County of Ponoka GenWeb Project: Local Business History Index

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The Development and History of Local Business in Ponoka County
Town of Ponoka Merchants from 1901 - 1902	Locations of early Town of Ponoka Merchants
Town of Rimbey Merchants in 1932	Rural Businesses
History of Vold, Jones & Vold Auction Company	The Star Press

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The Development and History of Local Business in Ponoka County
No discussion of the history of business development in rural Alberta is complete without first recognizing the farmers and the role they played as both business owners and consumers. Each homesteader who came to the County of Ponoka was in fact not only a settler, but also an entrepreneur. The economies and planning that made a business successful were just as important on the farm, with one very important exception - the weather. No matter how much planning and hard work went into a farm operation, the owners and managers were at the mercy of the many acts of God. Over the years, the County has seen many of these - from hail to floods, tornadoes and freak snow storms. Secondly, without the homesteaders, there would have been very little demand for the many businesses that opened in the County of Ponoka to provide the variety of supplies and services they did.

Town of Ponoka Merchants from 1901 to 1902
BARBER SHOPS	Mr. Jennings	Myrle Martin	Mr. Hurtz	--
BLACKSMITHS	Rochan	Starkeys	Pete Horn	--
DRY GOODS/GROCERY	Algars	Fowlers	The White House	Henry Dick
HOTELS	Royal	Leland	Alberta	--
IMPLEMENT AGENTS	Courtwright	W.E. Turner	Unknown	--
LIVERY STABLES	Fairfield	Gerkhe's	--	--
LUMBER YARDS	Courtwright	Mundy Lumber Co.	--	--
MEAT MARKET	Ivor Larson	--	--	--
MILLINERY	Mrs. Joe Stretch	--	--	--
NEWSPAPER	Mr. Picairn	--	--	--
RESTAURANT	Trelkeld	McCann	Mrs. Cook Meyers	--
SADDLERY	Lorn Dodds	--	--	--
UNDERTAKER	L.B. Matisch	--	--	--

Locations of Town of Ponoka Businesses
BLOCK 1	Lot 3, 4	Lot 5, 6
Lot 7, 8	R.K. Allan Furniture & Hardware	Alexander & Tugman Feed Mill Co.
J.P Horn Blacksmith	Lot 5, 6	Lot N1/2, 6
S. Cornish Paint Shop	Larsen & Peterson Livery	J.B. Shea Vacant
Lot 1, Block 10	Lot 8	Lot 7
W.E. Turner Machine Shop & Office	Edmonton City Dairy	B.F. Chapman Vacant
BLOCK 2	Lot 9	Lot 8
Lot 1,2	F.E. Algar Ltd. General Store	Mr. Coultior Restaurant
Headley & Few Theatre	C.W. Segerstrom Real Estate	Lot 9, 10
Lot 2	O.L. Webster Real Estate	C.W. Fields Photography
Mrs. L.G. Headley Millinery	Lot 11, 12	Lot N1/2 22
Lot 5	W.H. Smith Secondhand Store	J. B. Shea Vacant
C.L. Farnum Real Estate Office	G.F. Brown Harness	Lot 24
Lot 6	Lot 12, 13	Geo. Gordon Printing
C.H. Cummings General Store	A. Reid General Store	BLOCK 6
Lot 7	Lot 19, 20	Lot 1
Batson & Cox Hardware	Larsen & Peterson Livery	R.H. Albrecht Feed Mill
Lot 9 & 10	Lot W1/2, 21	BLOCK 7
Kleckner & Morgan	W. DeWilde Pool Room	Lot 5, 6, 7
Lot 11 & 12	Lot 22	Revelstoke Sawmill Co. Lumber Co.
Leuberts & Sellers Hotel	W.L. Steele Lumber	Lot 10
Lot 12 & 13	Lot N 1/2, 23	Geo. E. Bowker Undertaker
Kennedy & Russell General Store	Campbell Drug Co. Druggist	BLOCK 10
Lot 14	Campbell & Bell Doctors Office	Lot 11, 12
T.W. Franks Solicitor	Lot E 1/2, 23	Herbert Rees Machine Shop
Woodland Dairy	T.J. Durkin Gent's Furnishings	BLOCK 11
Lot 15	Lot W1/2, 24	Lot 1, 2
E. Roberts Restaurant	M.G. Neff, Jeweller	Alfred Barrett Creamery
Dr. Taylor Dentist	Fritz Bachor Butcher	Lot 3, 4
Lot 16	Frt. pt. 24	H.C. Taylor Feed Mill
Larson & Peterson Livery	Miss Harris Millinery	BLOCK 20
Lot 17	Lot 24	Lot 1, 2, 3
Jas. Jones Restaurant	H.E. Pendleton & Sons Meat Market	Alexander & McKelvey Marble Works
BLOCK 3	BLOCK 4	C.P.R. Freightways
Lot 1	Lot 1	Alberta Pacific Elevator Co.
Canadian Bank of Commerce	Alexander & Tugman Machine Sheds	Wetaskiwin Produce Co.
Lot 2	Lot 2	Alexander & Tugman Coal Sheds
A. Christianson Secondhand Store	Mah Poy Restaurant	Revelstoke Lumber Co. Coal Sheds
Shively Shoe Repair	Lot 4	G.D. Clark Coal Sheds
Other	Mah Chung Laundry	Town Hall
Dr. Graham Doctor's Office	--	T.W. Hutchinson Office
--	--	Henry Nelson Insurance Agent

