A Little Bit Ritchie Episode 8 Transcript: Wander ‘Round Ritchie
On September 17th, 2022—Community League Day in Edmonton—Ritchie celebrated its centennial anniversary with live music, food trucks, and historical walking tours. I’m Lydia Neufeld, and on this special minisode of A Little Bit Ritchie, I’ll be introducing you to 13 of Ritchie’s historical hotspots. Check out the link in the podcast description for a walking tour map that will guide you to each of the locations discussed in this episode. Tie on some walking shoes, grab a pair of headphones, and join me on a two-hour adventure to Wander ‘Round Ritchie. There will be a musical interlude between each stop, so feel free to pause the episode to give yourself time to reach the next destination. To begin the tour, head to the Ritchie Community Hall.
Throughout this tour, we remember that Ritchie exists on stolen land. These sites are located in Treaty 6 Territory and Metis Nation of Alberta Region 4, a travelling route and home to the Nehiyawak, Siksikaitsitapi, Saulteaux, Métis, Stoney Nakoda, Inuit, and other Indigenous peoples. The Ritchie Community League is exploring what the land represents while drawing attention to the harm caused by settlers and colonization.
Our Reconciliation Committee reflects on the Community Leagues’ existence in Ritchie and its relationship to the land. To restructure how we understand the community, we have a favour to ask. The Committee would love to hear your stories about the area, whether you grew up here or you’re a newcomer. Your memories will help support our goal of building an equitable, welcoming community for all. If you’d like to share a memory, please contact us at community-planning@ritchie-league.com
1. Ritchie Community Hall
We’ve arrived at our first stop: The Ritchie Community Hall. The Ritchie Community League established the current grounds as their formal community space, with a skating rink, in 1923. It wasn’t until 1945 that the board discussed building a community hall. A plan proposed by the city was to move the Ritchie Community League headquarters to an abandoned Gainers field adjacent to Mill Creek Ravine. However, the league voted against the move. Instead, their first hall was established here on the community grounds. A Texas hut was purchased from the US Army Surplus and placed on the site. Though this structure was not ideal long-term, it served the league for the time being. By the late 1950s, the hut was falling apart, and the community league drafted new plans for a hall. The new hall was constructed and ready for community rentals in 1961. However, the space was hardly large enough to accommodate the league's needs, and conversations about expansion began almost immediately. By the late 1970s, the league added changerooms for the skating rink, office space, a tennis court, and improved washrooms.
To learn more, listen to episode 6 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
2. Community League Playground Slide
Our second stop, the Ritchie Playground Slide, stands as an early example of Edmonton’s recreational history. Ritchie playground was one of the first in the city and was instantly popular among mothers of young children in the area. In 1924, the Community League planned to spend $83.20 on playground equipment. This money was raised together with the Gyro Club for the construction of playgrounds. However, it wasn’t until 1928 that Ritchie had a formally designated park space. At that time, playgrounds were being built in Boyle Street, Grovenor, King Edward Park, Prince Charles, Parkallen, Strathearn, and Ritchie. The Ritchie slide was likely installed in 1946 when the City set aside funds to improve and add to playgrounds around Edmonton. Today, the Ritchie slide is beloved for its towering height and perceived precariousness.
A significant event happened in the playground in July of 1965. Disgruntled children from the Ritchie neighbourhood burned effigies of Mayor Vincent Danzer and Alderman Julia Kiniski after the aforementioned pair approved a 2 million dollar budget cut to children's programming across the city. Playground Supervisor Carolyn Naylor watched as the children ignited the paper-mache corpses hanging from the Ritchie slide. Naylor attests to hosting a “unique” event for Ritchie children once a year. She stated that this year, the activity was “hanging and burning.” The paper mache effigies in question were allegedly designed to be nameless. However, a group of children stomped onto the playground carrying signs denouncing Mayor Danzer and Alderman Kiniski. In local newspaper reports at the time, Playground supervisor Carolyn Naylor remarked that Ritchie is “a tough neighbourhood,” and the burning was a marshmallow roasting gone wrong.
To learn more, check out episode 6 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
3. Ritchie School
Welcome to stop number three: the site of the now-demolished Ritchie School. In 1911, over 12 hundred students were enrolled in a public school in South Side Edmonton—an increase of almost 40 percent from the year before. With enrollment numbers rising rapidly, the South Side needed a new school. Architect and School Board Building Commissioner George E. Turner designed the three-story red brick building, which was to become Ritchie School. The massive structure replaced two wooden frame schoolhouses known as Irvine Estate Schools.
Construction of the school began on January 1, 1913, and it opened the following November. For the first month, the school functioned without an operational sewer system. Though architecturally stunning, the building had structural issues as it was built on a slough. This caused the basement to sink, spurring flooding in the first year. Ritchie School quickly became a part of the community. During WWI, its playing fields were used to grow potatoes.
In 2008, The Edmonton Public School Board voted to close the school—enrolment had dropped to only 89 students. A year later - in 2009 - the Francophone School Board took up residence in the space. That same year, it also opened École Joseph Moreau, the debut francophone junior high school in Western Canada. In May of 2020, the city demolished the old Ritchie school building.
To learn more, tune into Episode 1 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
4. Redeemer Lutheran Church
Information about our fourth stop, Redeemer Lutheran Church, was prepared and written by local historian Dane Ryksen.
Redeemer Lutheran Church was established at the behest of local pioneer Mrs. Louise Sievers. Pastor Boettcher acted as its administrator, and Mrs. Sievers served as Sunday School teacher. In its first week seventy-five children attended — encouraged by their success, in 1929 the Lutherans purchased an abandoned Methodist church located at this site, four city lots, and an organ. Education was the Lutheran’s primary focus until 1931, when they began offering church services for the families of their students. The church, dubbed the “Richmond Park Lutheran Mission,” had a poor showing at first, with only three families regularly attending. But as the Depression dragged on, more and more joined their ranks. In 1936 they had what an Edmonton Journal article described as an “impressive Christmas observance” of seventy-five individuals.
In 1939 the Lutheran establishment formally recognized their mission as a church. A decade later, the congregation changed their name to Redeemer Lutheran. By that point their old building proved woefully inadequate. So, they raised money and drafted plans. The City approved their building permit worth $23,000 dollars and on August 9th, 1953, a ceremonial sod-turning for their new church was held.
Construction work began in earnest that September, with volunteer labour keeping costs to a minimum. The building’s cornerstone was laid on March 14th, 1954. The stone is inscribed with a Latin motto which translates into “To the Glory of God Alone.” On Sunday, May 30th, 1954, Redeemer Lutheran’s new building opened to parishioners.
Redeemer Lutheran’s unique design is the work of Edmonton architectural firm Blakey, Blakey & Ascher. Comprising three of Alberta’s preeminent draftsmen - their stark plan, described by the Edmonton Journal as “contemporary... [and of] an unusually graceful appearance,” - represents an interesting turning point. Here traditionalist design elements were completely supplanted by Modernist ones. Whereas windows or form in other plans still harkened back to the time-honoured principles of church design, the only component of Redeemer’s layout that draws parallels to the past is its remarkably stripped-down bell tower.
To learn more, listen to Episode 7 of A Little Bit Ritchie or visit ForgottenEdmonton.com.
5. Edmonton Yukon and Pacific Railway Bridge
Our fifth stop stands as one of the final physical remains of Edmonton’s first railway before its amalgamation with Strathcona: The Edmonton Yukon and Pacific Railway, or EY&P for short. This wooden trestle bridge was built in 1902. The railway was built to serve as an Edmonton area freight and passenger railway and was intended to eventually reach north. However, only twelve kilometres of railway were ever constructed, and the line never stretched outside of Edmonton’s city limits.
