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Site Information:
FORT EDMONTON
1. MAIN ENTRANCE
2. PALISADES
High wooden walls and formidable bastions helped secure order during trading sessions when hundreds of Aboriginal people could converge upon the fort.
3. INDIAN HOUSE
Trade took place here between the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) and Aboriginal traders. This building includes a trade room, trade store, warehouse and a loft for fur storage.
4. COURTYARD
Often the scene of lively activity including welcome ceremonies for Aboriginal traders, fur packing, food processing and loading of supplies.
5. FUR PRESS IN COURTYARD
Used to pack dried pelts and hides for shipment to the Hudson Bay by York boats.
6. ROWAND HOUSE
This impressive residence was built in 1842 for John Rowand, Chief Factor of the HBC’s Saskatchewan District.
7. COLUMBIA HOUSE
Used as layover quarters by the HBC’s Columbia District brigade on their annual journey to and from York Factory. Currently used as washroom facilities.
8. WATCHTOWER
From this tower, the men at the Fort could view surrounding vegetable gardens and crops, and watch for approaching Aboriginal and mixed-blood traders, York boat brigades, hunting and work parties, and other occurrences in the vicinity.
9. MEAT STORE
In addition to the preparation of salt meat, sausages and buffalo tongues, dried meat and grease were processed into pemmican, a fur trade staple. All were stored in the adjoining section and in other locations within the Fort.
10. RUNDLE HOUSE AND CHAPEL
The Hudson’s Bay Company provided this dwelling and chapel to Robert Terrill Rundle, a Wesleyan Methodist missionary, in 1843, it became his home base for the next five years.
11. CLAY BAKE OVEN
Heated by building a fire in the cavity and subsequently scraping it out, the oven’s radiant heat baked excellent bread.
12. BACHELORS’ HALL OR CLERKS’ QUARTERS
So called because this building, during the 1840s, contained the sleeping quarters for the company’s clerks, gentlemen visitors, a gentlemen’s mess, a great hall, the Chief Trader’s office and quarters, a kitchen, and the cook’s quarters.
13. ICE HOUSE
With a sod roof and a deep pit filled with layers of river ice and straw, such structures preserved meat brought in by hunters or traded by Aboriginals, throughout the year.
14. MARRIED MEN’S QUARTERS
These units were shared by the families of men who had proven themselves and been allowed to enter into a ‘country marriage’ with either an Aboriginal or mixed-blood woman.
15. GENTLEMEN’S STABLE AND HORSE YARD
The personal horses of Company gentlemen, and sick or foaling horses were kept secure in this area.
16. BOAT SHED
8 to 10 York boats were built every year at Edmonton House as their service life was short due to the harsh conditions of river travel.
17. TRADESMEN’S QUARTERS
Tradesmen enjoyed a higher standard of living than the labour servant class, with salaries similar to those of clerks. They were afforded their own family dwellings, unlike lower-class labourers, who had to share their dwellings with 1 or 2 other families.
18. BLACKSMITH’S SHOP
Carpentry, boat building and ironwork were all essential trades in the daily regimen of the fur trade. Repairs to traps, guns and axes, making nails, hardware for buildings and boats, tools and garden implements all required the skills of the smith.
19. CREE CAMP
This camp represents a small Plains Cree group whose members, though involved with the fur trade, retain an independent existence and whose culture is a marked contrast to that of the European and mixed-blood fur traders.
20. YORK BOAT
These heavy but reliable freight boats were the backbone of the HBC’s transportation network, plying the waterways that connected forts all the way to York Factory at Hudson Bay.
21. OTTEWELL HOMESTEAD
When Richard Ottewell homesteaded in 1881, he started to carve out a farm on land previously uninhabited by white people. Four years later he brought his family out from Ontario and all 8 settled into a little log house.
22. BELLEROSE SCHOOL
Most of this humble school’s students were French-speaking farm children from outside of St. Albert. Bellerose served as a school until 1947.
23. BULLETIN BUILDING
The original building of Edmonton’s first newspaper. Initially the paper was tiny, but thanks to editor Frank Oliver, its voice was heard across the country.
24. JAMES MCDONALD’S CARPENTRY SHOP
James McDonald helped build Edmonton physically as a carpenter, and socially as a volunteer teacher and member of the Literary, Rifle, Skating and Curling Clubs.
25. KERNOHAN’S MILLINERY HUTCHINGS & RILEY’S HARNESS SHOP
The harness shop on the main floor did a lucrative business in pioneer Edmonton. The entrepreneurial spirit of Mrs. Kernohan, the milliner upstairs, proved to be a bit premature for the fledgling Edmonton settlement.
26. RAYMER’S JEWELLERY STORE
A resident of this dusty frontier town could dream of finer things, and buy them at Raymer’s Jewellery Store.
27. MCDOUGALL METHODIST CHURCH
Edmonton’s oldest surviving building, the Methodist Church stood tall in 1873, overlooking an empty patch of land that is now downtown Edmonton.
28. BYRNES’ SHOE SHOP
Byrnes’ tiny shoe shop reflects the small-town scale of early Edmonton. Twenty years later, its real estate was worth a small fortune.
29 & 30. LAUDER’S BAKERY & RESIDENCE
James Lauder was lured from his homestead in 1885 into the bakery business with a contract to supply 100 loaves of bread a day to the N.W.M.P. at Fort Saskatchewan. Like most merchants in Edmonton back then, he took up living quarters in the same building that housed his shop.
31. ROSS BROTHERS’ HARDWARE
Hardware was an important business in a frontier town. Ross Brothers’ grew to become the largest hardware business in western Canada.
32. SECORD FUR STORE AND WAREHOUSE
The fur trade was no longer monopolized by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1887 when Richard Secord opened his store to trappers.
33. DALY’S DRUGSTORE AND DR. WILSON’S OFFICE
As a young physician, Herbert Wilson brought the latest surgical technique and the first drug store to Edmonton in 1882. Philip Daly later purchased the drug interest and established a thriving business.
34. J. A .MCDOUGALL’S GENERAL STORE
Mrs. Lovisa McDougall knew there was no regular dentist in Edmonton, so she had all her teeth pulled and replaced with dentures before leaving Ontario to join her merchant husband John here in 1879.
1885 STREET
35. KELLY’S SALOON
Thanks to the Northwest’s prohibition liquor laws in 1885, Luke Kelly had to find creative ways to supply his customers.
36. SANDERSON & LOOBY, BLACKSMITH & WHEELRIGHT
One of five blacksmiths in Edmonton in the late 1880s, George Sanderson was also a locksmith. Later, he rolled with the times and began repairing bicycles.
37. MCCAULEY’S LIVERY STABLE
The livery was very crucial to a pre-railway town; it was the horse-powered equivalent of a taxi company or a car rental agency.
38. JASPER HOUSE HOTEL
Part of the original Jasper House remains in business today, incorporated within the structure of its downtown successor, the Hub Hotel.
39. PETER ERASMUS HOUSE
Highly educated and fluent in Cree, French and English, Metis interpreter Peter Erasmus was present at the signing of Treaty 6.
40,41 & 42. NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE STATION AND GUARD HOUSE
Edmonton was too peaceful for a whole division of the Northwest mounted Police to be stationed here. For a few months in 1885-86 they tried it, but the lice-infested quarters at the old Fort and a lack of hay sent them packing back to Fort Saskatchewan.
43. KENNETH MCDONALD HOUSE
Kenneth McDonald came to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company, married a local Metis woman, Emma Rowland, and stayed on as a farmer.
44. DOMINION LAND AGENCY
Even the most humble government office was prestigious for a frontier town. Edmontonians were prepared to guard the Dominion Land Agency with their lives if need be, and they almost got their chance.
45. EGGE’S STOPPING HOUSE
Originally Egge’s offered nightly lodging to travellers on the Athabasca Trail. Now Egge’s hosts children’s education programs and private rentals.
1905 STREET
46 & 47. HENDERSON FARM
The Henderson’s round barn, built in 1898 on their dairy farm near Rabbit Hill and moved to Fort Edmonton Park, is one of the few surviving round barns in Canada.
48. Tent City
Boom times in the early 20th century Edmonton caused a housing shortage that left many families living in tents.
49. ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS ANGLICAN CHURCH
An original structure built in 1910, St. Michael’s is still a favourite for weddings.
50. RUTHERFORD HOUSE
The original home of Alberta’s first premier is typically Victorian, with the décor to prove it.
