Death of a Flour Mill
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:31 pmSeeing this video almost brought tears to my eyes. Now, this happened back on August 21, 2005, and I don't even remember it, but I do remember having fond memories going past that building: going to The Forks, going to Toad Hall (toy store), going to my Nana's art studio; the list could go on and on. I do, however, remember not seeing that building later on, and thinking, "woah, what happened?"
That building is the old Ogilvie Flour Mill, dating back to 1881 on Higgins Avenue, when Winnipeg's growth was at full speed. The mills construction was one of the city's first large-scale industrial enterprises, opening doors to a new kind of economy in Winnipeg.
Constructed directly adjacent to the CPR mainline (now-a-day's CP Keewatin Sub. (this makes this thread valid)), the 1881 mill consisted of four main buildings: the boiler house, of which had a brick chimney (visible in the video); the engines house; the six-storey mill building; and the seven-storey elevator building. Also, there were six other buildings on the land, one still up:
https://maps.google.ca/?ll=49.902283,-97.120045&spn=96.58173,228.339844&t=w&z=3&layer=c&panoid=-kAuwo2pBGSnVb4-wFzEkQ&cbll=49.902283,-97.120045&cbp=13,-8.365183808910023,,0,-15.985522484149726
In 1898, the Ogilvie operation expanded when the company bought Stephan Nairn's oatmeal mill across the road. Here's a map of the grounds in 1911:
Here's the same map as an overlay on Google Earth:
The mill operated all the way up to 1990 with only a few major additions added-on, albeit technology updates. Company President, Terry McDonnell blamed free trade; "free trade indirectly doomed all 89 jobs at the century-old Ogilvie Mills Ltd.," he claimed at the mills closure. Ogilvie had troubles with trying to keep up with American companies being able mill a bag of flour for between 90 to 95 cents, will Ogilvie was doing it at $1.20. The mills oatmeal plant burned during the same year as well.
After the mills closure, it was left to decay, and became a major graffiti spot for taggers. The building was then planned to be turned into a museum, but a major fire broke out in 1997 which doomed the buildings life due to it being structurally unsound.
This burnt out, dilapidated building is the one I fondly remember. There was just something about that building that appealed to me. Slowly making it's way closer to the end of it's life. Then, this day came:
That building is the old Ogilvie Flour Mill, dating back to 1881 on Higgins Avenue, when Winnipeg's growth was at full speed. The mills construction was one of the city's first large-scale industrial enterprises, opening doors to a new kind of economy in Winnipeg.
Constructed directly adjacent to the CPR mainline (now-a-day's CP Keewatin Sub. (this makes this thread valid)), the 1881 mill consisted of four main buildings: the boiler house, of which had a brick chimney (visible in the video); the engines house; the six-storey mill building; and the seven-storey elevator building. Also, there were six other buildings on the land, one still up:
https://maps.google.ca/?ll=49.902283,-97.120045&spn=96.58173,228.339844&t=w&z=3&layer=c&panoid=-kAuwo2pBGSnVb4-wFzEkQ&cbll=49.902283,-97.120045&cbp=13,-8.365183808910023,,0,-15.985522484149726
In 1898, the Ogilvie operation expanded when the company bought Stephan Nairn's oatmeal mill across the road. Here's a map of the grounds in 1911:
Here's the same map as an overlay on Google Earth:
The mill operated all the way up to 1990 with only a few major additions added-on, albeit technology updates. Company President, Terry McDonnell blamed free trade; "free trade indirectly doomed all 89 jobs at the century-old Ogilvie Mills Ltd.," he claimed at the mills closure. Ogilvie had troubles with trying to keep up with American companies being able mill a bag of flour for between 90 to 95 cents, will Ogilvie was doing it at $1.20. The mills oatmeal plant burned during the same year as well.
After the mills closure, it was left to decay, and became a major graffiti spot for taggers. The building was then planned to be turned into a museum, but a major fire broke out in 1997 which doomed the buildings life due to it being structurally unsound.
This burnt out, dilapidated building is the one I fondly remember. There was just something about that building that appealed to me. Slowly making it's way closer to the end of it's life. Then, this day came:
