Located on Main Street, Winnipeg's City Hall, built in 1886, was a fine structure. Behind it stood Market Square and the city's market building, operated by the Winnipeg Development and Industrial Bureau. While developers might not have seen the value of putting up adequate housing for immigrants, there was no doubt that elaborate civic buildings such as these would bring a healthy return on their investment. The City Hall symbolized the faith of the city fathers in their vision of Winnipeg as an important commercial metropolis. The quality of the market facilities was in keeping with their civic boosterism. The developers of Winnipeg were highly successful; by 1914 the city had fulfilled the promise which had inspired the construction of an architecturally imposing city hall and market square. But the North End, with its crowded tenements flanking the unsightly C.P.R. yards, was also a product of the "business and profit first" philosophy.
