Where are they now?
I don't know about you, but I'm a sucker for those "Where are they now?" segments that are regularly run on TV. I love to hear the rest of the story.
But this doesn't just apply to people, it also applies to buildings. One of the fun things while doing history or traveling around southern Alberta is to find buildings that originated somewhere else and learn the story of their movement and transformation.
Here's just a few:
In the late 1930s, houses from Coalhurst and Commerce were moved to Picture Butte.
In the 1930s the Hardieville Hotel was moved to Coaldale where it became a hospital.
In the 1950s houses from the Lethbridge river valley were brought up and put in various locations but several in north Lethbridge.
Several buildings in Del Bonita were brought over from Whiskey Gap.
The railway building that forms the heart of the Galt Historic Railway Museum is the Coutts Station.
Several schools and teacherages were moved to new locations and re-used on various sites.
Both the mainframe (tipple) and water tower at Galt 8 were dismantled and moved in from other southern Alberta mines.
These are just the ones off the top of my head. If you know of others, please pass them along.
I challenge/invite someone to create a document/web-site/article that lists the origin and final resting spot of southern Alberta buildings. I don't have the time (though I'd offer whatever support I could) but I think it would be a fun and fascinating study.
