A Century of Making Images in Lethbridge

View of the first A.E. Cross studio at 906 3 Avenue South in Lethbridge, c. 1920–1927.
Courtesy the Galt Museum & Archives, 20061071292-130

This year, A.E. Cross Studio, the oldest continuously operated photographic studio in Lethbridge, celebrates its centennial. One hundred years ago, Alfred Ernest Cross emigrated from England, eventually settling in Lethbridge, where he established a photography business in the city. He offered studio portraits, commercial photography services, photo finishing and picture framing. Cross moved the business to various locations throughout the downtown core before settling his studio at 710 3 Avenue South in 1952 until his retirement. Cross' son Reginald A. Cross operated the studio until Ed Keeling took over the business in 1976. Since 2005, Peter Etches has run the A.E. Cross Studio.

Portrait of Reginald A. Cross with camera, 1944.
Image courtesy Galt Museum & Archives, 20061071282

Portrait of Peter Etches with camera, 2014.
Image courtesy A.E. Cross

Like Alfred Cross, Peter Etches began working in photography in England, starting in 1974. He moved to Canada with his family in 2005. An active community member, Etches has served on boards of numerous local community organizations, including the Lethbridge Rotary Club and the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ). In 2011, Etches’ keen interest in preserving local history led him to donate 30 years’ worth of photographic works that A.E. Cross Studio generated to the Galt Museum & Archives. This collection of over 300,000 negative images contains mostly studio portraits of residents of Lethbridge and the surrounding area. But the collection also includes commercial photography that records the development of some significant infrastructure projects of the time, such as Centre Village Mall.

Family connections and traditions steep A.E. Cross Studio's name in memory and nostalgia. Generations of southern Alberta residents have had their wedding and graduation photos done at the studio, and the cursive logo adorns many family photo albums. Peter Etches recalls a customer saying, "Every family in Lethbridge seems to have an A.E. Cross portrait…. When a fire threatens people's homes, their children and portraits are a priority."

A. E. Cross Studio van, Lethbridge, Alberta.", [ca. 1950-1961], (CU1135131) by Cross, A. E..
Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.

A.E. Cross business vehicle, 2021.
Image courtesy A.E. Cross

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Dr. Frank Hamilton Mewburn
Dr. Frank Hamilton Mewburn

Dr. Frank Hamilton Mewburn was a wiry and fiery surgeon, politician, army officer, and university professor who greatly contributed to the development of Lethbridge. Mewburn came from a long ling of medical professionals, graduating from McGill University in Montreal in 1881.

Claudia Tennant
Claudia Tennant

Although Claudia Tennant was not a graduate of the Galt School of Nursing, it was a key part of her life. Tennant spent twenty years at both the Galt Hospital and the Lethbridge Municipal Hospital as the Director of Nursing for the Galt School of Nursing. Her original decision to become a nurse was influenced by Lucy Hatch McInnis, a graduate from the Galt School of Nursing’s first ever class in 1913.

Opening the New Galt Hospital
Opening the New Galt Hospital

In 1907, just one year after miners went on a nine-month strike, Eliott T Galt donated $30,000 for the construction of a larger hospital in Lethbridge. The city matched this amount, and a new hospital was built to replace the 1891 hospital building which was no longer large enough to serve the community. The new Galt Hospital, which we know today as the Galt Museum & Archives, opened in 1910. With this addition, the hospital could now accommodate 65 patients.

Canadian Senior Men’s National Basketball Champions from Southern Alberta
Canadian Senior Men’s National Basketball Champions from Southern Alberta

Many of us will at least have vague memories of Senior Men’s basketball here in Southern Alberta. True Senior men’s basketball.  It began being played in Southern Alberta not long after the game made its way here in 1904. I’ve been able to find records of Senior Men’s ball being played for Provincial Championships as early as 1908. The earliest reference to an Alberta team was in 1915, and the first Southern Alberta team was in 1918 and it was just called “Lethbridge”.

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It all started 120 years ago, on July 1. The town of Raymond, with its population of under 5000 people, has perhaps one of Alberta's longest and most notable histories of any basketball program. In 1904, the Raymond Exhibition sponsored what has become known as the first official game of basketball in, what was then, the Alberta region of Canada’s Northwest Territories. Alberta became a province in 1905.

Coal Miners on Strike
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Construction of the original Galt Hospital in 1891 was financed by Sir Alexander Galt, owner of the Northwest Coal and Navigation Company. Coal miners in the Oldman River Valley desperately required health care due to unsafe working conditions. Frequent exposure to dust and toxins often led to illnesses such as pneumoconiosis (black lung disease), pulmonary disease, asbestosis, and cancer.

Home Court Chronicles: The History of Southern Alberta Basketball
Home Court Chronicles: The History of Southern Alberta Basketball

Prairie short grasses, rolling foothills, the Rocky Mountains, and the Chinook winds. These words, spoken to a Southern Albertan whether they still live here or not, evoke a myriad of memories, each unique to the individual, yet all rooted in the concept of home. Family names like Tollestrup, Hicken, Gibb, McMurray, Molcak, Rice, Karren, West, Bourne, Heggie, Stevenson Rollingson, Mirkovich, and many others evoke another set of memories of “home”. Home on the basketball court.

A Busy Quilter
A Busy Quilter

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Uncovering the Untold Stories of the Blackfoot People
Uncovering the Untold Stories of the Blackfoot People

Past issues of the Lethbridge Herald have long served as an encyclopedia of community life, a Who’s Who of Southwest Alberta. However, not everyone was fairly represented. In the Galt Museum’s archives are images of Blackfoot people once featured in the newspaper without identification, leaving their stories untold. The 1,000 Faces Project was designed to bridge this gap by recovering and preserving their names in archival records.

Oh, Miladi! History of the Women's Section in the Lethbridge Herald
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ArticleAndrew ChernevychGalt Museum & ArchivesPhotography, Local Business, Lethbrigde, Archives, Archival, Stories, Family Album, Photos, Images, Documentary HistoryComment