Between 1898 and 1900, the Federal Government designed and facilitated the construction of a bridge crossing the North Saskatchewan River, connecting the cities of Edmonton and Strathcona for the first time. Until that point, the only way across the River was aboard one of John Walter’s ferries, which only sailed when there was no ice on the river. This new bridge was named the Inter-Urban Bridge. After the construction of the High-Level Bridge in 1913, the Inter-Urban Bridge became known as the Low-Level Bridge. In 1902, the EY&P’s tracks were laid atop the Inter-Urban Bridge, connecting to the Calgary and Edmonton line in Strathcona, and then running parallel to Mill Creek Ravine.
After an intense and gruelling construction process, the EY&P’s debut iron horse charged down the tracks on October 20, 1902, spearheaded by a Canadian Northern Locomotive. Fifty years later, Edmonton officials asked the CNR to abandon the EY&P so the city could begin building a highway north of the river. Lieutenant Governor J.J. Bowlen ceremoniously removed the first spike from the rail line on April 29, 1954. Deconstruction was completed in May of that year. In 1953, the Low-Level Bridge was converted from a train bridge to a highway bridge. When the Gainers Meat Packing Plant in Ritchie closed its doors in the 1980s, the remainder of the EY&P ceased operations entirely.
To learn more, head over to Episode 3 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
6. Mill Creek Ravine Picnic Sites
Mill Creek Ravine Picnic Sites mark our sixth stop. Despite the park’s reputation as a secluded, natural escape from the bustle of the city, Mill Creek Ravine remains one of Alberta’s most polluted creeks and one of Edmonton’s most polluted parks. The production and transportation in Mill Creek Ravine jump-started industrial development in Edmonton. By 1905, the ravine housed four meatpacking plants, a coal mine, a brick factory, and a Lumber mill. The industry in Mill Creek was one of the largest and first industrial projects in Western Canada. Despite the economic boom of the early 1900s, some of Mill Creek’s major industries did not make it into the jazz age. By 1921, all but one of the plants had vacated the ravine.
The remains of the industry—including bones, blood, clinker, and heavy metals—oozed into the earth below and fundamentally shifted Mill Creek’s ecology. The soil, once healthy, was alkaline and failed to support the species that depended on it. The brick, metal, and other remains that could be salvaged were recycled and removed by scavengers and activists. What could not be reused seeped into the earth, to be slowly overtaken by flora.
In the mid-century, the City proposed a freeway system that would bisect many ravines in the city, including Mill Creek Ravine. The City faced intense pushback from environmentally concerned citizens, who came together to oppose the destruction of natural spaces. In addition to individual activists, formal groups formed in opposition to the freeway and successfully halted the project. In 1973 local organizations and community leagues joined forces with STOP, an activist group, to create Mill Creek Build A Park. As the name suggests, Mill Creek Build a Park pushed to turn Mill Creek Ravine into an official city park. At the core of Build a Park was the belief that Mill Creek was a natural environment that required conservation because of the inherent value of the outdoors.
Particularly through the efforts of Mill Creek Build a Park, portions of the ravine’s wasteland were transformed into a manicured park and picnic spaces while other sections were tidied of litter and left to thrive in their natural state.
7. Daredevil One and Daredevil Two
Mill Creek Ravine has held a special place in children's hearts throughout history. In the 1970s, children used two exhilarating but dangerous tobogganing sites: Daredevil One and Daredevil Two, our seventh stop. Fueled by adrenaline, white-knuckled children clung to their toboggans as they plummeted down the precarious slopes at breakneck speeds. Another favourite tobogganing hill in Mill Creek was referred to as "seven bumps, " because it had seven bumps on the way down.
Though the specific locations of the Daredevil chutes were somewhere in the Argyll region of Mill Creek - they have since lost their shape through erosion. Mill Creek remains a popular location for tobogganing. Teens also used the area surrounding the tobogganing hills for activities that were less than family-friendly, including drinking and fighting.
Other favourite recorded activities included squishing pennies on train tracks, biking, tobogganing, cross-country skiing, and hunting. Children's perspectives of the Ravine were well documented by Mill Creek Build a Park and demonstrated that youngsters coveted the Ravine as a place of escape and recreation.
