“The people’s playground” courting, socializing and working at Winnipeg Beach 1900 to 1965

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the gender/sexuality construction in the Winnipeg Beach resort area in the period between 1900 and 1965. I argue that the resort functioned as a venue for the conduct of heterosexual relations in the 20th century and saw the transition between three distinctive systems of courtship during that period. These systems of courtship shaped the social and physical space of the resort area creating three distinctive periods at Winnipeg Beach: the first period lasted from 1900 to approximately 1915; the second from 1915 to the mid 1950s; and the third from the 1950s on. I also argue that the Canadian Pacific Railway company played a distinctive role in the Winnipeg Beach environment by actively promoting the area as a heterosexual contact point. This thesis relies heavily on oral interviews to illustrate how people constructed the Winnipeg Beach environment during the 20th century.