This new year marks one of the biggest celebrations in St. Albert’s history — our city’s 150th anniversary. But there is one other birthday of note coming in 2011 as the St. Albert Gazette turns 50.
In a tribute to five decades of community journalism, it seems fitting to look back on the history of St. Albert through the eyes of the newspaper. The Gazette did not print its first issue until June of 1961, so our journey will cover some 49 years and a bit through to this summer. Every week, we’ll look back on what happened that month. We’ll see not just how the paper has evolved, but also how the community grew and just how often events of our most recent history mirror similar experiences of the past.
But before we begin, a plea — the Gazette’s records are incomplete for the years 1961 to 1966. Should anyone out there have a pile of old papers tucked away somewhere, please contact us.
And so we begin in January 1962. The St. Albert Gazette printed at that time was about an 11-by-8.5-inch paper with an average page count of eight black-and-white pages, distributed once per week on Saturdays in the beginning. It was the creation of Wim Netlanbos with partners John Vandenboomen and Ronald Harvey, running its papers off a hand-powered platen press on what was then called Piron Street in downtown St. Albert. Writers were most often volunteers and news was focused on town council and other small happenings.
January 1962 was notable for the official opening of the Legion Hall, which was attended by special guests and pipers. But even more noteworthy was the posthumous bronze medal awarded to Leo Nickerson by the Carnegie Hero Fund in Pittsburgh, Pa. For those unfamiliar with the story, Nickerson, a Cub master, had drowned at Lake Wabamun while trying to save four boys with the Second St. Albert Pack. He successfully rescued Herbie Allen and was trying to get to Peter Ralphs, Ron Gillie and Christopher Rowe when a wave carried all of them away. With the award, Nickerson’s widow received $80 per month for five years in death benefits.
The Gazette also carried the results of a bridge game in which a Mr. and Mrs. Batchellor won with 98 points in 1963, but it was the call for all residents to get the polio vaccine and the location of a proposed liquor store that dominated January. The vaccine came in drops that were swallowed with a lump of sugar. As for the liquor store, whether it was to be located downtown or in Grandin was the subject of much debate while some wanted to get rid of it entirely. According to letter writer Mrs. F. Lockhart, “Wouldn’t it be nice if our community were free of it and thus be a more wholesome place in which to raise our families?”
But with 1964 came the news that council had handed the town’s finances over to the provincial Local Authorities Board (LAB) due to past budget mismanagement that had left council in a very “grave situation.” There were also early calls for more industrial development to ease the residential property tax burden … sound familiar? That call would resonate at council two years later when an industrial development committee was created with Coun. Parkes, the loudest advocate for industrial expansion, appointed to it. It was a slap in the face as the committee only had one member — Coun. Parkes.
The year 1966 also brought the opening of the new 150-bed, $1-million Youville nursing home. The board of the Sturgeon General Hospital also had its inaugural meeting as it was being “forced” by the province to build a 50-bed active treatment hospital.
1968 saw the Gazette> move to 31 Perron St., right across from the Bruin Inn. The town, now boasting 10,243 residents, contended with the resignation of one councillor and subsequent byelection, the possible dissolution of the Protestant school board, which was later voted down, and a town council that asked for briefs on what would be the benefits of amalgamation with the City of Edmonton. This would become a recurring theme and, in the next year lead to the first of many plebiscites on the subject.
1970 saw the Help Society officially open its doors. It consisted of a supervisor, two “qualified homemakers” and volunteers that can take over the care of a family when the parents are absent. Fees were contingent on circumstances and the volunteers are restricted from performing extensive housework or babysitting. Also interesting was a debate to allow St. Albert High School students to have their own smoking area to fight the problem of litter in front of the school. St. Albert was also selected as a site for a university of 5,000 students to be built by 1973. A second plebiscite on annexation by Edmonton, this one binding, was also in the works.
Peter Boer is an editor at the Gazette.