51. FIRKINS’ HOUSE
An original home built in 1911, the Firkins’ house was the last word in modernity.
52. MASONIC HALL
Explore the Masonic Museum upstairs. The main floor features a food service outlet.
53. PENNY ARCADE
Definitely a men’s hangout in 1912. The Penny Arcade now welcomes all comers to try its shooting gallery and amusement machines.
54. ST. ANTHONY’S CHURCH AND SCHOOL
It was quite a commute for the nuns who taught at St. Anthony’s –- they had to cross the river, probably by ferry, twice a day.
55. GYRO PARK
The Gyro Club was instrumental in building parks throughout Edmonton. This is a great place for the children to burn up some energy.
56. POST OFFICE
The Post Office Block also housed Edmonton’s Telephone Exchange on the second floor.
57. REED’S BAZAAR
Mr. Reed specialized in fine china, gifts and teas. He also brought the first “Santa Man” to Edmonton to help promote his products. Come in and admire the beautiful antiques and buy a new, classic piece to take home.
58. ERNEST BROWN PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO
Brown’s photographs and his predecessor C. W. Mathers’ collection offer a priceless view of early Edmonton. Check out the photo gallery in the back room.
59. BANK OF MONTREAL
The Bank of Montreal occupied its modest first digs in Edmonton until February 1905, when it relocated in a palatial stone building in the city’s financial district.
60. MEMORIAL GARDENS
61. FIRE HALL #1
Edmonton’s first firehall also housed its first town hall and police station in 1893.
62. EAST END PARK BANDSHELL
So many people flocked to hear the bands play on a summer day in Edwardian Edmonton that extra streetcars had to run to East End (now Borden) Park.
63. RAMSAY’S GREENHOUSE
Northern Alberta’s first greenhouse offered Edmontonians fresh flowers and tropical plants as a break from the long winter.
1920 STREET
64. UKRAINIAN BOOKSTORE
Whether they had come from the old country a generation before, or were born here, Ukrainian Canadians found a wealth of cultural material at the Ukrainian Bookstore.
65. HOTEL SELKIRK
The original Hotel stood at 101 Street and Jasper Ave. from 1903 until fire consumed it in 1962. This recreation of Hotel Selkirk is an active, full-service hotel, with some added modern comforts.
66. TOM THUMB MINIATURE GOLF COURSE
Leisure was serious business in the 1920s. Tom Thumb Miniature Golf, patented in Tennessee in 1929, came to Edmonton soon after and started a craze.
67. THE SUN DRUGSTORE AND BILL’S CONFECTIONERY
The Sun Drugstore and Bill’s Confectionery was originally located on the corner of Jasper Ave. and 109 Street. Bill’s had ice cream then, and still does today!
68. BLATCHFORD HANGAR
The age of flight demanded its own unique structures. Our replica of Edmonton’s first municipal air harbour serves as a multi-purpose venue.
69. J. B. LITTLE BRICKYARD
James Little used clay from the banks of the Riverdale district to transform Edmonton from a wooden to a red brick city in the early 20th century.
70. SILVER HEIGHTS PEONY GARDEN
In 1921, Dr. James Brander planted a peony garden that expanded over five acres, and eventually offered more than 200 varieties to choose from in addition to other flowers and shrubs.
71. AGT TELEPHONE EXCHANGE
Alberta Government Telephones built bungalow style exchange buildings in small regional towns and villages to symbolize the average person of Alberta to whom AGT’s slogan was a “Silent Partner”.
72. AL RASHID MOSQUE
Edmonton’s Muslim community hired a Ukrainian contractor to construct the first purpose-built mosque in Canada in 1938.
73. MELLON FARM
The land Fort Edmonton Park occupies was a remote farm corner in 1922, when the Mellon estate trust built this original farmhouse to rent out.
74. MOTORDROME
Cars really took over the roads during the 1920s. You could buy one, have it repaired or store it over winter at the Motordrome.
75. 1920s MIDWAY & EXHIBITION
The arrival of the summer midway and exhibition was a time of great excitement in Edmonton. This midway is similar to the 1920s midway brought to Edmonton by Johnny J. Jones.
76. STREETCAR BARN
This replica building functions much as the original, as the Edmonton Radial Railway Society restores and maintains the Park’s classic streetcars within.