Showing 22 results

Weiller & Williams Co. Ltd. of the North Edmonton Stockyards is one of the oldest cattle-commission firms in Canada. The company was chartered to buy and sell, import and export, and slaughter cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry and all other livestock and livestock products. As well, they acquired ranches and farms to carry on the trade of livestock rearing and manufacturing, and erected buildings necessary for the purposes of the company’s business.

In 1911, Leland Stanford Williams moved from New York to Edmonton to work for Swift & Company where he started in construction work, but later progressed to handle Swift’s livestock department. In 1916, Swift Canadian Co. transferred Williams to work in Winnipeg, where his talent in the livestock commission business was recognized by Henry Weiller. In 1917, Williams began working with Weiller in a livestock commission business named, Wood, Weiller & McCarthy in Edmonton. When McCarthy of the partnership resigned, the company was renamed.

Thus, on December 11, 1925, Weiller & Williams Co. Ltd. was co-founded by the two. Since the founding, Weiller and Williams built a strong relationship with Weiller responsible for the financial backing, and Williams on the livestock commission frontline. By 1927, in addition to the main stake in Edmonton, Weiller and Williams had opened offices in Calgary, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, St. Paul (Minnesota), and Chicago (Illinois). The company later expanded to additional branches in Lloydminster (Saskatchewan) and Fargo (North Dakota). When Weiller passed away in 1956, Williams took over as the principal of the company.

The St. Albert Star or L'Etoile de St-Albert was published in St. Albert from November 1912 to April 1914. The editors/proprietors were J.P. Lafranchise and A.A. Ringuette. In 1912 and 1913 there were 52 numbers in Volume 1, and in 1914 24 numbers. It was written half in French and half in English, but not the same news and articles. It cost $1.00 for an annual subscription ($1.50 for U.S. and $2.00 for Europe)

The International Toastmistress Club was founded in California, USA in 1938 to promote the public speaking and leadership abilities of women. The St. Albert local chapter, Sturgeon Toastmistress Club, formed its initial interim executive in 1970 and held its first organizational meeting on Feb. 26, 1970. The first official executive included Marian Ladell as President, Laurie Saunders as first vice-president, Marie Neidig as secretary, and Margaret Doepal as treasurer. Deputy Mayor John de Bruin signed a proclamation naming the week of Oct. 25-31, 1970 as “Toastmistress Week.” On Nov. 26, 1975, Ted Langford the first male member was inducted into the club, and he later became president. In 1981, Mayor Richard Fowler recognized the club by proclaiming October as "Toastmistress Month." In 1985, the parent organization was renamed International Training in Communication or ITC. The St. Albert club was disbanded in 1996.

Sturgeon General Hospital officially opened in 1969, but efforts to bring an active treatment hospital to St. Albert began in 1962. As St. Albert and other surrounding communities were denied by the provincial government, a coalition was formed to request a regional hospital, which in 1965 was granted, creating the Sturgeon General Hospital District No. 100. The Sturgeon General Hospital officially opened in August 1970. This hospital building was closed in 1992 and demolished in 1997 (beginning on 6 Mar 1997) following the construction of a new facility on the north edge of the city. the old structure was full of asbestos and thus considered unsafe.

The St. Albert Women's Institute was a branch of the Alberta Women's Institute. The Alberta Women's Institute was originally organized by private citizens in 1909, and established as a body within the Department of Agriculture in 1916. The institute was designed to improve social conditions in rural and other communities by studying home economics and child welfare. The Women's Institute is a non-political, non-sectarian, and non-racial organization. It is open to rural and town women over the age of sixteen.
The interest in forming a local chapter of the Women's Institute formed after the end of World War II. The women who had worked together in the local Red Cross sought another organization in which they could serve the community. The St. Albert branch of the Women's Institute was organized on 29 October 1946 at a meeting held in the St. Albert Community Hall.
The group was responsible for many activities in the area including founding the St. Albert library, founding the first local scholarship, organizing the first blood donor clinic in 1947, and helping with medical services in St. Albert and Sturgeon County. They also regularly arranged flower shows and community fairs, distributed Christmas hampers, set up fitness classes for women, and provided landscaping services for public areas.
The St. Albert branch continued its activities until the membership, which by then only numbered eight, voted to disband on 2 December 2004.

The St. Albert Tigers Baseball Association is a Senior Men's AAA team for adults aged 19 years and older.

The following excerpt was taken from the St. Albert Tigers' website: "We are devoted to developing players into skilled and disciplined members within our team framework. Many of our players have or are currently attending colleges/universities in the United States and Canada trying to further their baseball careers. Our team has always been dedicated to providing high caliber baseball on the field. The Tigers compete in the Baseball Alberta Sunburst League during the regular season and playoffs. The Sunburst League is the highest quality of Senior Men's amateur baseball in Alberta and the winner of the league earns the right to represent Alberta at the Baseball Canada Senior Men's National Championships. Since being established in 1987, the Tigers have won 8 Provincial Championships with the most recent coming in 2007. Our relentless approach to excellence has lead to the St. Albert Tigers always having a goal of being the best team in Alberta year after year. Along with the 8 Provincial Championships, the Tigers team has also been crowned as the National Champions in 1999 and 2002. The Tigers also have two Silver Medals from the 1994 and 1998 National Championships and a Bronze in 1993, while also competing in the 2005 and 2008 Nationals. The St. Albert Tigers are not only one of the most decorated men's baseball teams in Alberta, but across Canada. With a firm commitment to helping baseball grow within the community of St. Albert, our goal is to continue to make history every year."

