetings in Orioles. I went to Greenway school and back in the 80's, when kids didn't come home until dinnertime we all just played at Orioles after school. The new wooden play structure was awesome until you realized that the metal slide was 500 degrees as you tried to slide down on a hot day. In the winter, they made a makeshift ring between the tennis court and the building for the skaters that just wanted to leisurely skate. It didn't have boards to play hockey but just a flat ice surface, it was all I needed. When breakdancing was popular the boys all came with their cardboard and would show off their skills in the field at Orioles. My memories will live on forever.
ReplyDelete