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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 17 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