Description of Historic Place

The Former Rex Cafe Site is located in Historic Downtown Carberry, a designated heritage district consisting of two linear blocks of the historic commercial core of the Town of Carberry, with buildings mostly dating from the period of the community's initial growth from 1882 to 1903. The Former Rex Cafe Site is also called the 125th Commemorative Park, inaugurated in 2007 to replace the Rex Cafe, built ca. 1900. The municipal designation applies to the approximately 100-square-metre parcel of land.

Heritage Value

The Former Rex Cafe Site is valued for its historic contribution to the character of Historic Downtown Carberry, significant historically and architecturally as a rare remaining Manitoba example, mostly intact, of the kind of streetscape that defined small-town commercial cores from the turn of the 20th century. As part of the south half of the district, the Former Rex Cafe Site still defines important qualities and characteristics that define the whole district, including the basic site plan of the original building. Now used as the 125th Commemorative Park, honouring the community's 125 years of existence, the site is a prized local site for public gatherings.

Source: Town of Carberry By-law No. 5/2006, June 12, 2007

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Former Rex Cafe Site include:
- the opening onto Main Street and clear retention of the original site plan of the Rex Café;
- the presence on the Former Rex Cafe Site (now functioning as a commemorative park) of plaques, benches, a trellis, etc. to commemorate and celebrate Carberry's 125 years of existence.