Alexander Docks were 'big part of Winnipeg's story,' now face possible demolition

Facing an uncertain future after a decade of being fenced off and abandoned, Winnipeg's 95-year-old Alexander Docks are a remnant of a lost era in the city's history.

The dilapidated and ice-battered wooden wharf along the Red River, missing planks like a gap-toothed grin, has been closed since 2015 due to structural safety concerns. An engineering report is set to determine their fate, with demolition a possibility.

The docks might be overlooked by most passersby now, but they once played a pivotal role in developing Winnipeg and northern Manitoba.

"I can't overstate how important they were — I can't, with all the history. The docks are a big part of Winnipeg's story," said Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg.

"The rivers are a critical component and those docks were a critical component."

They were built with federal money at the foot of Alexander Avenue in 1929 at the edge of what was once Victoria Park, a key gathering place during the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike.

At the time, rail lines still threaded down what is now Waterfront Drive and coal-belching steamships lined up with cargo.

"I pulled up a list of the steamships operating and it was page after page after page," said City of Winnipeg heritage officer Murray Peterson, noting that each of those ships came with dozens of employees.

"The shipping, the transportation, being the hub was something that made an important economic difference to Winnipeg."

It was the second public wharf built in the city by the feds.

The first was in 1915 at Rover Avenue, between Annabella and Syndicate streets, where timber used to build the future metropolis landed.

According to the Manitoba Historical Society, the wood was stacked then moved to building sites. Soon, however, private commercial docks were built and the public one's use waned.

The cities of Winnipeg and St. Boniface had long urged the federal government to build a wharf closer to the centre of industry and commerce, at the lip of the warehouse district.

That finally happened in 1928, when the government bought riverfront land from the Guest Fishing Company — whose warehouse still stands at 90 Alexander Ave. but is now marked as Great West Metal.

Pilings were driven to bedrock to support the new wharf and the river was dredged four metres deep to accommodate the ships.

In addition to being near the bustling district, the docks were beside the Winnipeg Transfer Railway, which linked the CPR yards at Main Street and Higgins Avenue with the CN yards at The Forks. Several spur lines branched off to feed the warehouses.

As soon as they were completed in late spring 1929, the docks served as the heart for river vessels — so much so they were expanded in 1938 and again in 1953.

One of the major users was the fishing industry, according to Murray.

"I saw one estimate in the late 1930s that Manitoba produced more than one-quarter of all the commercial fishing in Canada," he said. "There were Manitoba companies that were famous for their whitefish … well known certainly in North America and probably the world for the quality of their fish.

"And of course they needed somewhere to land and offload their catch."

The docks also helped stimulate development in northern Manitoba through lake freighters carrying mining equipment. Gas, oil, food, supplies and hay for livestock were shipped to scattered communities along Lake Winnipeg, according to a 2015 report by the city's historical buildings and resources committee.

By the early 1950s it was estimated that $2 million worth of cargo was loaded and unloaded at the docks annually.

"Obviously when the mining started happening there hadn't been tracks laid up that way, so they went back to something that had happened since the beginning of the fur trade — the rivers and lakes. And the docks became an important part of that," Peterson said.

"The fact that they were added to twice just underlines that."

But their use declined as rail and road networks eventually took over from river traffic. The wharf became a quiet place to cast a line and spend an afternoon fishing.

It also became the backdrop for a near-fatal Halloween stunt by escape artist Dean Gunnarson in 1983.

With thousands of onlookers gathered around the docks, the 19-year-old Gunnarson was handcuffed, chained and locked in a wooden coffin, which was weighted with cinder blocks and lowered by crane into the river.

After nearly four minutes, Gunnarson had not surfaced. The crane reeled its cable in and out one side of the pendulous coffin was his dangling arm.

He was rushed to hospital and revived, going on to perform escapes around the world.

The last vessels of significance to moor at the docks were the paddlewheelers used for riverboat tours.

The River Rouge, Paddlewheel Princess and Paddlewheel Queen carried passengers on sightseeing tours along the Red before they were fully withdrawn from service between 2009 and 2014.

In more recent years, the docks became associated with the deaths of Tina Fontaine and Faron Hall, with vigils held there drawing thousands of people.

The death of Tina Fontaine — a 15-year-old girl whose body was pulled from the Red River near the docks in 2014 — galvanized the country into action around murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.

"Drag the Red was born out of that, and they started their very first search at that dock," Manitoba NDP MLA Bernadette Smith noted in 2022 as possible reuses of the docks were being considered.

A Google Maps image shows the Alexander Docks:

Many creative renewal proposals have been imagined for the site, all maintaining it as a public space.

In September 2023, city council approved a deal with The Forks to lease the docks for $1 per year for 99 years. The Forks will take the lead on coming up with a land-use plan, fundraising and developing the site.

An engineering assessment, to determine to what degree the docks will feature in those plans — and how much, if anything, can be saved — is expected to be completed in the spring.

"I think this is indicative of forgetting about our history through not funding it properly and things fall into disrepair, and it just becomes a forgotten piece of land," Tugwell said.

"I think we've forgotten not just about the Alexander Docks and the immense history there, but we don't utilize our riverbanks. We don't invest in them."