On the road to somewhere, we make a brief stop in the little community of Granum Alberta (founded early 1900s), with just enough time to fire off a couple snapshots. The always beckoning highway calls. So for but a few moments we wander about “downtown”, with not another soul in sight, taking in a number of old buildings found here. There’s the post office and AJ’s Diner and while open for business both, they we closed on the day of our visit. Down the block, the Town Hall, a most stately building, and beside the Senior’s Drop Inn Centre. All small prairie towns, who have on average have a rather old population base, seem to have one of these.
The sky moves – those dramatic rolling clouds. And further down Railway Avenue (interestingly, the tracks are long gone), the town’s former garage. They sold gas, did repair work and functioned as a new car dealer. On one wall a ghost sign advertising Esso fuels and on another, but you have to look hard for it cause it’s well faded, one advertising Ford Cars. Research tells us these likely date from the 1940s period. Wonder if they once had globe pumps out front?
And with this we just fell in love with the town. It didn’t take long. I can see a revisit and a much more ambitious photo essay and write up is in order here. It’s a picturesque place (odd we’ve never visited it before) and I bet has much history to share. Yup, we’ll back.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found. Or sometimes we just ramble on about Lord knows what.
If you need any more information on what we talked about here, by all means contact us!
Date of adventure: November, 2018. Location: Granum, AB.
Never thought I’d ever see a shot of my original “hometown” – first eight years of my life, 1927-1935. Fantastic! Can still recall first encounters there with a railroad (CPR)never knew I’d end up working for the NAR for 36 years!
My mom’s family was originally from around Granum. They settled east and slightly north of town about a dozen years before the place was incorporated. My grandfather spent a lot of time at the Drop-in Centre on main street, and is buried in the cemetery.
At one time, it was larger than Claresholm, to the north. Now it’s the smallest designated town in Alberta.
Oh! It originally wasn’t called Granum – before the railway, it was called ‘Leavings’… because it was the point from which cattle ‘left’ for the stockyards? I really don’t know.
I love these little towns. I was raised in Fort McLeod, and dad worked at the Safeway trailer plant outside of Granum back in the 1970’s. Granum has the distinction of being the smallest town in Alberta.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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My wife worked in that post office many years ago I believe Granum is Alberta’s smallest town!
A couple people mentioned it, and sure enough, it the smallest. Interesting. Rhys, in fact, commented on it earlier.
To bad I missed that trip. Next time!
Well visit Granum again.
There is some interesting signs/buildings in Granum. Its always great to see another photographer’s take on things 🙂
Thanks. I’ve never actually explored it before. Had little time that visit, but so want to go back.
Never thought I’d ever see a shot of my original “hometown” – first eight years of my life, 1927-1935. Fantastic! Can still recall first encounters there with a railroad (CPR)never knew I’d end up working for the NAR for 36 years!
Arthur, that’s an amazing memory!
My wife remembers going grocery shopping with her mother in Granum long long ago.
Cool connection!
I was going to take a similar photo 3 weeks ago but it was -27 then.
Yes, the cold. It won’t end!
There used to be more, back when the highway ran through. The swan song of many a small town.
Yes, once the highway goes, so goes the town.
My mom’s family was originally from around Granum. They settled east and slightly north of town about a dozen years before the place was incorporated. My grandfather spent a lot of time at the Drop-in Centre on main street, and is buried in the cemetery.
At one time, it was larger than Claresholm, to the north. Now it’s the smallest designated town in Alberta.
The smallest town? How interesting. And that you have a connection to the place. So cool.
Oh! It originally wasn’t called Granum – before the railway, it was called ‘Leavings’… because it was the point from which cattle ‘left’ for the stockyards? I really don’t know.
Thanks for adding to the story! We’re hoping one day to pay the town a revisit and do something more ambitious.
I love these little towns. I was raised in Fort McLeod, and dad worked at the Safeway trailer plant outside of Granum back in the 1970’s. Granum has the distinction of being the smallest town in Alberta.
Interesting! On both accounts.
I love it! I don’t know why I haven’t stopped there before…
I know, us too! Passed it by so many times, but never really checked it out.