Audacious and enterprising, they came from near and far to help grow the new settlement at the northern end of the Calgary & Edmonton Railway.
The pioneer entrepreneurs gave birth to the early businesses in what was then called South Edmonton. In 1899, the fledgling community was incorporated as a town called Strathcona, after Lord Strathcona, a fur trader and clerk whose real name was Donald A. Smith.
The earliest buildings, constructed of wood, included a general store at 10345 Whyte Avenue, constructed in 1894 by John Joseph Duggan, who was elected mayor in 1902. First occupied by the Cowles Pioneer Drug Store, it was right here that many prospectors on their way to the Klondike Gold Rush were outfitted by store proprietor Arthur Davies.
In 1910, the business became the Hub Cigar Store. A pool room occupied part of the store and remained there for about 50 years, until around 1960. Nearly 100 years later, Hub Cigar is the longest continually operating news stand in Edmonton and the building is one of the oldest examples of commercial wood frame construction in the province. Duggan’s residence, at 10515 Saskatchewan Drive, is a Provincial Historic Resource.
John Gainer didn’t know much about the butchering trade when he arrived in Strathcona on one of the first Calgary & Edmonton Railway trains in 1891. But he knew opportunity and, at the age of 36 and with $250, he started J. Gainer and Company, Butchers and Pork Packers.
In 1902, he opened his first store, a one-storey wood frame building at 10341 Whyte Avenue. Business was good and, within months, he replaced it with a more elaborate two-storey brick building, right on the same spot. The building was purchased by the Devonian Foundation in 1976 and the next year donated to the Old Strathcona Foundation. The Foundation launched a $250,000 restoration and the Gainer Block was designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1982.
Robert McKernan was the brother of James McKernan, one of the original members of the North West Mounted Police who came west with the troop on their historic ride in 1874. Robert joined his brother the following year and he and wife Sara settled in 1881 at what is now known as the McKernan community, near 112th Street and 76th Avenue.
McKernan built the Dominion Hotel in 1903 with profits from his farming ventures. With at least 33 bedrooms, several public parlours, a dining room and a beer parlour, the Dominion, at 10324 Whyte Avenue, was known as one of the most spacious and relaxing stopping houses in Strathcona.
Robert and Sara’s son John McKernan built the Princess Theatre at 10337 Whyte Avenue. When it opened in 1915, the 660-seat theatre claimed to have the largest stage in Western Canada and began hosting live music, vaudeville acts and movies.
Robert Ritchie arrived in Strathcona from Ontario early in 1892 and within a year, he had built and began operating a flour mill near the end of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway line. The Ritchie Mill, built in 1893, is the oldest surviving mill in Alberta and possibly the earliest of its kind in Canada.
The mill, at 10170 Saskatchewan Drive, was one of the first mills in the west to be equipped with steam-powered steel rollers and in its heyday, farmers with grain-laden wagons lined up on the street all the way to Whyte Ave. In 1948, the building was converted to a feed mill and remained in use until the mid 1970’s. It was declared a Provincial Historic Resource in 1978 and rejuvenated as offices and a restaurant in time for its 100th anniversary in 1993.
William Henry Sheppard left Ontario at just 15 and headed west in search of adventure and opportunity and arrived in Strathcona as a young man in 1894. Two years later, he purchased the Strathcona Hotel at 10302 Whyte Avenue. Sheppard lived in a residence at 9945 86 Avenue, served on town council six times beginning in 1899 and was elected mayor in 1906.
Sheppard added to the hotel twice – in 1907 and 1913. His success in the hospitality business soon paved the way for other ventures and making the beer he already sold seemed a logical way to max- imize profits. So he purchased brewing equipment, built a brick plant in 1904 and formed the Edmonton Brewing and Malting Company.
Archibald Benjamin Chapman managed the Great West Saddlery Company store, which opened in 1901 in a wood frame building at 10423 Whyte Avenue. In 1912, Chapman bought the firm, renamed it A.B. Chapman and Company, and continued making and selling harnesses. After his death in 1918 Archie Chapman’s sons changed the company name again, this time to Chapman Brothers Ltd.
As the motor car and the tractor gained in popularity, the brothers diversified and began selling western wear and the Chapman family owned the building into the 1990s. The building still has its boomtown front, multi-paned windows, bracketed parapet and imitation brick siding that is actually pressed tin. The Chapman Brothers Building was designated a Registered Historic Resource in 1976.
Friday, May 11
“Desk Pain” Workshop
Friday, May 11
Old Strathcona Businesses Treat Mom to Sumptuous Services and Pampering Products