Town of Rimbey Merchants in 1932
BARBER SHOP	Lloyd Newsom	Bob Lewis
BLACKSMITH	Nels Robley	--
CONVEYANCER / REAL ESTATE	B.W. MacGillvary	--
DRAY (Mules)	Bill Savage	--
DRUG STORE	White Brothers	--
ELECTRIC SUPPLIER	E.A. Draper	--
GARAGE / AUTO REPAIRS/ AUTO DEALERSHIP	Don Field	Jim Pringle
HIDE DEALER	L.P. Robinson	--
HOTEL	Harry Taylor	--
LIVERY STABLE	Starks Webb	--
MEN'S STORE	Archie McLees	--
MILL / LUMBER YARD	EA. Drader	--
MOVIE THEATRE	Sharpe	--
SHOE MAKER / HARNESS REPAIR	Ben Gunn	--
UNDERTAKER	Cliff Hewit	--

Rural Businesses
*Usona Store*
Owners	Years	Additional Information
Mr. McClinton	1937	Original location was N.W. corner 23-44-26 - this building burned down. MR. McClinton had come from Pigeon Lake where he operated a bakery. This business also served as the Post Office for a while.
William Carlson	--	Rebuilt after fire at N.E. corner 31-44-26
Mr. and Mrs. Naslund	1949 to 1953	--
Ray and Anna Peterson	1953 to 1958	--
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Bailey	1958 to 1960	--
Mr. and Mrs. William Baron	1960 to ??	--

The Star Press
Ever the businessman, Mr. Leroy E. Brownlee ran several businesses in the Ponoka County area. During the 1920s he operated a wood sawing and feed grinding outfit. In the 1930s he built and ran a sawmill and shingle mill on his homestead. In 1940 he built his own printing press and started a printing business which he called The Star Press. He wrote and printed four books, which he sold by mail: Farm Blacksmithing, Building Farm Lumber Saw Mills, Building a Shingle Saw Mill, and Circular Saw Hammering. He printed flyers, handbills and posters for local businesses and organizations, and from 1950 until at least 1951 he published a monthly one-sheet newspaper, North Country Times, which covered news in Hoadley, Bluffton and Rimbey districts. From 1949 until at least 1958 he printed a lonely-hearts newsletter, entitled The National Hobby and Trader, which had a Canada-wide circulation, and reached the lovelorn as far away as Missouri.
Information courtesy of the Glenbow Archives who hold the Leroy E. Brownlee Fonds.

Looking for more information ? Check out these sites....

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Come, visit our Historical Archives for more about the development of the County of Ponoka

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All articles & graphics were developed, compiled or created by D.A. Owens. � 1997 - 2003. All Rights Reserved. The information provided is for research purposes only, and it's accuracy is subject to confirmation. Commercial use of this information is prohibited.