Download Ponoka Twentieth Century Landmarks

PONOKA twentieth century landmarks
Second Edition March 2000: Ponoka Main Street Project, Town of Ponoka, and the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation
The site numbers begin at the historic town
center town and proceed in rough sequence
through the downtown and around the
community. Several downtown sites have
information plaques and are indicated in this
booklet. Sites 1– 40 can be visited on foot in
45 minutes, while sites 41–50 are more easily
reached by car or bicycle. If time is short,
many sites are visible from the intersection of
Railway Street and Chipman Avenue.
Comments and historical information are
welcomed at the Ponoka Town office, 403783-4431, www.ponoka.org.
2
20
19
24
22 21
18
51 Avenue
17
23
Railway (50) Street
DOWNTOWN SITE LOCATIONS
Locations for sites 44–53 outside the
downtown are provided with site
descriptions (see index at right)
51 Street
WELCOME TO PONOKA!
Ponoka began in the 1870s at the Battle River
Crossing as a supply point on the wagon trail
between Fort Edmonton and Calgary. After
1891, the railway brought a stream of settlers
from eastern Canada, the American midwest
and Europe. As these homesteaders made
their livelihood on the area’s fine agricultural
land, the settlement grew beside the railway
into an important service center. Ponoka’s
agricultural roots, the presence of the Alberta
Hospital Ponoka, and post-war prosperity
have left a diverse legacy of architectural and
historic places of interest.
2
Battle
River
16
15
14
13
5
12
11
39
37
26
34 33 31 30 28
38
40
36
35
32
29
27
3
7
25
Chipman (50) Avenue
1
6
8
9
10
41
49 Avenue
42
43
4
1
Siding 14
2
The Railway Depot
3
C.P.R. Dam
4
Grain Elevators
5
Ponoka Plaza
6
Royal Hotel
7
Bank of Commerce
8
Thomson’s Grocery
9
Lux & Stephens Garage
page 4
5
6
AROUND DOWNTOWN
11
41 Ponoka Provincial Building
17
22 Community Rest Room
42 Ponoka Jubilee Library
18
23 Cold Storage Service
43 Central Alberta Dairy Pool
24 Medical Arts Building
12
CHIPMAN (50) AVENUE
25 Chipman Avenue
27 Leland Hotel
12
29 Thirsk
11 Allan’s Furniture
8
to
$1
14
50 Fort Ostell
31 Bill’s Billiard Hall
51 Aerial Photograph, 1956
14 Ladies’ Wear
32 Sweet Block
52 The Calgary–Edmonton Trail
9
33 Cash Foods
16 F.E. Algar Building
34 Ranks Drugs
17 Ponoka Meat Market
35 Alberta Treasury Branch
18 Imperial Bank
10
36 Old Town Hall
19 Roberts’ Implement Dealership
37 Old County Office
20 Maple Leaf Garage
38 Fields Motors
39 Baptist Church
40 Bowker Funeral Home
20
49 Vold Jones & Vold Auction
13 Brody’s
15 Ponoka Radio Electric
19
47 Riverside Store
48 Ponoka Stampede
Store
30 Club Cafe
45 Brekke House
46 The “Brick School”
13
28 Green’s Gents Furnishers
5¢
44 Old General Hospital
AROUND TOWN
26 Bird Drug Company
7
10 Capitol Theatre
12 Jack’s Men’s Wear
21 Ponoka Herald
INDEX OF SITES
DONALD (51) AVENUE
RAILWAY STREET
15
53 Alberta Hospital Ponoka
21
22
16
Photographs and historical information appearing in this tour
are kindly provided by Ponoka’s Fort Ostell Museum, the
Provincial Archives of Alberta, Glenbow Archives and many
17
Ponoka area residents. Special thanks to Barb Greshner, the
late Doug Nelson, Dave Spinck, Merle McMillen, Earl Roberts,
and Bob Taylor for their generous contributions.
3
RAILWAY STREET
4
1
Siding 14
(Canadian Pacific Railway)
The railway arrived here in June 1891 at an
undeveloped townsite named simply “Siding
14” in sequence between Calgary and
Edmonton. The solitary railway depot was
inhabited by the section crew and a caretaker
for the nearby water tower. This squat
octagonal tower was fed from a small
reservoir in the Battle River by a windmilldriven pump. A vital supply point for the
steam locomotives, these structures were
Ponoka’s modest beginnings.
A landmark at the end of Chipman
Avenue, the water tower supplied a nearby
hydrant used by fire brigades to douse the
flames that claimed many wood buildings. The
tower became obsolete with the railway’s
conversion to diesel locomotive in the 1950s.
It was dismantled and partially rebuilt as a
granary on a farm north of town, where it still
stands today.
2
The Railway Depot
(Demolished; Plaza Bingo site)
Ponoka’s first building, the railway depot was
built upon the Calgary–Edmonton Railway’s
arrival in 1891. A classic “B-type” station
common in western Canada, the depot had a
long loading platform extending south to the
water tower. In the winter, a waiting room
was heated by a stove all night long. The
arrival of up to three daily trains set the
rhythm of town life and brought a steady
supply of freight, mail and passengers from
abroad. Letters were sorted on board the
train and could reach Lacombe in as little as
20 minutes! Rail passenger and local freight
traffic steadily declined as highways improved
and car ownership grew. The depot was
demolished in 1968 and the Calgary–
Edmonton dayliner service was discontinued
several years thereafter.
3
C.P.R. Dam
(Battle River, behind Ponoka Plaza)
The last relic of Siding 14, the weathered
timbers of a log dam lodged in the riverbed
once supported a broad spillway which
permitted logs from Pigeon Lake to float over
the structure to three sawmills just downstream. The dam created a reservoir from
which a windmill pumped water into a wood
tower by the tracks.
Teeming jackfish trapped in the reservoir
would be sometimes caught and hauled away
by the wagonload for use as livestock feed. A
romantic old postcard depicts the railway
dam’s heyday when it was an attractive place
for fishing and a refreshing summer swim.
Note: The tracks are frequently used by fastmoving freight trains. Cross at your own risk at
the 53 Avenue crossing.
Grain Elevators
5
(Railway Street)
Ponoka’s first elevator was established in
1906 and was joined in the 1920s by other
elevators built by the new farming
cooperative, Alberta Wheat Pool, and its
competitors. These monumental buildings
ranging along the tracks were the physical and
economic backbone of the community and
provided a yardstick of local prosperity.
Elevators were typically located at
approximately seven-mile intervals to enable
farmers to haul grain and return home the
same day. The combination of elevator(s) and
railway depot was the nucleus from which
prairie towns grew.
The original Ponoka elevator and several
others burned down and were replaced by
structures built on-site or moved from
Ponoka Plaza
(5015 Railway Street)
nearby communities, a common practice of
grain companies. In 1999, Ponoka retained six
operating elevators which, as a group, were a
significant record of elevator design evolution
from the 1920s to 1960s. Though elevators
were a typical feature of western towns, the
size, color and arrangement of the buildings
gave each community a signature distinct
from its neighbors.
Increasing reliance on truck transportation
and the proliferation of large, high-throughput
grain terminals have made traditional wood
elevators obsolete. This familiar prairie icon
and unique building type is rapidly
disappearing from the western landscape.
Built in 1968 on the site of the old railway
depot, Ponoka Plaza was part of an extensive
redevelopment of the CPR’s trackside
properties as improving road transportation
resulted in a diminished role for smaller rail
freight centers. A transplant from suburbia,
this classic strip mall represents a significant
phase in commercial development and drivethrough amenity. Abundant angle parking
virtually brought the automobile into the
storefront and made the sprawling building an
accessory to the street. The mall’s functional
design is a good example of post-war design
favoring uniformity and order. This design
trend went hand-in-hand with increasing
standardization in the building industry. A
large revolving pylon sign added a period
flourish and vitality to the complex.
RAILWAY STREET
4
5
RAILWAY STREET
6
6
Royal Hotel
(Railway St. & Chipman Ave.)
The Royal Hotel was built in 1900 by Joe
Delphis and is one of Ponoka’s oldest
landmarks. The coffee shop, beer parlor and a
billiards room in the basement made the
hotel an important social venue. The
southeast entrance was once reserved for
“ladies and escorts.” The hotel exterior
unique reflects stylistic changes in the
downtown. The original frame structure
survived a terrible downtown fire in 1905 and
was enlarged with an elaborate brick facade.
After World War II, the hotel was again
remodeled in the Moderne style with white
stucco, bold circular windows and “speed
line” details. “Old English” applied
decorations reflect a later nostalgic reaction
to the stark forms and finishes of the earlier
Moderne period.
7
Bank of Commerce
(Demolished; CIBC site)
The Bank of Commerce established Ponoka’s
first bank in 1903 in a small false-fronted
building on this site. It was replaced in 1911 by
a two-storey brick building reflecting the
trend toward more substantial and fireresistant structures. The building’s Classic
Revival style appeared with local variations
across Alberta. The massive, vault-like facade
with deeply recessed windows,borrowed the
architectural language of Roman temples and
public places to convey a sense of
permanence and security. Like most small
town branches, a second floor suite for the
bank manager’s residence provided an extra
measure of security. The bank was renovated
in 1955 and demolished in 1981.
8
Thomson’s Grocery
(True Value Hardware)
On this site stand two distinct structures
with closely intertwined histories. The north
half, built shortly after a 1905 fire destroyed
most of the block, was occupied by
Spackman’s Hardware. The south building
was built in 1914 where C.H. Cummings ran
a confectionery, bakery, and grocery store.
The store became R. J. Thomson’s bakery and
grocery in 1924 and operated for many years.
The building exteriors were very similar until
1955, when Vic Rimbey renovated the north
side, then a Marshall Wells hardware store, in
the streamlined stucco Art Moderne style
(photo 6, visible at far left). Traditional
elements of the early exterior were adapted
into the 1996 facade redesign through the
Main Street Programme.
Lux & Stephens Garage
(Chidlow Chiropractic Clinic)
This brick garage was built in 1924 and was
one of many such service stations to appear
on Ponoka’s streetcorners after the decline
of horse-drawn wagons after World War I. It
was originally known as the Lux and Stephens
Garage, a business which moved to this
location from the corner of 51 Street and 51
Avenue. The garage later became the Hi-Way
Service Garage, an appropriate name since
this main street was also the main highway
between Edmonton and Calgary. Len Lee’s
Nu-Spot cafe operated in the building’s north
bay during the 1940s and is said to have been
Ponoka’s first hamburger stand. The garage
(visible just right of center in the photo
below) also served as a taxi stand. The
building was renovated by Dr. Glen Chidlow.
10 Capitol Theatre
(4904 Railway Street)
The Capitol Theatre was built in 1949 by Hec
Labrie on the site of a house and millinery
shop owned by Mr. and Mrs. Land Headley.
For several years, the new cinema shared the
street with the Empress Theatre next door
which had been the venue for plays and stage
shows since the Headleys built it in 1912.
During the silent movie era, local pianists
accompanied films and became well known
Ponoka celebrities in their own right.
Architectural features of this cast
concrete building include a rectangular block
of upper windows influenced by the International Style. The style emerged in Germany
before World War II and established itself as
the dominant style for urban commercial
buildings of the 1950s. The barber shops of
Roy Kirkpatrick and Monte Klein were
located in the Capitol Theatre’s retail bay.
