Vignettes
/ The Exchange
District
/ Albert
Telegram Building
Enlarge text: smaller | larger
The Telegram Building was originally built for the R.
J. Whitla Company and their dry goods wholesale business.
Whitla owned one of Winnipeg’s largest wholesale
concerns and was a prominent citizen of Manitoba. He was
the captain of E Company, which he led in the Northwest
Rebellion, and a founder of Wesley College.
It was one of the first large buildings in this former residential
district; however, by 1900 the area was known to Winnipeggers
as the “warehouse district”. The area was
ideal – close to markets, main streets and the railway
but with enough economical space for the necessary loading
docks and large-scale operations.
