We’re visiting a charming county church built just over a century ago. Not all that far from Calgary, perhaps you’ve seen it beside highway while on your way to some weekend fun out in the badlands. It’s located a bit outside its namesake town, just before a dip down into a little valley and sits on the south side of the road. Trees sort of block it from view if approaching from the west but it’ll be clear as day in your rear view on passing or from the other angle. We’re speaking of today’s subject, Irricana United and we’ll take on a little tour.
Youâve heard of catalogue homes, right? You know, sold by Eatonâs or other firms, that youâd assemble yourself from pre-cut lumber? By all appearances, this is a kit-church, and the building plans shown us display United Grain Growers markings. This was a firm that not only dealt in wheat and barley but also in the kit-home business for a time. UGG is a name once familiar to farmers but it too has been relegated to history.
Irricana United Church: out in the country and loving it. More Pop-History with Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)
Join with us in saying thanks to our own âJohanna (Connie) Biggartâ for sponsoring this and many other posts at BIGDoer.com. Do the same…
In the soft light of evening (our time of day) we’ve come to explore and be sure and check out the photos below that came from this adventure. They turned out nice…but first, a little history.
We’re at Irricana United Church.
The building we see today dates back to 1919 and replaced an earlier church in use since about 1910. It’s not made clear if the original was located on this plot of land or elsewhere but that some burials in the attached cemetery predate the current structure, suggests it might have been located here. For a time they also had a church in Irricana itself, with this one catering to the rural folks, but that’s another story.
Scroll down for more photos and to comment.
When constructed the congregation had affiliations with the Church of the Brethren and the building in service of settlers mostly of German (speaking) heritage. This earlier group had the nickname “Dunkards” for their practise of full-body baptisms, and while the tank hearkening back to this is still in place, it’s now covered up. In 1969 they chose to join the United Church.
The structure sits on a concrete foundation and has a full basement with kitchen and gathering room. There’s an upper gallery with overflow seating for time’s when it gets busy, and on two sides, main level, there several (former) class rooms once used for Sunday School and the like. Windows are simple frosted glass and cast a soft glow within the interior. It’s quiet, peaceful and serene.
The building, price adjusted for today, cost about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars, start to finish. In the present real estate market that might get you a Barbie playhouse on a square yard plot of land, under a train bridge and in view of a garbage dump, but that’s about it. Maybe.
The original building plans are still on file. Recall, these were prepared by United Grain Growers, a firm that supplied catalogue homes, but also certain institutional buildings. Little is known of the latter and given the paucity of information suggests churches and schools (which they also offered) were uncommon. Catalogue homes we’ve seen, but a catalogue church? It’s a first for us and here we thought we’ve seen it all.
Ongoing research hints that at least one more church was built to this design, somewhere else in the area, and now said to be gone, and perhaps others of a different designs elsewhere in Western Canada. Info is spotty at best.
UGG traditionally was one of the larger kit/catalogue home suppliers out this way (along with Eaton’s and Aladdin) and in this business from 1912-1926. Sears really did not have a presence in this country for such structures.
The church is partly surrounded by tall evergreens and they’re not just decorative but a good wind-break. The attached cemetery (common with country churches) has burials going back to 1914 and still in use.
A sad discovery: little George passed on far too soon and managed to live five months before going to the great beyond. There’s a common thread in old cemeteries we see all the time and that’s graves of little kids â there’s far too many. Just making it to adulthood seemed like a big challenge back then.
Country Churches like Irricana United were once common across the plains and while today, that’s less true, we still find the occasional one in use, like here. This one has an active congregation and so well cared for and loved. The building received Provincial historical designation about ten years ago.
The Church of the Brethren was one of the more obscure Christian denominations in Canada and seems to have faded into history here. The United Church, on the other hand, is one of the largest Christian bodies in the country and formed through the amalgamation of many smaller church groups.
With the building all lit in the twilight, it appears as thought there’s a late night service happening at Irricana United. That’s the effect we hoped for and more than a few people in cars passing by on the highway gave us a double take and slowed down to check out what was going on. I guess seeing the lights on might seem a bit odd to locals especially. It’s usually all quiet here come nightfall, but this evening brought alive, if only briefly for our camera.
Waiting for dusk…
This piece was shot during the height of Covid and as such in-person services at Irricana United were on hold at the time. With the pandemic easing, they’re again open and people can now again congregate and not have to do those horribly impersonal zoom meetings. We were the first visitors to drop by in a long time. A long, long time…
A sign of times seen out front: “Jesus can wash away sin, but you have to wash your hands.” They forgot to add: keep two metres apart. And the masks…don’t forget the masks.
Don’t go away as there’s lots of fresh content being posted regularly @ BIGDoer.com and it’s awesome!
They’re saying…
“Chris and Connie delve into the nooks and crannies of the Canadian Prairies (ed: we do mountains too!). They detail interesting histories accompanied with revealing photos. A lot of information and work and the results are fantastic.” Naomi Kikoak.
If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!
Date: June, 2021. Location: Irricana, AB. Article references and thanks: Annette at Irricana United Church, The Canadian Register of Historic Places, catalogue home expert Les Henry and Byron Robb for help in shooting this piece.
We heard they may have supplied a few but had yet to see one until this visit. We didn’t know going into it and only found out during the shoot. Glad you enjoyed the piece and it was an enjoyable one to make!
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" đ€Ș 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: âDevoid of meaning (or) senselessâ 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 đ.
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.
Javascript is required for this site to function. Please enable it in your browser settings and refresh this page.
Please log-in to continue... This allows unrestricted access to every post @BIGDoer.com, popups are eliminated, commenting is on and the "contact us" page is enabled.
Your social site may send you a routine notice of login.
Or signup, here: Subscriber Register ___ BIGDoer.com: Serving up POP HISTORY & other McFun!âŠ(Mmmm, yummy bite-sized pieces.) One million plus words & tens of thousands of photos!
Thatâs so interesting that the UGG got into building churches. Great blog post and photos!
We heard they may have supplied a few but had yet to see one until this visit. We didn’t know going into it and only found out during the shoot. Glad you enjoyed the piece and it was an enjoyable one to make!