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Archival description
Queenstown collection
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Queenstown collection

  • CA MILO QTN
  • Collection
  • 1887 - ?

Around 1887, an Irish surveyor planned to organize a colonization company in the Snake Valley, and he named his chosen site Queenstown, after his birthplace in Ireland. Of the 3 settlers who came with him in 1889, only Mr William Brown stayed in the area. By 1907, he and his family had been joined by several other homesteaders, including Willard F. Durston, Nels Nelson and Peder Solis, and within a year there was an official Post Office and the area’s first school, Queenstown School District #1798.

When the railway came through the area in 1926, the CPR was unable to make a deal with the landowner of their preferred depot location. The station was instead built a few miles north and west of the existing school, and the community that sprang up beside it became the village of Queenstown. The school building was moved to the south edge of the town site and expanded to two rooms, and by 1931 the population of the ‘unincorporated hamlet’ had grown to 125. The streets were graded and in good condition, and amenities included restaurants, hardware and general stores; a hotel, barber shop, bank, and butcher; garage, lumber yard, and implement dealership. The post-war years saw the addition of several shops and services, including a branch of the Royal Canadian Legion and a small community lending library. An important contributor to the town and the surrounding area was the Queenstown Seed Cleaning Plant, which opened in 1960.

When Queenstown School closed in 1952, much of the town’s industry relocated to Milo and other communities. A few businesses struggled on, but within a decade they, too, had closed. While some of the buildings were repurposed, such as the Bank building which was moved to Rocky Buttes to serve as a school room, Queenstown’s main street became a virtual ghost town. The abandoned buildings fell into a state of such disrepair, in 1971 the Women’s Institute petitioned Vulcan County to see to their demolition. A large hole was dug and the smaller buildings were bulldozed into it, and then burned. The larger buildings along Main Street were burned, with their rubble then bulldozed into the hole. The grain elevators remained in use until rail service was discontinued in the late 1990s; the Queenstown Seed Cleaning Plant continued operating in its original facility until it was rebuilt near Milo in 1993.

The collection consists of minute books, correspondence, financial information, photographs, a hand-drawn map, a photocopied 1931 insurance survey map and report regarding the village of Queenstown.

The collection has been divided into the following series: Community Hall, Hotel, School, Seed Cleaning Plant, Women’s Institute, Maps.

Queenstown Community Hall series

The series consists of financial ledgers and loose ledger pages, loose financial statements, a share certificate for the Queenstown Community Hall Company in the name of Howard Bryan Nelson, a receipt for a share in the Queenstown Community Hall Company made out to Dan Wong, minute books and one rubber stamp.

Queenstown Community Hall

Queenstown Maps series

The series consists of a copy of a 1931 survey map and report regarding the hamlet of Queenstown that was produced for The Western Canada Insurance Underwriters’ Association out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Donor and date of reproduction and annotation are unknown, [post-1955].
The series also includes a hand-drawn map of the Queenstown that was done by Bob Kingsmith, long-time Queenstown resident. It omits the south-most block of the Queenstown townsite. The lots on the map are numbered, and there is an accompanying index.

Queenstown School series

The series consists of a minute book (1930-1949), correspondence, 4 cancelled cheques (1921-19250), 2 reprinted photos (1948, 1949), 2 photocopied photos (1947, 1950) and a high school ring (c1951).

Queenstown School No.1798

Queenstown Seed Cleaning Plant series

The series consists of construction updates; the agenda and speeches from the opening ceremonies of the new plant; one financial statement (June 1993); a manager’s job posting (2004); a brochure from the Association of Alberta Co-op Seed Cleaning Plants Ltd; a design of the proposed sign for the new plant, dated April 1993. The back of the design page has hand-written notes about the opening ceremonies; the front is annotated with the motion regarding the name change. There are also 4 photographs of the original plant (one during its construction c1959, the others taken in the mid-1980’s); the remaining photos document the construction of the new plant, and include the opening ceremonies.

Queenstown Seed Cleaning Plant

Women’s Institute series

The series consists of bank books and financial ledgers, minute books, correspondence, photographs, a summary of the 21st Anniversary program, an invitation and correspondence from the 50th Anniversary, a copy of the Club Women’s Creed and of the By-Laws of the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada, and a Red Cross Cookbook “compiled and issued” by the Queenstown Women’s Institute. The series also includes handwritten copies of the following material, removed by the Archives from a deteriorating scrapbook: a “ … paper written by Mrs. W. Durston for Conference in Medicine Hat.”; an essay “Written by Helen Glossop Durston the Winter of 1927” entitled Canadianization and National Events; a 1927 letter from G.H. Gooderham, Indian Agent addressed to Mrs. W. F. Durston regarding upcoming events at Treaty Flats: a “Report on Treaty Memorial”; suggestions for commemorative events to take place July 1st, 1927. The scribe, date of transcription and original sources are unidentified.
The Minute book 1913-1919 includes some financial information. All Minute books include membership lists.
The series has been divided into the following sub-series: Minutes, Financial, Correspondence, Anniversaries, Photographs, Published Material.

Queenstown Women’s Institute