Author: Alberta's Historic Places

Among the fundamentalist groups from eastern Europe to seek a haven in western Canada in the early 20^th century were the Doukhobors.  Unlike most others, such as Mennonites and Hutterites, the Doukhobors were culturally Russian and dissenters from the Orthodox faith.  Feeling persecuted under the regime of Tsar Nicholas II, about 7,400 of them sailed to Canada in the spring of 1898-99.  Most moved on to Saskatchewan, where they were joined by their spiritual leader, Peter Verigin in 1902.  Here, they were granted exemption from military service and allowed to educate their children in their own schools.  They sought to obtain homesteads near Yorkton, but, since gaining title to homestead land meant signing an oath of loyalty to the British (and Canadian) Crown, many abandoned their incipient farms and moved on to the southern interior of British Columbia, where, in 1908, Verigin was able to purchase, on their behalf, sizeable tracts of land at Brilliant (near Castlegar) and near Grand Forks in the Kootnay district, just north of the Washington State border.  The colonies eventually included about 6,000 members.  They called themselves the Christian Community of the Universal Brotherhood.

Because the colonies became so heavily populated, Verigin undertook to found other smaller colonies.  One of these was begun in 1915 in the Cowley-Lundbreck district of southern Alberta, and initially included about 50 people.  It was headed by Semeon Ivanovitch Verigin.  Here, individual quarter-sections were purchased in relative proximity to each other.  The spread-out colony was called “Bogatoi Rodnik,” or “Rich Spring,” and eventually totaled 13,500 acres with around 300 people.  It became divided into 13 units, which featured grain elevators, flour mills, blacksmith shops and other buildings, including prayer homes.  As a fundamentalist group, these people eschewed formalized churches.  There was one dwelling at Cowley reserved for Peter “The Lordly” Verigin, for, although usually absent, he remained the spiritual and administrative leader of the colony, with each small commune within the colony electing its own local leader.

One of the purposes of this colony was to supply flour and other grain products to the BC colonies which had become too heavily populated within their geographic parameters to sustain themselves agriculturally, with much of the hilly land there given over to ranching, fruit growing and lumbering.  Besides, being vegetarians, the Doukhobors required more than the normal amount of non-meat produce.  As the Cowley-Lundbreck Colony was located on the southern branch of the CPR, it was easier, and cheaper, to ship produce from there to Brilliant and Grand Forks than from the larger prairie colony of Verigin near Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  In return for the produce, fruit and lumber were sent from the BC colonies to Bogatoi Rodnik.

In 1924, Peter the Lordly Verigin was assassinated by a time-bomb which exploded in a train near Grande Forks, killing nine other passengers as well.  His son, Peter Petrovitch Verigin, who was living in Russia, was sent for to assume the position of leader.  However, another charismatic figure in Brilliant, Anastasia Holoboff, known as Anastasia Lords, a “close companion of the late leader,” let it be known that she had been specially tutored by Peter the Lordly to be his successor.  A rift then formed within the community.  Most Doukhobors, including those around Cowley and Lundreck, accepted Peter Petrovitch, but, in 1926, a group under Anastasia broke away and formed a new colony in the district of Shouldice, Alberta.

Due to financial straits and the loss of young people to mainstream society, the colony around Lundbreck continued to decline in the 1930s and 1940s.  Those who stayed began to work as private farmers.  In 1953, they erected a central prayer home which remains standing as a symbol of the Doukhobor faith as it persisted in southern Alberta during the mid and latter 20^th century.  In March 2010, the Hall was designated a Provincial Historic Resource.

Written by: David Leonard, Historian

Visit the Alberta Register of Historic Places to learn more about the heritage value of the Doukhobor Prayer Home in Lundbreck. In order for a site to be designated a Provincial Historic Resource, it must possess province-wide significance. To properly assess the historic importance of a resource, a historian crafts a context document that situates a resource within its time and place and compares it to similar resources in other parts of the province. This allows staff to determine the importance of a resource to a particular theme, time, and place. Above, is some of the historical information used in the evaluation of the Doukhobor Prayer Home.

In 1918, the Dominion government set up a Soldiers Settlement Board in order to secure employment for some of the vast number of soldiers expected to enter the workforce following their service in World War I.  Through the Board, many veterans were encouraged to settle on the Battle River Prairie, about 75km north of Peace River.  By 1921, the district had an estimated population of 500, while a tiny community called Battle River Prairie emerged off the Notikewin (formerly Battle) River.  In 1924, the store and post office was re-named Notikewin and moved to the site of present day Notikewin, some 8km to the north.

For supplies, most of the first settlers on the Prairie used the facilities at Peace River.  Commercial transportation on the River was common, while winter roads were opened for horse-drawn sleighs.  One major concern, however, was medical.  By the Public Health Nurses Act of 1919, visits were made by registered nurses with mobile clinics, but these could not accommodate emergency situations.  Throughout the 1920s, therefore, a demand began to grow for a regular physician to be assigned to some point on the Prairie.

In 1928, the provincial government decided to sponsor a permanent nurse for the district, with Mary Little moving to Notikewin.  In 1929, she was replaced by Dr. Mary Percy who was recruited from England.  In 1931, Mary Percy married Frank Jackson and moved to Keg River.  Several other nurses then followed until 1936, when Dr. Arthur Doidge became the first resident physician for the area.

The early 1930s had seen a continuing influx of settlers to the Prairie, many coming from the drought areas of southeastern Alberta.  As a result, there was growing pressure for a hospital.  Much of this came from the Women’s Missionary Society of the United Church of Canada, which began to collect promissory funds for a hospital in the area.  The government agreed to contribute the same amount as the WMS and appoint a physician if the WMS would build the hospital.  With support coming throughout the Prairie, sufficient funds were finally in place by the spring of 1936 to begin work on a facility large enough to serve the entire Prairie.

The site chosen for the hospital was on the bank of the Notikewin River, on the road midway between North Star and Notikewin.  The land was donated by John Robertson.  Work began that summer, with most of the labour and building supplies volunteered.  The Chair of the Building Committee was H.A. Inglis, while construction of the balloon frame structure was supervised by W.D.C. Buchanan.   Work continued throughout the winter, when possible, and into the following spring and summer.  Finally, on 4 September 1937, the new eight bed Battle River Hospital was officially opened.  It was an all inclusive facility, with space for an operating room, a waiting room, and a kitchen.  Electricity was provided by an external Delco gas engine.  The second floor was largely given over to living quarters for the three nurses, while Dr. Doidge lived in a separate cabin. Read more →