The theatre’s carrara glass storefront was
replicated in 1998 with the assistance of the
Main Street Programme.
11 Allan’s Furniture
(Scissor’s Palace, 5006-50 St.)
R.K. Allan opened one of Ponoka’s first
hardware and furniture stores here in 1901
and operated until he sold the building to
Wyman & Small in 1916. Allan later bought
back the building after that partnership
dissolved. Later businesses included furniture
stores operated by Roy Kline’s, Orville
Drummond, Percy Wilkins, and Larry
Henkelman. Partly restored in 1996 through
the Main Street Programme, this is Ponoka’s
only building to retain a wood upper cornice.
The building features a distinctive band of
vertical tongue-and-groove paneling which
separates the upper and lower facades. The
original entryway and lower storefront were
altered to create separate business entrances.
RAILWAY STREET
9
7
RAILWAY STREET
8
12 Jack’s Men’s Wear
(5012 Railway Street)
George Bowker’s livery stable stood on this
site (photo below, left of carriage). Before
cars and taxis, liveries were an important
shelter for horses and wagons. Ponoka’s first
undertaker, Bowker kept horse-drawn
hearses in the stable. Fire destroyed Bowker’s
stable, and the Merchant’s Bank built this fine
brick building with its ornamented entrance in
1925. In the mid-1937, Jim Mah Poy and Jack
Mah Ming bought the bank and ran a men’s
clothing store and dry cleaning operation.
Jack’s son, Glen Mah Poy, and his wife took
over the business after World War II and
remodeled the north storefront in 1951 with a
stylish neon sign and a fashionable “carrara
glass” finish. Now rare, carrara glass originated in sophisticated Czech glass-making
industries and was popular in many post-war
commercial buildings.
13 Brody’s
(Golden Wheel Restaurant)
Built in 1910 on a fieldstone foundation, this
brick veneer building was L.B. Matisch’s
jewellery store and later Edwards grocery
store. In 1928, James and Mace Brody ran a
Dry Goods and Ready-to-Wear business until
the building became a restaurant in 1978.
Unique to this building was a pneumatic tube
system for transporting money within the
store. The original storefront, featuring a
traditional central recessed entrance and
large display windows, is visible in photos 12
and 13 below, immediately right (north) of
Bowker’s Livery/Jack’s Men’s Wear. Cracking
brickwork was masked with an aluminum “slip
cover” in 1968. The brick facade was rebuilt
in 1997 with the assistance of the Main Street
Programme in a contemporary adaptation of
the traditional storefront.
14 Ladies’ Wear
(5016 Railway Street)
This building was constructed in 1910 and was
a jewellery store (1920s), the Fashion Shoppe
(1940s), and Ruby Obermeyer’s dairy (late
1940s). Florence Stretch operated the Dress
Rite Lady’s Wear from the 1950s to 1965,
whereupon Mr. and Mrs. Barney Torgerson
took over the business. Ilona Carter ran
Classic Ladies Wear in this location during
the 1970s and 80s. The original clapboard
false front was modified and covered with
stucco in 1954 in an adaptation of the
Moderne Style to a Boomtown building.
Below, three views of Railway Street ca.
1910, 1940, and 1955 show the Ladies’ Wear
(two doors right of Jack’s Men’s Wear) and
the evolution of the streetscape from board
sidewalks to white stucco facades of the
Moderne era (below). Also notable is the
development of signs from modest wood
shingles (12) to large, often illuminated signs
designed to be visible to motorists (14).
(5018 Railway Street)
Charlie Segerstrom’s Land Office occupied a
tiny frame building on this site beside the
Algar Store. Behind the building was a small
lawn where Mr. Segerstrom kept bees he
bought from local boys. The bees’ sting
reputedly helped relieve his severe arthritis.
The present building, built by George James
after World War II, originally featured the
bold white stucco exterior and hexagonal
windows of the moderne style prevalent on
Ponoka’s main streets (photo 14). The present storefront was remodeled in 1960 with
handsome coral-colored aluminum panels,
showcasing one of many novel building
materials to debut in the post-war period.
16 F.E. Algar Building
(Uncle Elmer’s Bike & Tackle)
A young and enterprising Frederic Algar
arrived in 1895 at the Ponoka townsite and
established the town’s first store in the
railway depot. Doing a brisk business
supplying new settlers, Algar expanded in
January 1896 to a nearby log building at the
corner of Railway Street and 51 Avenue. This
building burned in 1902 and was replaced by a
two-storey wood building with “tin” siding
(photo 15, below left). This also burned just
twelve years later, and Algar’s third and last
store, the present brick structure, was built
in 1914. Behind it is the “sugar shack” where
sacks of sugar and other goods delivered by
dray man Dick Slater were stored.
Now a designated historic resource, the
Algar Building features front and rear
storefronts with large display windows and
metal cornices. Inside are high metal-clad
ceilings and, at the rear of the store, a little
office once known to employees as the
“eagle’s nest” overlooks the interior. Behind
it is a vault where valuable muskrat furs were
stored. In 1944, after 49 years of business in
Ponoka, Algar sold the building to Abe
Aboussafy of Wetaskiwin who operated for a
decade thereafter. Owned by Elmer and
Esther Prediger, the building was restored in
1996-7 during the Main Street Programme.
17 Ponoka Meat Market
(5005 - 51 Avenue)
This is one of Ponoka’s oldest shops and may
be Ponoka’s first post office building. An old
photograph (17, below) and charring of the
unpainted east wall suggest the shop stood
here during the 1914 burning of the Algar
Store. The Ivor Larsen’s butcher shop and
Fritz Bachor’s Ponoka Meat Market (ca. 1940)
were located here. A shoe repair begun by
Joe Ronnie and Charlie Owen in 1944
continued under various owners until 1997.
The shop is essentially original and uniquely
represents the “Boomtown” style of
Ponoka’s pioneer days. The unusual angled
doorway corresponded to a similar doorway
across the alley, creating an informal gateway
for a thriving cluster of back alley businesses.
Lettering on the false front dating to 1940
was restored in 1998 based on an old photograph and “ghost” images in the paint.
RAILWAY STREET
15 Ponoka Radio Electric
9
RAILWAY STREET
10
18 Imperial Bank
(George’s Music, 5002 -51 Avenue)
A log building housing the Algar Store stood
on this site from 1896 until the building
burned in 1902. The Brady & Morgan Garage,
later owned by Hughey Roberts’s, stood here
until it too was destroyed in a dramatic fire in
1952. The Imperial Bank of Canada built the
present structure in 1959 but operated only
briefly after the 1961 amalgamation of the
Imperial Bank and Bank of Commerce. The
bank’s striking angular “butterfly” roof is an
unusual occurrence of 1950s expressionism
and departs from the conservative design of
many financial institutions, including the Bank
of Commerce a block south. With its airy
interior, the building was targeted to a
modern clientele and represents a development from vault-like, traditional bank designs
to the open banking kiosks common today.
19 Roberts’ Equipment Dealership
(John’s Place Restaurant & Lounge)
Like other farming communities, early
downtown Ponoka had an abundance of
equipment dealerships, lumber yards and
garages that supported the surrounding
agricultural community. Hugh Roberts took
over D.R. Morgan’s John Deere dealership in
1938 and moved the business onto these
premises built in 1945. Equipment was stored
in the vacant lot across Railway Street along
the railway itself. Roberts eventually sold the
business in 1960. The building was
substantially redesigned with the assistance of
the Main Street Programme in 1997.
The 1912 photograph below shows the
north end of Railway Street in 1912 with the
town limits demarcated by a line of vegetation
at the end of the roadway.
20 Maple Leaf Garage
(Railway Street & 53 Avenue)
Donar Clark built the Maple Leaf Garage, one
of Ponoka’s first service stations, in 1925 to
service the growing number of motorists.
Later a car and equipment dealership, the
building is an interesting hybrid of styles
illustrating the automobile’s profound impact
on downtown Ponoka. The original structure
is a traditional gable roof structure.
Photographs (below) show a projecting
canopy in the Spanish Revival style which
spread from California to filling station and
“motor hotel” designs across the continent.
The garage was later radically remodeled in
the Streamline style popular in 1940s diners,
gas stations and other buildings. This
streamlined treatment featured stucco walls
and a curving driveway with a fuel pump
island which penetrated the building and
effectively drew the street into the building.
5010-51 Avenue
Ponoka’s first newspaper, the Ponoka Herald
came off the presses on August 27, 1900
under editor W.D. Pitcairn. Scottish
pressman George Gordon bought the Herald
in 1904 with the backing of local businesses
eager to have a strong local paper. The
Herald was recognized for its newsy approach
and motto, “Ponoka District, First, Last and
All the Time.” The office and printing press
were located in a Boomtown-style building
on 51 Avenue (visible in photo 22, to the
right of the Rest Room). A town councillor
and tireless Ponoka promoter, Gordon was
postmaster from 1914 to 1946. His son John
Gordon ran the paper from 1938 to 1953,
whereupon the Herald moved to a newly
equipped building at 5210 Railway Street. The
paper continued to be published until
December 1997.
22 Community Rest Room
(Ponoka Book Store, Hair Loft)
This building is a rare example of construction in “cast stone” or moulded concrete
blocks imitating sandstone. The public
washrooms and waiting room opened in
November 1929 and enabled farm women
and children to socialize while the husbands
conducted business around town. A meeting
place for the farming community, the
institution was established and maintained
through the efforts of a volunteer women’s
organization until 1992. It reflects the historic
relationship of town and country and attests
to the community spirit of Ponoka’s farm
women. A 1950s photograph (below) shows
the building adjoining Wilder’s Garage built
around the same time. The Rest Room
exterior was restored during the Main Street
Project (1997–99).
23 Cold Storage Service
(5025 -51 Avenue)
Before rural electrification, many towns had a
locker cold storage plant with quick freezing
facilities. Angus Macleod built the Ponoka
Cold Storage Service in 1941. A modern
abatoir located in Riverside capable of
processing and chilling 100 head of beef or
hogs per day was added to the operation in
1943. The west bay of the Cold Storage was
added in 1948. When personal deep freezes
replaced the need for rented lockers, a
grocery store and later a fabric shop
occupied the space. Louvered vents and the
raised floors with sawdust insulation recall
the building’s original function. Improvements
were carried out through the Main Street
Programme in 1997. Below, icicles adorn the
Cold Storage Service sign above a wellinsulated storefront of traditional windows.
DONALD (51) AVENUE
21 Ponoka Herald
11
CHIPMAN AVENUE
12
24 Medical Arts Building
(Medical Centre, 5104 - 51 Avenue)
In Ponoka’s early years, local doctors
practised in downtown offices and their own
residences. One of Ponoka’s first physicians,
Dr. A. A. Drinnan, arrived in town in 1902.
Doctors traveled to rural patients in all
seasons and weather conditions by horse and
buggy, sleigh, and even on foot.
Built in 1955, the Medical Arts Building
incorporated new advances in construction
technology and provided first-rate facilities
for the medical profession. The modern
facade dispenses with window frames and
traditional ornamentation, offering instead an
interplay of volumes and voids only vaguely
suggestive of the bays in older buildings. Flat
“Roman” brick, fine raked mortar joints, and
glass block window panels create a tapestry
of contrasting surface textures.
25 Chipman Avenue
(50 Avenue)
Ponoka initially lay within the extensive
western holdings of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, then known as the North West
Territories. With the railway’s arrival and
townsite survey, the main street was named
after Clarence Chipman, Company Commissioner from 1891–1911. Chipman’s signature
appears on early surveys of Ponoka. The
town later adopted the new practice of
designating streets by number rather than
name, a system widely believed to aid fire
brigades and other services. This orderly and
uniform system accommodated growth and
large downtown street numbers implied a
prosperous future.
An early view of Chipman Avenue (below,
ca.1920?) shows the wood sidewalks and
early frame storefronts. The railway’s water
tower is just visible at the end of the street.
26 Bird Drug Company
(Jolly Farmer Pub)
Druggist Sid Bird established his pharmacy in
Ponoka in 1910. This building is believed to
date to 1916-18, with an addition made to the
east half some years later. The second storey
was leased as a dentist’s office and a residential suite. As Christmas time, children
eagerly climbed upstairs where special toys
were for sale. This traditional storefront
features a recessed main entrance and a
pressed metal cornice with decorative
“finials.” Above the display windows, “prism
glass” transom windows lit the interior in the
days of dim incandescent light bulbs, while
numerous retractable canopies shielded the
storefront from direct sunlight. The building’s
outstanding historic brickwork and “ghost
signs” were restored in 1999 with the
assistance of the Main Street Programme.
(5009 Chipman Avenue)
Jack McCue and George Sellers built the
Leland Hotel in 1901. Like the nearby Royal
and Alberta Hotels, it was an important
social venue and a shelter for the early
settlement’s transient population. Original
details included ornamental wood brackets
along the eaves and a row of dormers set
into a steeply pitched hip roof that recalls
colonial building styles of eastern Canada. In
1952, an addition was built to the northwest
corner, the wooden siding was covered with
stucco, and glass block windows were
introduced in the current fashion. Ice blocks
for chilling beverages were cut from the
Battle River, packed in sawdust and stored
in an ice house behind the hotel. Exterior
enhancements were made in 1999 through
the Main Street Project.
28 Green’s Gents Furnishers
5012-Chipman Avenue
Built in 1919, this is one of Chipman Avenue’s
earliest brick buildings. It was home to Tom
Durkin’s men’s wear, one of Ponoka’s first
clothiers, and to Mike Green’s Gent’s
Furnishers from the late 1920s to the late
1940s. A distinctive sign was painted across
the brick upper facade (photo below). Green
sold to Harry Friedman who operated the
store until his passing in 1954. The business
later belonged to Jim Walker and Dick
Thomson, Dick Thomson and his son Richy,
and Richy and his son Ron who operated the
store until 1986. The original storefront
featured a narrow recessed entrance and
retractable awning. The recessed entry was
altered in the 1950s, but most of the
remaining facade was restored in 1996–99
through the Main Street Programme. Stacked
bricks and upright “soldier course” bricks
create distinct panels on the upper facade.
29 Thirsk 5¢ to $1 Store
(5019 Chipman Avenue)
The Alberta Hotel, later the Temperance
Hotel and Hornstein’s Store, stood here
from 1900 until a fire in 1932. Lloyd Thirsk
built this store in 1949 for the business he
had established several years earlier in the
Kennedy and Russell Building (now a vacant
lot beside the Leland Hotel). One of several
post-war buildings in Ponoka built primarily
of monolithic cast concrete, this storefront’s
stark exterior and oversized louvered vents
express the “machine esthetic” of the
Moderne era. These features contrast with
the carefully proportioned design of twin
doorways with glass block sidelights and the
subtle division of the storefront into recessed
stucco bays. The building was refurbished in
1998 and a replica of the old store sign
installed through the Main Street Programme.
CHIPMAN AVENUE
27 Leland Hotel
13
CHIPMAN AVENUE
14
30 Club Cafe
(Readers’ Emporium, 5018-50 Avenue)
Mah Chew first opened the Club Cafe in the
Leland Hotel in the early 1920s. In 1926, he
and his partner, Mah Bow, purchased this lot,
previously occupied by Steel’s Lumber and
Machinery, and built a very fashionable
restaurant. In that period, dining out was a
formal, special occasion, and dark red velvet
booth curtains were one of the restaurant’s
hightlights. The cafe became a popular
meeting place for teenagers during the 1940s
and 50s. During that period, the building was
renovated in the moderne style and sported a
large large circular window, neon sign, and an
upper facade of carrara glass (photo below,
center). Several years after the Club Cafe
owners’ retirement, Kris and Elsa Pederson
bought the building and operated the Silver
Bakery here from 1960 until January 1994.
31 Bill’s Billiard Hall
(Ponoka Deli)
Pool was an popular social and leisure activity
in the early years and Ponoka’s pools halls
were dark, smoky places that were generally
regarded as the preserve of men above the
age of minority. Land Headley operated one
of Ponoka’s first pool halls in this 1918
building until he sold the business to Bill
DeWilde. DeWilde ran the business until
1946. The traditional original storefront
(shown below) featured a recessed entry and
a wide awning over the display windows. The
extensively altered exterior was refurbished
in 1996 through the Main Street Programme.
Two doors down (photo, left center) stood
the two-storey Elk’s Hall where dances were
held on Saturday nights. Advanced deterioration led to the demolition of this Spanish
Colonial-style building in the mid-1960s.
32 Sweet Block
(Frenette Chiropractic, Cranberry Lane)
Built by Don Sweet in 1937, this stucco
building reflects the influence of the Moderne
style nearly a decade before it became
fashionable in Alberta towns. Inspired by the
streamlined forms of cars and planes, the
style is evident in the curving entryway and
the horizontal stucco “speed lines.” The
building was occupied by Jacques Jewellery
and a beauty parlor run by Mrs. Sweet. Later
businesses included the Ponoka News and
Advertiser, a bus depot and a cafe operated by
Lee and Whitman, and the offices of Jones
Agencies Insurance. The gap between this
building and its neighbor was used to reach
the many back alley businesss. One of these,
Andy “Gump” Lundgren’s tailor shop, dates
to the early 1930s and still stands beside the
alley behind this building.