To learn more about Mill Creek Ravine, listen to Episode 4 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
8. Gainers Meatpacking Plant
We’ve arrived at our 8th stop, the site of one of Gainers Meat packing locations. The Gainer family established itself as one of the most prominent and prosperous in early Strathcona. In 1891, John Gainer, his wife Amy, and their four young children boarded a train in St. Mary’s, Ontario and arrived in Edmonton with $250, equivalent to almost $11,000 today, and a suitcase full of ambition. The family settled into a modest house on Whyte Avenue, where John carved out a section of his home to accommodate a slaughterhouse. Over the next century, John's small enterprise would become one of Western Canada's most successful meatpacking operations.
After a prosperous few years, the Gainer’s outgrew their home butcher shop and opened Pioneer Meat Market in 1892. After a decade of success, John built a marvellous and permanent brick storefront—Gainers Block—on Whyte Avenue. Nearly another decade of furious success passed, and John pivoted his focus to a wholesale operation, with meat distribution to every corner of Alberta. He closed Pioneer Meat Market and rebranded as Gainers Incorporated. Under his new business model, the butcher rapidly outgrew Gainers Block. There was talk of a new industrial district not far from home—Mill Creek Ravine.
After snatching a plot of land, Gainer constructed a slaughterhouse, barns, livestock pens, and a packing plant. Three other meatpacking plants had operations in the Ravine. Cornelius Gallagher-Hull, Edmonton Meat Market, and Vogel’s Meat Packing Plant. Daily, hundreds of animals were slaughtered between the four abattoirs. For a brief period, Mill Creek became the center of meat production in Alberta.
People from all around the city came to Ritchie by bus to work at Gainers, and the meatpacking industry supported Edmonton’s economy. Though many working-class citizens relied on it, jobs at the packing plants were oppressive, gruelling, and highly stigmatized.
In 1972, the Gainer family sold the enterprise to Agra Industries Ltd. At the time of the sale, Gainers employed roughly 500 people and grossed over 40 million dollars. Six years later, Agra Industries sold Gainers to businessman and Edmonton Oilers Hockey Club owner Peter Pocklington. x Under Pocklington, Gainers continued operating at its Ritchie site for four more years. In 1982, it moved to northeast Edmonton, where the infamous 1986 strike took place.
For more information about Gainers, check out Episode 5 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
9. Ritchie Triplex
The Ritchie triplex marks our ninth stop. Built in 1913, at the end of the Age of Optimism, this triplex represents early multi-unit housing in the Ritchie area and provides a glimpse into the lives of many young, working-class men that were central to early Ritchie. In 1911, just before the building of the Tri-Plex, the Census of Canada counted nearly 150,000 male workers in Alberta. Of those, only about 45,000 were Canadian-born, with the remainder being immigrants. In Edmonton itself, nearly 10,000 men were listed as working, with over half being immigrants and many being between the ages of 15 and 24.
As with the rest of the province, in the early 1900’s many residents in Ritchie were younger working-class men who were among the renting, rather than the home-owning, class. Early residents of the Tri-Plex include miners such as George Holt, who lived there from 1921 to 1925. CPR employee Harry Mockford lived in the triplex in 1928. Harold V. Clutton, who worked for Gainers, was a resident in 1920. And James Waters, a tradesman, lived there from 1917 to 1919. These men were part of the industrial labour force that defined Ritchie’s early years. Throughout the decades, the triplex housed Ritchie’s working-class residents and the structure serves as a reminder of the industry's early labour force.
10. Strathcona CPR Station and SCTV “Polynesiatown”
Welcome to our tenth stop, a former viewpoint of the Strathcona CPR Station. In 1908, the CPR constructed a this station in the area to welcome and support arriving travellers. The Edwardian-era station became known as the “End of Steel.” It was the furthest North the rail lines could extend without constructing bridges that stretched over the North Saskatchewan River. The station provides a visible reminder of the strides in early local development and gives us a glimpse into what would have been the first sight of Ritchie for newcomers in the early 1900s. Architecturally, the station boasts flairs of Classical and Renaissance Revival style with timber details. A grand tower sets the Strathcona Station apart and offers a prominent silhouette.
