Alberta Destinations

New provincial sites showcase Alberta history

By Clara Alvear

Three sites that played a role in Alberta’s past have been designated as provincial historic resources for their historical and architectural significance.

In a sense, it’s the presence or absence of the railway that links the three sites, the McDonald Stopping House in Smoky Lake County, the Red Brick School in Didsbury and the West Canadian Collieries mine site in the Crowsnest Pass.

The McDonald Stopping House was a pre-railway lodging place in Smoky Lake County, while the Red Brick School, an imposing structure in Didsbury, was built to accommodate the railway-fuelled population boom before World War One.

The third site, in the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, is that of the West Canadian Collieries Mine, which sold virtually all of its 13 million tonnes of coal to the Canadian Pacific Railway.

McDonald Stopping House

Stopping houses were common on well-travelled routes before the coming of railways. In addition to providing travellers with food and lodging for the night and a barn and feed for horses, many stopping houses served as post offices and informal community centres.

The McDonald residence, located near Waskatenau, served travellers on the Victoria Trail and North Saskatchewan River. It is an excellent illustration of a building type once common in Alberta of which few examples remain.

For more details, visit hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP and search "McDonald Stopping House."

Red Brick School

Opened in 1908, the Red Brick School was built large enough to accommodate Didsbury’s growing population. An ultra-modern facility for its time, it was by far the most imposing structure outside the town’s commercial district and one of the community’s most architecturally sophisticated buildings.

The school’s social significance went well beyond its educational role. It served as a hospital during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic and has served as the local museum since its active service as a school ended in 1984.

For more details, visit hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP and search "Red Brick School, Didsbury."

West Canadian Collieries Mine Site

Opened in 1903 by West Canadian Collieries Limited of Lille, France, and operated until the 1960s, the mine site exemplifies the transition of underground mining from the days of pick axes and blasting powder to the era of extensive mechanization.

The mine spawned the ethnically diverse settlement of Bellevue which was devastated in 1910 by one of the worst industrial accidents in Alberta’s history. Thirty miners and one rescuer died after a powerful explosion crippled the mine’s ventilation system and prompted the formation of poisonous gas.

For more details, visit hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP and search "West Canadian Collieries Mine."