Back L-R: Donald Luxton, Peter Bouwsema (Councillor), Jason Haggkvist. Front L-R: Kelsey Van Grinsven, Laura Pasacreta, Marie Péron, Andrea Becker, Sean Stroud, Kirstin Bouwsema
It’s been a busy few weeks for friends of heritage in the City of Lacombe. On Friday October 14th, I led a workshop on values-based management for members of the city’s Heritage Steering Committee. The City of Lacombe, with the advice of the committee, will soon begin evaluating several historic places for heritage value.
Then, on Thursday October 20th, the City of Lacombe hosted an “Evening of Heritage”. About 80 residents listened to several presentations and afterwards had many great questions. Over the course of the evening:
Laura Pasacreta, of Donald Luxton and Associates, updated the community on the progress of the ongoing heritage inventory;
Donald Luxton, Principal of Donald Luxton and Associates, showed the audience how to maintain and repair a historic wood-frame window; and
David Holdsworth, a Heritage Planner with the City of Edmonton, spoke about Edmonton’s municipal heritage conservation program.
The City of Lacombe began working with MHPP in 2008. Since that time, the entire community has been surveyed and the heritage steering committee has identified well over 100 places that deserve further study. Since 2009, Lacombe has been steadily evaluating these sites to determine which have sufficient value to the community to warrant Municipal Historic Resource designation.
Not content to simply evaluate historic places, the “Evening of Heritage” marks the first step in Lacombe’s efforts to develop municipal polices to protect and conserve locally significant historic places. The event was a great way to introduce the community to the idea of heritage conservation.
We congratulate Lacombe’s ongoing efforts to conserve locally significant historic places, or at least we plan to just as soon as we catch our breath …
Written by: Michael Thome, Municipal Heritage Services Officer
Over the Summer, a key staff appointment was made by the Town. Vidya John, a new member of the Planning and Development Team, and High River’s new Heritage and Cultural Planner, will lead and guide the Town’s Heritage initiatives. Vidya brings with her a background both in the arts, as well as in urban planning – a stellar combination to help a community create a future for its historic places.
One of the key assets to any community in carrying out a project like a Municipal Heritage Survey or Inventory is a Heritage Advisory Body, or “H.A.B,” for short. This group, which may otherwise be known as a “Committee,” “Board,” “Commission,” “Group,” or “Team,” is formally appointed by a municipal council, and provides strategic advice to Council on heritage-related matters.
The Sheppard/Maccoy House, located in the Town of High River, is a designated Municipal Historic Resource.
On September 26th, High River’s Town Council approved the creation of a Heritage Advisory Board, which will provide community-based advice on the Inventory project. Soon the HAB members will be selected and High River’s Heritage conservation work will be off to a great start with their Heritage Inventory project.
Great job, High River!
Written by: Matthew Francis, Manager of Municipal Heritage Services
Note: The Alberta Register of Historic Places lists both Provincial Historic Resources and Municipal Historic Resources located in High River. Click here to read about these sites.
When the Calgary & Edmonton Railway arrived at the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River in 1891, the C & E immediately subdivided a townsite which it named South Edmonton. Being at the end of steel, the community steadily grew throughout the decade until, in 1899, it was incorporated as the Town of Strathcona with a population exceeding 1,000. As with Edmonton to the north, Strathcona grew rapidly in the wake of the Klondike gold rush, and, in 1907, it was incorporated as a city with an estimated population of 3,500. Edmonton, however, was destined to grow at an even greater pace when the Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk Pacific Railways arrived there in 1905 and 1908 respectively, giving this city a direct rail link to eastern Canada. With most major industries concentrating their operations in Edmonton, Strathcona became more of a residential district, a phenomenon encouraged by the decision of the provincial government, in 1908, to locate a provincial university just to the west of this city. From this point on, Strathcona would be billed as the University City.
In the spring of 1908, the buildings of the new University of Alberta had yet to be designed let alone constructed. There were, however, a growing number of high school graduates who wanted to attend university right away. As a result, the University’s Board of Governors approached the Strathcona Public School Board for the use of a portion of a new high school which was then nearing completion on Lumsden (84th) Avenue and Duggan (105th) Street. The new 125’ x 77’ school had been designed by the architectural firm of Johnson & Lines to become the largest and most sophisticated high school in Alberta. It was being built by the firm of Thomas Richards at what would turn out to be a cost of about $100,000. This was on the site of the earlier Duggan Street School, with additional land acquired by the School Board to the west to accommodate the larger facility.
The cornerstone of the new facility had been laid by Premier Rutherford himself on 18 October, 1907. Rutherford, from Strathcona, was also the Minister of Education for Alberta. When it was officially opened by Lieutenant-Governor Bulyea on 17 February 1909, at a ceremony attended by about 600 people, the institution was officially designated the Strathcona Collegiate Institute, in recognition of its initial post-secondary role. The main floor was to house 71 high school students in four classrooms, while the 2nd floor was taken over by the University. This included four classrooms to accommodate 47 undergraduate students, the office of President Henry M. Tory, and the University Library. The third floor was made over into an auditorium with a stage, while the basement provided room for both a boys and a girls gymnasium. Read more →
On September 24, 2011, the Lacombe and District Historical Society hosted an event celebrating the designation of the Lacombe Blacksmith Shop as a Provincial Historic Resource. Situated just off the City of Lacombe’s historic downtown, the blacksmith shop opened more than a century ago and is a tangible reminder of an essential craft during Alberta’s early settlement period. Present at the celebration was a veteran blacksmith and his young apprentice. Using traditional tools to shape modern creations, these two men embody the remarkable continuity between the historic identity of blacksmithing as a utilitarian settlement craft and its emerging face as a specialized form of artistry serving both ornamental and functional needs.
Read more about this event and the Lacombe Blacksmith Shop Museum by clicking here.
Some of the words we use to discuss heritage conservation can be confusing. The related but distinct terms historic place, historic resource and historic site are often misunderstood. Sometimes, people will talk of historic sites when they mean historic resources, and make reference to historic places when the place is not formally historic. Confused? I shall clarify:
Historic Place is the generic term used throughout Canada to reference “a structure, building, group of buildings, district, landscape, archaeological site or other place in Canada that has been formally recognized for its heritage value.” Each province and territory has separate legislation regulating the identification, evaluation and management of historic places. Therefore, each province uses a different term to describe a designated or protected historic place. For example, in Manitoba they are called Heritage Sites and in Saskatchewan, Heritage Properties.
Brooks Aqueduct is a historic place designated as a Provincial Historic Resource and is operated as a historic site.
Alberta’s HistoricalResources Act uses the term Historic Resource. A Historic Resource is defined as a historic place valued for “its palaeontological, archaeological, prehistoric, historic, cultural, natural, scientific or esthetic interest”. The Government of Alberta may designate a historic resource as a Provincial Historic Resource and a municipality may designate a historic resource as a Municipal Historic Resource. Designated historic resources may not be repaired, altered or destroyed without written approval from the designating authority.
A Historic Site is a historic resource owned or leased by the Government of Alberta and managed by the Historic Sites and Museums Branch of Culture and Community Spirit. These sites are interpreted through public programming, signage and exhibits. Stephansson House and Brooks Aqueduct are examples of historic sites.
So, if you ever find yourself talking about an old place ask: “What do I really mean? Has it been formally recognized by the Government of Alberta or a municipality?” Perhaps you are talking about a formally recognized historic resource.
Written by: Brenda Manweiler, Municipal Heritage Services Officer
When Imperial Oil Well #1 began gushing vast quantities of crude oil in February, 1947, Alberta officially entered the “oil age,” and soon became Canada’s leading producer. In short order, other important discoveries were made at Redwater, Devon, Valleyview and Swan Hills. In the meantime, the Leduc field was expanded, with other oil companies making significant strikes. One of these was the Atlanta Oil Company, headed by Frank MacMahon. On 16 August 1947, he signed a lease option for NW23 TP50 R26 W4 for $175,000. The owners of this farm were all members of the Rebus family, with the actual title to the land then in dispute. Also in dispute was a claim by Imperial Oil that it in fact already held a lease option for this quarter. MacMahon was able to work a deal with Imperial, while getting the Rebus family members to agree to his option.
