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Two views of the CPR station which was completed in 1905. They illustrate the passing of the horse-drawn cab and omnibus. Above: A horse-drawn omnibus waits at the right while an automobile occupies the cab stand in front of the main entrance. Below: Motor buses and automobiles but no horse-drawn vehicles.
Source:
Top: C.P.R. Depot, Winnipeg, Man.. Winnipeg (W.J. Clubb, Winnipeg and Victoria, "[after 1914]"). Prairie Postcard PC013354 from Peel's Prairie Provinces (University of Alberta Libraries), peel.library.ualberta.ca/postcards/PC013354.htm.
Bottom: [CPR station "circa 1909"]. Archives Manitoba, Winnipeg -- Railway Stations -- CPR (3) 1 (Negative N9823).
Winnipeg Cab History / 39
Railway Stations (4)
The CPR station was Winnipeg's principal port of entry from 1880 until the construction of Union Station in 1913. As a result it became a magnet for cabs and omnibuses. The two pictures show the third CPR station which was completed in 1905. Next door to the station the CPR constructed what was then Winnipeg's finest hotel, the Royal Alexandra.
The two pictures show a transition from horse-drawn cabs and omnibuses to motor vehicles, although the ascribed dates do not quite ring true.
The top picture, showing a horse-drawn omnibus, is dated "after 1914" which seems a bit late.
The bottom picture, showing motor buses and automobiles, is dated "circa 1909" which seems a bit early, although there were 1,755 licensed automobiles in Manitoba in 1910, more than half of them in Winnipeg. By 1912 there were more than 4,600 cars in the province and by 1914 more than 7,000.