(At Your Leisure)
The California-based Safeway Foods company
built this store in 1929. One in a chain of
similar stores in Alberta, the building reflects
the Spanish Colonial Revival style then
fashionable in the southwestern United
States. The Spanish influence appears in the
pressed imitation red tile roof (actually of
pressed metal) and masonry pilasters capped
by whimsical finials and ornamental crests.
This popular style also appeared in gas
stations and other commercial buildings of
the period. James Hamilton bought the
building in 1946 and his son Al Hamilton ran
Cash Foods here until 1960. The store
appears at right in the photograph below.
34 Ranks Drugs
(A&B Taxi, Royal Taxi)
This store was built in 1928 and was home to
Garnet Ranks’s drugstore from 1946 to 1958.
He had managed the business for owner
Sidney Bird in the Bird Drug Company down
the street from the mid-1930s to 1946. Louis
(Lou) Gorman bought the business in 1958
and relocated in 1967 to a new structure
built next door on the site of the Elk’s Hall.
Distinguishing features of this old storefront
(photo below, upper right) are its ceramic tile
bulkheads and delicately detailed copper
window frames. The original storefront also
featured transom windows, a retractable
awning, and a entryway floor of tiny
hexagonal tiles.
35 Alberta Treasury Branch
(Scissor Wizzard)
The City Livery stood here until about 1930
when, like many other stables, it was
destroyed by fire. The lot stood empty for
years thereafter. In 1946, a nighttime crowd
gathered here around a bright flare to
celebrate the arrival of natural gas in Ponoka.
This building was constructed for the
Alberta Treasury Branch in 1952. It typifies
the styling of post-war institutional buildings.
Like the old Jubilee Library a block south, the
bank has a strong horizontal emphasis and
stone-and-glass dash stucco exterior popular
in the 1950s. The cut-away corner entrance
with its cantilevered canopy and glass block
corner windows (early 1960s photograph,
below) gave lightness to the masonry building
and reflected the trend toward increasing
openness in bank design.
CHIPMAN AVENUE
33 Cash Foods
15
CHIPMAN AVENUE
16
36 Old Town Hall
(Demolished; site of Bank of Montreal)
Ponoka’s old Town Hall stood at the
southwest corner of Chipman Avenue and 51
Street until its demolition in 1963. The mulitpurpose building housed town offices and an
auditorium, a fire hall, police station and cell
block, and the dogcatcher’s office. The brick
veneer building had an Italianate design with
its broad bracketed eaves, wide frieze and a
little arched belfry.
37 Old County Office
(Vacant, 5018 Chipman Avenue)
Built in 1963 for the Ponoka County offices,
this building is perhaps the best local example
of the influential and widespread International
Style. The construction uses unabashedly
industrial materials such as I-beams and
concrete blocks. These elements are massproduced, but they are assembled into a
unique composition of right angles, recesses
and ledges. A series of aluminum mesh panels
on the original facade, a popular 1960s
embellishment, formed a semitransparent
plane on a grid of intersecting ledges and
columns added depth and variety to the
building. A lively pattern of mosaic tiles
animated the shadows.
38 Field’s Motors
(Destroyed; lot west of Bank of Montreal)
Virtually every street corner in Ponoka has
had a service station at one time or anther.
The lot immediately west of the old Town
Hall had an especially rich history, beginning
with the little brick garage (below) and its
profusion of creative signs. The dramatic
streamlined forms of Fields Motors on the
same site reflected a later era of automotive
sales and service.
(Michie’s Flowers, 5112 Chipman Avenue)
Ponoka’s first Baptist congregation formed in
1901 and services were held in a log
schoolhouse until this building’s construction
in 1903. Church services were initially held in
settlers’ homes and a makeshift Sunday
school was established in the railway depot.
Ponoka’s first log church, built in 1901
through a cooperative community effort, was
shared on a rotational basis among various
denominations until separate churches could
be built. This building was expanded in the
early 1950s and was finally outgrown by its
congregation in 1960. A baptismal font built
into the floor survives from the original
sanctuary.
Below, a 1919 photograph looks east along
Chipman Avenue from near the site of the
former Baptist Church.
40 Bowker Funeral Home
(Chipman Avenue & 52 Street)
George Bowker came to Ponoka by rail or
“colonist car” in early 1906. Ponoka’s first
undertaker, he established a funeral business
soon after his arrival and ran the business
until 1946 in conjunction with other business
ventures. Bowker built his first funeral home
on Chipman Avenue, later replacing it with
the current premises in 1929. He also owned
a lumber yard at the southwest corner of 51
Avenue and 51 Street, later purchased by
Beaver Lumber. The funeral home’s present
form incorporates several additions. The
linear vertical geometry of the west elevation
(below) is the only surviving example of an
Art Deco facade in downtown Ponoka.
41 Ponoka Provincial Building
(5110 - 49 Avenue)
The facades of the Ponoka Provincial Building
undulate along this quiet side street in the
signature curvilinear style of internationallyrenown architect Douglas Cardinal. Built in
1977, this unconventional building is one of
the Alberta architect’s early works, two
other landmarks of whom are St. Mary’s
Church in Red Deer and Ottawa’s Museum
of Civilization. The building’s sculptured,
naturalistic curves and site vegetation reflect
a Native tradition of harmony with the land
and are a departure from the modernist
tradition of right angles.