St. Albert opened its doors to young athletes from across the province in 1979, when the city hosted the Alberta Summer Games on August 2-6. The Games featured "Festival '79", a cultural celebration designed to enhance the Games through the involvement of the cultural community. The Festival ran for 17 days, and included events such as a craft fair and sale, a fiddling competition, a backgammon tournament, plays, street dances, and a seniors' choir festival.

The St. Albert Minor Baseball Association started in 1973 and was incorporated in 1977. The Legion Memorial Park started in 1979 which assisted the City with hosting the Alberta Summer Games during 1979. In 1977 the Ladies Auxiliary started. Expansion and facilities improvement were included in the Red Willow Urban Park Master Plan in 1992. The group has enjoyed the support of the St. Albert Legion. Renovation of facilities, including the clubhouse, was started with a $200,000 grant Community Facility Enhancement Program for Legion Memorial Park expansion and upgrading. The new clubhouse was opened in 1993.

In 1969, Father Colin Levangie, OMI recruited volunteers to update the displays at Musée Lacombe Museum which was established in 1929. One of the volunteers, Arlene Borgstede, directed two committees; one on the care of collections and the other on display work. The committee which cared for the collections was responsible for cataloguing and finding the provenance of artifacts which had no inventory. The ownership of the artifacts belonged to either the Oblates of Mary Immaculate or the Archdiocese of Edmonton. By 1971, the Father Lacombe Museum Board was formed to help administer the museum and the artifacts. At this point, Musée Lacombe Museum changed its name to Father Lacombe Museum. The Museum Board was incorporated in 1972 as the St. Albert Historical Society (SAHS) with Arlene Borgstede as president. The society was interested in managing, collecting and preserving materials related to the history of St. Albert as well as administering the Father Lacombe Museum and increasing public awareness of St. Albert's history. In 1975, SAHS hired a permanent Heritage Officer to coordinate museum work, conduct tours and answer reference requests.
SAHS was also responsible for the establishment of the Albert Lacombe Historical Foundation (ALHF) in 1977. The ALHF formed in response to the Oblates' plans to demolish Vital Grandin Centre, also known as the Bishop's Residence. ALHF's purpose was to sponsor, establish and administer a historical complex including Father Lacombe Chapel and Vital Grandin Centre on St. Albert's Mission Hill. In 1978, SAHS conducted a historical buildings inventory. Once the province designated Vital Grandin Centre a provincial historic site, the ALHF disbanded. From 1977 to 1983, SAHS administered the Father Lacombe Museum during the summer months under the auspices of Provincial Historic Sites. SAHS was responsible for hiring staff, managing programs, receiving money to administer the chapel and paying for operations.
In 1980, SAHS undertook a project to restore the bells on Mission hill. Father Émile Tardiff, OMI believed that the bells were cracked so he rested the bells in a stone frame in 1957. Later, it was discovered that the bells were out of tune and not cracked and as a project for Alberta's 75th anniversary, the bells were restored into a campanile. This restoration took place with the assistance of Canadian Pacific Railway and the federal government.
SAHS was extensively involved in the planning and development of St. Albert Place, the city's civic, cultural and administrative complex. In 1983 the Musée Héritage Museum was opened. SAHS gave Musée its small collection of artifacts and Musée had to treat those artifacts as loans. Care of the artifacts and exhibits became the responsibility of the new museum under the City of St. Albert.
In 1988, SAHS organized a Homecoming to have a reunion for significant and founding families and individuals of the community. With the homecoming, SAHS undertook a project called Founder's Walk. They laid out a shale walkway and plaques as well as planted trees to honour significant and founding families and peoples for St. Albert. The shale walkway was not maintained and, in 2006, the society initiated a project to make a new Founder's Walk. The City of St. Albert, SAHS and a number of stakeholders and funding contributors were involved in the project. The new Founder's Walk was completed in 2011 for St. Albert's 150th anniversary and resulted in historical panels, landscaping and a walkway to honour St. Albert's history.
SAHS was also involved in publications and much of their collection developed around their publishing activities. Their publications include St. Albert: A Pictorial History (1978), Black Robe's Vision: A History of St. Albert and District (1985), and A Week in the Life of St. Albert (1990). SAHS also created videos regarding St. Albert's History. In 2001, Then, Now and Forever was produced.
In 2011, the society undertook a Buffalo Hunt project to honour the buffalo hunt as a heritage activity that was crucial to the first settlers of St. Albert. According to the society, agriculture was not sufficient for the community to survive and the hunt was integral to the fecundicity of the community. The Buffalo Hunt project resulted in a statue erected on south-east corner of Sir Winston Churchill and Perron St.
SAHS was renamed St. Albert Heritage Society from 1998 to 2005, but returned to its original incorporated name in 2005. The aims of SAHS are currently to encourage an appreciation of the history of St. Albert by preserving and promoting the history of St. Albert and area.

The St. Albert Festival of the Arts Society sponsored an annual Festival of the Arts as part of the Summer Games from 1979 until the Society folded in 1990. The Festival included a craft fair and sale, exhibitions of art, poetry contest, dinner theatre, music review, outdoor plays, variety shows, writer's seminar, photography contest, citzenship ceremony and concerts. Kathleen Rowlands was president for a number of years.