On 15 January 1948, drilling proved successful, as oil gushed out of the ground to a height of 150 feet. It was pressured by an estimated 15 million cubic feet per day flow. Such extensive pressure was not easy to control however. On 21 March, efforts to clear a stuck pipe resulted in the fracturing of the surrounding area, and natural gas and oil began to escape over a wide radius. Fearful of a fire, the government put up roadblocks in the district, while the construction workers worked frantically to control the surge of oil and gas. Reportedly, redwood fibre, mud, and even feathers were used to stop the gush, without success. As the oil and gas spread, the entire Leduc field was shut down. On 15 May, operation of the errant well was taken over by the provincial Oil & Gas Conservation Board, which contracted Imperial Oil to try to cap the well and begin cleanup operations. The main activity involved pumping water down a nearby well directed towards the shaft of Atlantic #3. In the meantime, planes were warned away from the area, and there were even rumours that water supply could be affected as far away as Edmonton.
By June, most of the escaping fluid was seen to be oil. On 7 June, this was estimated to be 11,097 barrels daily. That which was gathering in various surface sumps then began to be piped away from the area. By 19 July, production from the well was estimated to have dropped to 7,772 barrels per day. Then, on 6 September, a spark from somewhere ignited a fire, and the greatest oil well disaster in Alberta’s history began. The event caused a sensation heard around the world. As flames licked a hundred feet into the air, smoke billows could be seen for over a hundred miles, while the atmosphere around most of Alberta was darkened. News reporters came from all over North America, and the story was featured on television and on the Movietone News in theatres. Read more →
Castle Mountain to Mount Eisenhower and Back Again
In January 1946, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe and future President of the United States of America, was on an official visit to Canada. Prime Minister Mackenzie King was seeking a fitting honour to bestow on the general. Sir Leonard Brockington, a friend and former aide of the Prime Minister’s, suggested that Banff National Park’s Castle Mountain be renamed in the general’s honour, adding, in a statement that proved to be astoundingly inaccurate, that because the mountain “was not named for any individual … no one could be offended by a change of name” (quoted in memorandum, Pickersgill to King, 7 January 1946). Reportedly against the objections of the Geographic Board of Canada, King announced the renaming during a state dinner on January 9. Recounting that the people of Scotland had recently presented Eisenhower with a castle, King said that
We have no ancient castles in this country, but we have other things that are even more enduring. We have ancient mountains. We can’t very well present you with a mountain, but we have this mountain named ‘Castle Mountain’ and it is the wish of the Government of Canada and of the people of Canada to change the name from ‘Castle Mountain’ to ‘Mount Eisenhower’.
Reportedly visibly moved, Eisenhower responded by saying that he was “touched by such a tribute that one man should be so honoured and his name so perpetuated in this way,” adding that “One day I am going to see that mountain. There is one thing, too, of which I am fairly certain – it must be a bald peak” (Ottawa Journal, 10 January 1946). The mountain became Mount Eisenhower and the junction of the two main roads in the area became Eisenhower Junction. Oddly, the Canadian Pacific Railway station in the area retained the name Castle Mountain.
Although the audience at the state dinner responded enthusiastically to the announcement, protests erupted from across Canada and even from the United States. The Vancouver Province wrote that
The gesture is a gracious one …it is a pity that the gesture will be futile. No one who has seen Castle Mountain can call it anything but Castle. The mountain named itself in the first instance. Its battlemented towers, its buttresses, its crenalated crags shout Castle, Castle, Castle, all day long. They can never be made to say Eisenhower [cited in the Banff Crag and Canyon, 18 January 1946].
