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The house between the two brick buildings is Dave Storey's Bay Horse Hotel which Storey bought when he retired from the cab business in 1882. The photos were taken in 1926 during construction of the nearby Hudson's Bay Company department store.
Source:
Top left: 1926. Portage Ave., Wpg. Archives Manitoba, Burns, Thomas 572. Top right: 1926. Bay Horse Hotel, Portage Ave., Wpg (detail). Burns, Thomas, 573. Bottom: 1926. Construction of H.B. Co. store, Portage Wpg. Burns, Thomas 575.
Winnipeg Cab History / 16
Dave Storey (2)
In 1882 Dave Storey sold his cab business (consisting of his stable and perhaps a dozen cabs) to Thomas Seaborne. Storey bought a hotel on what were then the outskirts of town, on Portage Avenue between Colony and Good Streets. The Winnipeg boom was in full swing and Storey no doubt realized a good profit on his business. He would have seen buying a hotel as a step up, even though the "hotel" was essentially a rooming house with a bar.
Increasing competition may also have persuaded Storey to move on. Up to 1881 Storey had the street cab business pretty much to himself, but the Winnipeg boom attracted a sizeable contingent of experienced cab drivers from Toronto.
Among them were Charles "Dublin Dan" James, his partners William and James Jordan, and Thomas Seaborne and his sons. In 1881-1882 a total of 33 street cabs were licensed, more than in any subsequent year. There may also have been a roughly equal number of livery cabs.