Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/514227
53 DRAMA in the DISTRICT Winnipeg's boom years echo through the streets and alleyways of the 30-block Exchange District. Architectural gems built between 1881 and 1918 range from stately bank buildings, hotels and newspaper row to the Grain Exchange. The walls can't talk, but guides on Historic Walking Tours offered by Exchange District Biz have all the dish on the days when Winnipeg was known variously as Chicago of the North and the Wickedest City in the Dominion. Be scandalized on the Death and Debauchery tour, which recalls the area's 30 rough-and-tumble saloons, 58 brothels and a police chief who frequented establishments of both types. Visit scenes where 22,000 workers, from shop girls and telephone operators to bank clerks and rough tradesmen, united in 1919 during the Winnipeg General Strike. And take the Real to Reel tour to view locations of movies starring notables including Brad Pitt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Renée Zellweger and Anna Paquin, who was born in Winnipeg. > exchangedistrict.org Open HOUSES Imagine 19th-century Red River life when you step inside Seven Oaks House Museum, a two-storey log home built for Winnipeg merchant and magistrate John (Orkney Johnny) Inkster in the 1850s. Peruse relics of daily life in the restored house and adjacent general store at 50 Mac St. — between Main Street and Scotia Avenue — from the May long weekend until Labour Day. The grounds are open year-round. FEATURE Attractions EXPLORE MORE PANTAGESPLAY- HOUSE.COM In Brandon, explore another imposing home and fully stocked replica general store at Daly House Museum. Built in 1882 for Brandon's first mayor, Thomas Mayne Daly, the house contains a research centre and boasts a fine Victorian garden. They say a man's home is his castle, and that's true of the Hillcrest Museum, a unique abode built in Souris in 1910 for Fred Sowden, the son of Squire Sowden, who erected the first of Souris's famous swinging bridges. The museum houses local historical artifacts as well as a large butterfly collection. One of three museums in the town, Hillcrest Museum is adjacent to Victoria Park's bird sanctuary as well as the new swinging bridge. Northeast of Brandon, take a literary tour of Margaret Laurence Home in Neepawa. The museum houses Laurence's typewriter and letters, along with a book shop, where you'll find editions of award-winning works such as The Stone Angel and A Jest of God. Nearby, Laurence's final resting place is at Riverside Cemetery, where you'll find the memorial known as the Stone Angel. > facebook.com SevenOaksHouseMuseum > dalyhousemuseum.ca > mts.net/~mlhome NICE Women DO 2016 marks 100 years since Manitoba women claimed the right to vote, becoming the first in North America to do so. Inspired by a remark Premier Sir Redmond Roblin made to suffragist Nellie McClung, an exhibit called Nice Women Don't Want the Vote opens in November at The Manitoba Museum. The exhibit will travel Manitoba starting in February 2016 and move to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa in November 2016. McClung certainly left her mark. Winnipeg's Burton Cummings Theatre, formerly the Walker Theatre, was the scene of a famous 1914 mock play in which suffragettes led by McClung debated whether men should have the right to vote. And the Archibald Historical Museum in La Riviére is home to the log house where McClung lived in Manitou and a bust of McClung stands outside the Manitou Opera House. She's also among the Famous Five — the women whose 1929 legal battle led to women being recognized as persons under the British North America Act — depicted in a monument on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building. > manitobamuseum.ca > burtoncummingstheatre.ca > rmofpembina.com/museum.htm WINNIPEG'S EXCHANGE DISTRICT DALY HOUSE MUSEUM Buster Keaton, Ella Fitzgerald and Felix the mind-reading duck are among the many stars who graced the stage at Winnipeg's Pantages Playhouse Theatre. The refurbished 1914 vaudeville house is a venue for concerts, comedy and community events in the theatre district. In northern Manitoba, catch a flick at the atmospheric Lido Theatre in The Pas, Western Canada's first movie house built in 1929 specifically to accommodate "talkies." > pantagesplayhouse.com > lidotheatre.ca