The Banff Crag & Canyon wrote that “the man on the street is wondering why out of all the peaks and lakes in the Banff National Park, Castle Mountain should have been selected” [11 January 1946], and on 18 January added that
‘Residents of Banff were highly pleased when they learned Castle Mountain was to be called Mt. Eisenhower,” quotes one of the daily papers. Just which resident? … Letters and comments of protest are being published daily, which must sound a rather sour note to the supreme Allied commander as and if he reads them. Far be it for anyone to mean to belittle such a gesture, but two generations or more have known this mighty monarch of the Rockies as Castle Mountain, and it will take some educating to change its name. Surely the choice of another mountain would have been more in order [12 January 1946].
The Alpine Club of Canada wrote to the Prime Minister noting Eisenhower’s achievements, but lamenting the loss of the historic and uniquely descriptive name and also protesting the lack of consultation and the seemingly random selection of Castle Mountain to be renamed. Read more →
You have all probably seen them – large blue heritage markers located at highway rest areas or points of interest throughout Alberta. These interpretive signs tell of Alberta’s rich heritage. Come, travel Alberta and read a featured heritage marker:
Alberta’s First Cheese Factory
When the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived at Fort Calgary in 1883, the cattle industry in the region was given a great boost. The CPR also made it possible for homesteaders to settle in the foothills, and a number of small mixed farming operations developed in addition to the large cattle ranches. One of the first homesteads in Springbank was begun by Ebenezer Healy.
Healy was a Nova Scotian who had learned the dairy business on his family’s farm in the Annapolis Valley. He traveled to Winnipeg in 1882, and the following year filed for a homestead north of Regina. Drought conditions there ruined his crops and helped persuade him to move further west to the foothills. Here he filed for another homestead where he could concentrate exclusively on raising cattle.
With Calgary’s growing population, Healy decided that the market for dairy products could be expanded to include cheese in addition to milk, cream and butter. With the co-operation of his neighbours, he decided to build a cheese factory and sent away for the equipment necessary to process the milk from 300 cows. In July 1888, he hauled his first shipment of cheese to the I.G. Baker store in Calgary where it retailed for 20 cents a pound. By 1890 his cheese factory produced 10 tons of cheese. This success encouraged the construction of other cheese factories in the area. Cheese production soon became a viable local industry in the southern foothills.
Heritage Marker Location
South side of Highway 1, one kilometre west of Highway 22.
Alberta Register of Historic Places
If you would like to read more about Alberta’s dairy industry check out these Provincial Historic Resources on the Alberta Register of Historic Places:
Castle Mountain is an approximately 2,860 metre (9,383’) mountain located in Banff National Park. It is in the Bow Valley and situated approximately 30km northwest of the Banff town site and 20 km southeast of the Lake Louise town site. The name is descriptive and comes from the fortress- or castle-like appearance of the mountain; its peaks and ridges give the impression of the towers and battlements characteristic of a medieval fortress or castle. The mountain appears to stand alone in the middle of the valley and, although it is not amongst the tallest of the mountains in the area, it is one of the most picturesque and well-known mountains in the Canadian Rockies. This prominence has made the mountain the subject of one of the greatest naming controversies in western Canadian history.
The origins of the name Castle Mountain are found with the Palliser Expedition, which explored western British North America from 1857 to 1859. In August 1858, the expedition split up to cover more territory. Dr. James Hector, the expedition’s geologist, led a party westward from the Morley area up the Bow Valley. On August 17, 1858, Hector’s party entered a wide portion of the Bow Valley between the Sawback Range and the Bow Range. He recorded in this Journal that “[s]eeming to stand out in the centre of the valley is a very remarkable mountain, still at a distance of 12 miles, which looks like a gigantic castle.” Hector spent the next two days camped near the mountain, which he named Castle Mountain. [Interestingly, on August 12, 1858, just five days prior to Hector’s naming of Castle Mountain in the Bow Valley, Lt. Thomas Blakiston, another member of the Palliser Expedition had bequeathed the name Castle Mountain to a mountain near Pincher Creek. In order to avoid confusion, Blakiston’s mountain was officially named Windsor Mountain in 1915].
On August 19, Hector and a party member named Sutherland attempted to climb Castle Mountain. Hector recorded the details of the climb in his Journal:
[W]e began to rise very rapidly. At 1,000 feet above the valley, before we had quite got out of the woods, we came to a cliff, about 80 feet high, composed of quartzite and indurated sandstone of a pinkish hue… . After this we reached the first of the cliff ranges that are so conspicuous from the valley below … . When 2,000 feet above the valley we passed round to the N. side of the mountain, and found that a deep valley separated it from a lower spur composed of splintery shale of a dull red colour. The mass of the mountain, which rose more than 2,000 feet above us, seemed to be composed of thick bedded limestones, and these breaking away as the soft shales below them have been destroyed has given rise to the castellated appearance.
Hector’s party left Castle Mountain the next day to continue their exploration of the Bow Valley. On September 3, he again noted the mountain, which could be seen from Kicking Horse Pass, at a distance of 15 to 20 miles.
On his second journey up the Bow Valley in 1859, Hector camped at the north end of Castle Mountain. During this trip he recorded observations that the mountains on the west side of the valley were characterized by strata of soft shale, while the mountains on the east side of the valley were composed of limestone. Geologically speaking, he wrote, Castle Mountain, with its heavy shale, belonged with the mountains on the west side of the valley, even though the course carved by the Bow River placed the mountain on the valley’s east side.
The Palliser Expedition wrapped up in 1859. In 1861, Hector was appointed as the director of the Geological Survey of Otago, New Zealand. He spent the rest of his life in New Zealand, where he died in 1907 at the age of 73 years. Despite only spending two short visits to Castle Mountain, Hector’s vivid descriptions of the mountain and the name he gave it lived on.
Silver City, at the base of Castle Mountain, ca. 1885
In 1883, the Canadian Pacific Railway established a station near the mountain. This station was listed as Castle Mountain in the railway’s timetables and maps. Also in 1883, a mining town known as Silver City was established in the mountain’s shadow. It quickly grew to over 2,000 people before disappearing in 1885 after the expected ore deposits failed to materialize.
In 1912, the Geographic Board of Canada officially approved the name Castle Mountain to identify the mountain on federal maps. During the First World War, the Castle Mountain Internment Camp was established to contain detainees, mostly recently-arrived immigrants from Eastern Europe. Castle Mountain also featured prominently in promotional literature produced by the Canadian Pacific Railway and Banff National Park. The mountain continued to dominate the landscape of the region and the minds and imaginations of those that viewed it. The name Castle Mountain appeared to be indelibly affixed upon the map. The events of 1946 changed that.
Kordan, Bohdan S. and Peter J. Melnycky. In the Shadow of the Rockies: Diary of the Castle Mountain Internment Camp, 1915-1917. (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1991).
Spry, Irene M. ed., The Papers of the Palliser Expedition, 1857-1860. (Toronto: Champlain Society, 1968), available from http://link.library.utoronto.ca/champlain/search.cfm?lang=eng. [Dr. Hector’s Journal for 1858 can be found on pages 286-469].
RETROactive was launched six months ago and thanks to all of you it has grown into a blog followed by nearly 125 people. Over 60 blog posts have been published, covering topics such as: the conservation of historic windows; roadside heritage markers; the history of various Provincial Historic Resources; how to complete Municipal Heritage Surveys/Inventories and how Albertans can access conservation funding.
Are these the types of posts you want to read? Are there certain topics you would like us to discuss? What do you think about RETROactive? Please provide us with your feedback by commenting at the bottom of this post, write a comment on our Facebook page or email us at: albertahistoricplaces@gov.ab.ca. We look forward to receiving all of your messages.
Thank you for visiting RETROactive.
Written by: Brenda Manweiler, Municipal Heritage Services Advisor
Old St. Stephen's College, located on the University of Alberta campus, is home to the Historic Resources Management Branch (the authors of RETROactive). This building is also a Provincial Historic Resource.
RETROactive 