AROUND DOWNTOWN
39 Baptist Church
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AROUND TOWN
18
42 Ponoka Jubilee Library
(The Pantry, 5039-49 Avenue)
The Ponoka Jubilee Library was built in 1954
to house a growing collection of books begun
decades earlier in the Community Rest Room
on 51 Avenue. The town library was an
important amenity at the time and was a
great source of local pride. During the
uncertain era of the Cold War in the 1950s,
the library basement was equipped to serve
as a civil defense headquarters for
coordinating relief efforts in case of an air
raid or nuclear attack. The library eventually
outgrew the building and moved to its
present location beside the Town Hall. With
its aggregate stucco exterior, Roman brick
planters, flat roof and projecting entryway
canopy, this approachable building
successfully adapts a post-war building style
to a small scale.
43 Central Alberta Dairy Pool
(49 Avenue, demolished)
District farmers built a sturdy masonry
creamery on this site in 1921 to replace the
White Rose Creamery which operated from
1904 until it burned in 1916. The new facility
was leased to the Burns Company which
graded, processed, and distributed milk,
cream and eggs delivered by area farmers.
The Central Alberta Dairy Pool bought the
building in 1943 and delivered Ponoka’s first
pasteurized milk directly to local homes. The
CADP was a large operation of its kind in
the early 1950s. It and the nearby Fertile
Valley Creamery were as vital to dairy
farmers as the elevators were to grain
producers. This period saw a transition from
mixed farming to more specialized dairy and
egg farms. The increasing operating costs of
small local facilities, outdated equipment and
a potentially costly conversion to metric led
to the Ponoka creamery’s closure in 1979
and its eventual demolition in 1989.
44 Old General Hospital
(Railway Street & 57 Avenue)
The Ponoka Municipal Hospital was built in
1946, with a west wing and operating theatre
being added in 1952 and 1961 respectively. At
its peak, this was a 50-bed facility with a staff
of 60, including 30 nurses and 8 doctors. The
facility closed in the 1980s with the opening of
the new General Hospital across town in
Lucas Heights. Overall, the building is a
characteristically post-war design with its
strong rectangular masses and horizontal
bands and projections. The arched 1963
waiting room addition (built after the photo
below) contrast with the earlier building
reflect a later expressionist design trend.
(48 Avenue & 52 Street)
Built in 1942, this landmark residence is the
remarkable work of owner Howard Brekke
who was inspired by a magazine article. The
building’s flat eaveless roof, lack of window
frames and traditional details, and even the
box hedges are characteristically Moderne.
Essentially a cluster of stucco cubes, the
design is enhanced by curving corners, lively
asymmetrical massing, and bold wall graphics.
The novel layout is built around the garage,
reflected the integral role of the automobile
in modern life. The compact plan includes a
spacious living room, Mrs. Brekke’s custombuilt sewing room, and a built-in china cabinet
of varnished plywood, a material admired as
modern, practical and attractive. This private
residence is one of many interesting domestic
building styles still represented on Ponoka’s
residential streets.
46 The “Brick School”
(50 Avenue & 54 Street)
Ponoka students first attended classes in
1898 in an early log church. In 1901, a fourroom school was built just west of today’s
United Church. A “cottage school” added to
the site in 1915 is now a private residence
(5109-53 Avenue). School functions were held
in the upstairs Town Hall auditorium and in
the Empress Theatre. When the “Brick
School” (below) was built in 1929, many saw
it as a white elephant far exceeding Ponoka’s
needs. But as rural schoolhouses closed due
to lack of teachers or pupils, overcrowding in
town led to new school construction during
the post-war “baby boom.” The Brick School
continues to serve as an elementary school. It
features a Late Gothic Revival central bay,
common on 1920s Alberta schools, combined
with Art Deco-influenced piers. An entryway
addition dates to the 1980s.
47 Riverside Store
(46 Street & 46A Street Close)
George and Hap Hinkley opened a store in
1946 at this intersection. Known as the
Riverside Grocery, the store gave its name to
the east half of Ponoka, then inhabited by
only four families. The road, then the main
thoroughfare to the Alberta Hospital, passed
by the store and continued across a narrow
car bridge into the downtown. The grocery
store prospered during 1948 when flood
waters reached as high as the store itself and
prevented Riverside residents, farm families
and staff residences at the Alberta Hospital
from crossing into Ponoka for supplies. Few
people owned automobiles, and much of the
store’s business consisted of telephone
orders and deliveries. In 1957, the store
relocated to a nearby site on present-day
Highway 53. The Hinkleys eventually retired
and sold the successful business in 1969.
AROUND TOWN
45 Brekke House
19
AROUND TOWN
20
48 Ponoka Stampede
(Highway 53, “Stampede Trail”)
This western tradition brings the community
together for steer wrestling, chuckwagon
racing, bullriding, and other rodeo events. In
one account, Ponoka’s first stampede was
organized in 1920 as a fundraiser for the
Women’s Rest Room Association. The
Ponoka Stampede officially began in 1936 on
the present site on the south edge of town,
where a small grandstand stood with
bleachers assembled each year by local
volunteers. The present grandstands were
built in the 1990s in response to the event’s
growing popularity. Today, the Stampede is
one of Canada’s larger rodeos and draws
over 50,000 international rodeo professionals
and spectators over the July 1 weekend. The
Cowboy Museum near the grandstand tells
the story of rodeo and ranching in the area.
49 Vold Jones & Vold Auction
(Highway 2A & Highway 53)
The scale and efficiency of the VJV Auction
help make Ponoka “Canada’s Cattle Capital.”
Ralph and Harry Vold bought the Ponoka
Auction Mart in 1957 and partnered with
bookkeepers Bill and Shorty Jones. An
airplane enabled the business to serve
customers in a wide area around Ponoka.
Improving highways and the emergence of
large livestock trucks or “cattle liners” in the
late 1950s made this rural auction markets
less dependent upon railways and more
competitive against urban markets. Now with
a holding capacity of 8000 head, VJV sells
hogs, beef and dairy cattle in three rings
simultaneously every Wednesday and via
satellite to buyers across North America. The
30-acre facility is one of Canada’s most
technologically advanced livestock auctions.
