The old pictures here have been retained for your enjoyment, but please refer to the new post for all esle.
Grain elevator time…
Prairie Sentinels: Bulwark Alberta.
Grain Elevators of DeWinton.
Providence Grain – Marengo Saskatchewan.
If you wish more information on this place, by all means contact us!
Date: December 2012.
Location: Stavely, Alberta.
One of many Minneapolis-Moline tractors in this yard.
This was a less common make.
In M-M’s factory colours.
Note the hand crank.
One lonely John Deere…
Advertised as the “World’s Finest”.
Occupied by a saddlery shop.
The Stavely Hotel was once called the Yukon.
After fire swept through town many replacement buildings were of brick.
The Stavely town office’s building dates from 1920.
Former Alberta Pool but now privately owned.
Standing on the rail line, abandoned in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Stavely was home to a number of other elevators once.
Gorgeous lines on this old pickup. Note El Camino in back.
This Ford truck is from the late 1930s.
Downtown Stavely looks like many other prairie towns.
Unc’s Machine Shop.
A former garage/gas station.
Note the rustic fieldstone work.
At the back of the building.
You can imagine a couple globe pumps here.
The view down the main street (50th Ave).
The town celebrated 100 years in 2012.
Hi, I’m a Stavely Lifer. The main highway between Fort Macleod and Calgary used to run through town on 50th St. (N/S east end of Main Street-50 Ave. ) hence the service station with the field stones.
The town, like most every other town in Alberta had named streets (Dufferin, Haultain, etc.) But when that fell out of vogue they chose 50th and 50th to be the heart of town.
Thanks for the excellent article.
You are most welcome! Ahh, that explains the location of the station, which today seems a bit off the beaten path (hey, good saying!). If not 50th and 50th, it was Main and Railway. Odd how near every small town was laid out using one or the other.
Thanks so much for this. When I was a kid, I always used to ask my dad about the Depression and he always told me about his visits to Stavely. My dad emigrated to Canada in 1929 (bad timing!) and had Danish friends there and I always used to think of it as “the Danish town.” He would ride the rods and catch prairie dogs and do whatever he had to to survive but always ended up going back to visit his friends in Stavely. I’ve never been there but it’s always been a kind of magical place of hope in my mind. Thank you for the description and photos.
Thanks a million for adding to the story. This is absolutely wonderful! We’re so happy with little write up stirred up some nice memories. Thanks for commenting, and do come back often and read (and comment on) other works we’ve done. There’s a lot to read here!
I enjoyed the photos and kind words about Stavely. I own the shop where the pictures of the tractors were taken. The tractor collecting fraternity maintains that one does not choose a brand of tractor, but that a brand will choose you. I always fancied myself a John Deere man, yet I seem to have a yard full of Minnies. You have done your homework on the corporate history of the company. Minnies were not the biggest seller in our area, but had a loyal following and were regarded as solid and reliable machines. There was a MM dealer in Nanton, and he supplied a number of tractors that ran on propane. Our museum is open in June, July, and August, tues, thurs, and saturday afternoons from about 1:30 to 4:30, and other times by appointment. There is a sign near the door with contact numbers. Have a look at the museum the next time you’re through.
Again, thanks for the nice article.
Thank you so much for sharing! We have not been to the museum but will make it a point to stop by sometime soon.
Hi, I hopped over to your blog page via your lillian lake post on reddit and was surprised to see another article on stavely. I’m from there there, left in the 70’s and now retired in Palm Springs. Thanks for putting together something worthy of reading!
Thanks for dropping by!
Amazing shots, I love your blog!
Awwww, thanks! I’m blushing.
I love that shot with the sun and the elevator. Great report!