Civil servant, historian.
Born at Montreal in 1900, he came to Winnipeg the next year when his father got a job here with the Canadian Northern Railway. His early interest in railway services arose from the close proximity of his family’s first residence on Water Avenue to the company’s yard and shops and, later, the works of the Winnipeg Electric Street Railway on Assiniboine Avenue to his second home on Donald Street. In retirement, he wrote several works on Winnipeg street cars, including a booklet entitled The Era of Streetcars and Interurbans in Winnipeg, 1885 to 1955, published in 1974 for Winnipeg’s centennial celebrations. His interest in the history of Winnipeg electrical services derived from a lifetime of employment with the City Power and Light Department, where he began working in the summer of 1916. Blake died at Winnipeg on 12 September 1987.
His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
Electric Light Comes to Winnipeg
MHS Transactions, Series 3, No. 34, 1978
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 September 1987, page 33.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 November 2022
Memorable Manitobans
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