50 Fort Ostell
(Southwest Industrial Park)
Early settlers obtained supplies from the
Hudson’s Bay Company trading post on the
north bank of the Battle River, just southwest
of today’s industrial park. During the tense
days of the 1885 Riel Rebellion, the post was
hastily fortified by the North West Mounted
Police to protect communications between
the area and Fort Edmonton. It is named after
Captain John Ostell, commanding officer of
the 20-man police detachment stationed
there. No visible remains of the wood fort or
surrounding earthworks (schematic below)
survive, but the site is commemorated at
Ponoka’s Fort Ostell Museum and at a
Highway 2A sign just south of town. The
Museum (north end of Centennial Park;
Highway 2A and 53 Avenue) is open daily
during the summer and offers a summer
program for children ages 5–12. Call 783-5224
for more information.
52 The Calgary–Edmonton Trail
(Looking north above Highway 53)
(Highway 2A, Railway Street)
This aerial view captures several old Ponoka
landmarks. Among them are (a) the water
tower built in 1948 and demolished ca. 1980,
and (b) the screen of Ponoka’s drive-in
theatre on the outskirts of town, built in
1953 and operated by Ed Somshor
between1954–62 when the site became a
trailer court. The projection booth is now a
utility shed. In the foreground are the (c) old
curling rink and (d) arena, as well as (e) VJV’s
hog-buying station beside the railway, one of
the busiest such stations in the region until
the operation moved to the auction mart in
the late 1980s. Also shown is (f) the south
bridge to Riverside and the Alberta Hospital,
once the main route east of town before the
construction of the Highway 53 river crossing
in the early 1960s.
Ancient native trails led cartographer David
Thompson through Ponoka in April 1800 on
his trek to the Pacific. After the 1883 arrival
of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Calgary,
Ponoka’s Railway Street lay on the trade
route between the northern fur trade and the
southern railhead. The early road followed a
native trail through the townsite (at “A” on
1886 survey, below right), crossed the Battle
River at today’s footbridge and proceeded
past the Alberta Hospital. Stagecoachs made
the 300 km trip in three days, while heavy oxdrawn freight wagons took about a week. The
photo (below) shows the southeast approach
to town during a flood and illustrates the
obstacles of early road travel.
The arrival of the Calgary–Edmonton
Railway in 1891 reduced the arduous journey
to a mere 12 hours from Calgary to
Edmonton. Most freight was transported by
the new railway, but the C&E Trail continued
as an important north-south thoroughfare
linking Ponoka to the wider world. Residents
recall U.S. army convoys rumbling through
town in the dead of night, bound for Alaska
to assist in a defense of the Aleutian Islands
during the Second World War.
The C&E Trail became one of Alberta’s
first paved highways and sections of handtamped asphalt still exist south of town. The
old road was gradually eclipsed by the
construction of Highway 2A in the 1940s and
by Highway 2 in the mid-1960s. Sections of
the old C&E Trail still meander through the
farmland and serve local traffic.
AROUND TOWN
51 Aerial Photograph, 1956
A
Highway 53
b
a
c
d
e
f
21
AROUND TOWN
53 Alberta Hospital Ponoka
(46 Street, 2 km south of Highway 53)
The Alberta Hospital Ponoka (AHP) is
located at the southeast corner of town on
what was earlier known as the “cinder road,”
so named because it was surfaced with
cinders from the hospital furnaces. AHP is a
community and history unto itself and has
become a leader in psychiatric care and brain
injury treatment.
Ponoka’s “Hospital for the Insane” opened
in April 1911 with an 800 acre site, main
hospital building, heating and power plant,
water tower, and a sewage disposal plant. The
main building (Heritage Building) had separate
wings for male and female patients and is now
a designated Provincial Historic Resource.
Building materials arrived by horse and wagon
and masonry construction helped fireproof
the isolated facility.
Early treatments relied on the curative
effects of country air in conjuction with
hydrotherapy and other medical technologies
of the day. In the1940s, electroshock therapy
and prefrontal lobotomies were practised and
it was during this period that the hospital’s
population peaked at 1600 patients with 300
support staff. Notwithstanding bizarre and
colorful accounts of early institutional life, the
hospital pioneered occupational therapy
through grounds beautification and farm
work. Farms and workshops on the extensive
hospital grounds made it a self-sufficient
community.
AHP’s evolution from a custodial care
facility into an advanced research and
treatment center began in the 1930s when a
limited construction budget led to psychiatric
nursing training programs which continue to
this day. Since the 1950s, the proportion of
patients to staff has gradually reversed with
the use of tranquilizing medications, more
successful treatments and, more recently, the
development of extension programs in the
community. AHP has evolved into one of
Canada’s leading treatment centers for mental
illness and brain injury and continues to be a
major local employer.
Steady physical expansion since the
hospital’s founding has built a diverse legacy
of institutional building styles and site
planning. Set against a backdrop of mature
evergreens and plantings, building styles
include late Victorian and Craftsman
residences, examples of clinical 1950s
institutional modernism, and the more
approachable scale of the post-modern 1980s
Brain Injury Unit.
(Prepared with information from Ponoka Panorama by Earl Roberts)
22
AROUND TOWN
The remarkable 1910 panorama below looks
west from the water tower which stood at
the intersection of Chipman Avenue and
Railway Street. It shows many early
landmarks and illustrates the diversity of
buildings and activities in the early town
center, ranging from shops and banks to
equipment dealerships and even residences
with backyard barns and livestock. At upper
right, the Ponoka skyline in 1996.
23
Produced by the Ponoka Main Street Project and Town of Ponoka
with assistance from the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation