This photograph of Winnipeg the year it was incorporated as a city was taken from Main Street. Some of the buildings of the settlement of St. Boniface can be seen in the background, across the Red River. Notice the "Pothecaries Hall" of Dr. Bird. The predominance of wooden buildings is evident here and this characteristic of early Winnipeg resulted in numerous serious fires, including one on Christmas Day, 1875, that destroyed Winnipeg's only fire hall. A full-time fire brigade was not organized until 1881.
