What’s in a Name?
The Gazette is looking at the history behind the names of places in St. Albert in light of the city’s move to rename the Grandin neighbourhood. Curious about a place’s name? Send it in to [email protected] so it can be examined in a future story.
St. Albert’s lush forests and plentiful parks might not exist today were it not for a flip of a coin.
St. Albert had just 1,200 people and very few trees back when André Gate joined the Town of St. Albert as a labourer. By the time he left in 1968, St. Albert had landscaped boulevards, joint-use agreements with schools, and thousands of trees, in large part due to his efforts.
Yet according to one of his two sons, Jim, Gate and his wife would never have come to Alberta and St. Albert were it not for a coin toss.
“When they left France they flipped a coin [over a world map] to decide where to go,” said Jim, who lives in Regina, Sask.
“It landed on Canada [specifically Alberta], and that’s where they went.”
This week, What’s in a Name looks at the namesake of Gate Avenue and the enduring marks he left on this city.
Builder of St. Albert
A trained agriculturalist, Gate first came to Alberta in 1955 and initially worked on a farm near Stettler, the Edmonton Journal reports. He moved to St. Albert in 1958 and got a job with the town’s public works department. A September 1961 Gazette article described him as a “quiet, soft-spoken Frenchman” who was tall and slim, with a dark beard.
One of Gate’s first jobs with the town was dog catcher, longtime friend and co-worker John Beedle recalled in a piece written for the St. Albert Historical Society’s newsletter. He wasn’t that good at it at first, and “the townspeople were amused to see this six-foot-tall Ichabod Crane-like figure chasing after dogs that he couldn’t catch.” He soon got the idea of getting the strays to come to him by keeping a female dog in heat in the back of his van. This worked, but his bosses told him never to do it again.
Gate became St. Albert’s first parks and recreation director in 1959.
“He was the parks department,” Jim said, as he was initially the sole employee.
Beedle said Gate came on during a time of rapid growth in St. Albert, with Braeside, Mission, Grandin, and Sturgeon Heights all then new subdivisions. Gate developed St. Albert’s first parks bylaw and plans, and convinced town council to let him build a greenhouse and tree nursery where Gentry Court and the Christian Reformed Church are today to supply the plants for those plans. (Gate Avenue runs through the old nursery site.) He and his crews soon started planting thousands of trees along St. Albert’s streets.
“All those trees in Grosvenor downtown? He planted those by hand,” Jim said.
Beedle said Gate convinced town council to sign joint-use agreements with its local school boards — the first such deals in Alberta, the Gazette’s archives report. St. Albert still has such agreements today, allowing students and residents to use school and public sports facilities at low-to-no cost.
Beedle said Gate built dressing rooms for skating rinks, the city’s first Arts and Crafts Centre, and a clubhouse for the tennis courts in Mission using panels from repurposed green-painted army huts he bought from what is now CFB Wainwright. He also designed St. Albert’s official crest.
More in Moose Jaw
In September 1968, Gate announced that he would be stepping down as the town’s head of parks effective Oct. 31 to head up the parks division in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Writing in the Gazette on Oct. 23, 1968, Gate said he felt “rather like one of the trees I love so dearly,” as he was about to be uprooted and transplanted to a new place. Still, he hoped to take root and continue to grow in Moose Jaw.
“If I have in any way contributed to the life of the community, I am truly grateful.”
Town council gave Gate quite the send-off, naming him an honorary citizen of St. Albert on Oct. 18, 1968. Historian Ray Pinco said council changed Ball Ave. to Gate Avenue in Gate’s honour later that year.
Gate served as Moose Jaw’s parks director until his retirement in 1987, the Moose Jaw Times-Herald reports. Ron Walter, a reporter for that paper during Gate’s time, said Gate was a staunch advocate for the city’s parks, especially Crescent Park, which today features a plaque in honour of Gate’s many contributions to it. One of those contributions was the creation of a flowerbed in the shape of the city’s coat of arms — a feature Gate got to show Queen Elizabeth II when she visited the city in 1978.
Jim said Gate enjoyed life with his kids and grandkids in his retirement. Moose Jaw city council held a moment of silence for him when he died in August 1999, the Times-Herald reports.
While Jim said he has yet to visit Gate Avenue himself, he said it was great to see that St. Albert has given his father some recognition for his efforts.