The station reflects the vitality of the railway’s presence in Alberta’s early rural development and movement. The early railways assisted with the amalgamation of Edmonton and Strathcona in 1912. The High-Level Bridge opened in 1913, providing a second connection between Edmonton and Strathcona. However, the Strathcona CPR station remained the CPR’s most northern divisional point. It remained active until 1980. These days it’s home to the restaurant MKT.
Though today, condos block the view of the station from this vantage point, it’s clearly visible in the iconic shot from SCTV’s Polynesiantown episode. Second City Television—or SCTV—was a Canadian sketch comedy program active from 1976 to 1984. It featured Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, John Candy, and others. The show was filmed and produced in Edmonton between 1980 and 1981 by ITV. Notably, SCTV was the first Canadian television program to air on American television.
To find out more about Edmonotn’s train transportation, listen to Episode 3 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
11. Minchaus Blacksmith Shop
Welcome to our eleventh stop, the site of Minchaus Blacksmith Shop. The Minchau family was essential in the development of Edmonton’s German community. August and Carolina Minchau, a German couple, arrived in Strathcona in the early 1900s. They purchased a parcel of the Papaschase Reserve land near modern Ellerslie Road and 50th Street. On this land, the couple built a homestead and a farm. After finding prosperity in the agricultural industry, they extended an invitation to relatives in their homeland, offering support to any of their family members who joined them in Strathcona.
In 1907, their eighteen-year-old nephew, Adolf Minchau, accepted their offer and came to Strathcona. When he arrived, Adolf helped his aunt and uncle on their farm and worked alongside Edmonton pioneer John Walter, learning the Millwrights trade. Later, Adolf apprenticed with a blacksmith. In 1911, after absorbing all he could from his mentors, Adolf opened a blacksmith shop at 7711-99th Street. Here, he found himself swaddled in the familiar cloth of his homeland; Ritchie was a bustling hub for German settlers.
Nine years later, in 1920, Adolf purchased a parcel of land in an industrial district just east of the Strathcona CPR Station in West Ritchie. The shop stood at 8108 101st Street. Nine years later, there were five other Blacksmith shops within a few blocks’ radius, including Arndt’s Machine Shop around the corner. Until recently, remnants of Adolf's original signage cast a ghostly shadow on the building's graffiti-embellished facade. In September 2020, the Minchau Blacksmith Shop was demolished. X Despite the best efforts of Heritage Forward, a local historical activist group, the structure "wasn't deemed provincially significant" and had many structural flaws.
To learn more, head over to Episode 3 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
11. pre-war housing
Here we are at our next stop, prime examples of pre-war housing. This pair of 1933 homes represent the pre-war style of housing that identified Ritchie before the introduction of the now-identifiable post-war housing. In the early 1900s, the area known today as Ritchie was comprised of multiple subdivisions as the populations of Edmonton and Strathcona expanded and then amalgamated in 1912. These pre-war homes were the common face of the neighbourhood for about ten years.
However, after the Second World War, the city invested heavily in housing for returning soldiers. This changed the aesthetic and demographic of neighbourhoods such as Ritchie. The mid-to-late-1940s saw the construction of hundreds of homes in Ritchie under the Wartime Housing Crown company. In 1945 alone, under this project, 100 houses were added to empty lots in the eastern part of the neighbourhood. In the name of speed, these Wartime Housing homes were all built using the same set of cookie-cutter architectural plans. The lack of customization became a major point of contention between the Community League and Wartime Housing Ltd. While the League was not successful in its efforts for more desirable homes, this period of building was marked by major collaboration between the Ritchie League and Edmonton’s urban planning. By 1948, most of the people living in Ritchie were returned soldiers and their families. And with this expanded population, a new era of Ritchie’s history began.
To learn more, check out Episode 7 of A Little Bit Ritchie
12. JB Allen House
To end our tour, we’ve arrived at the former home of James B. Allen, the first president of the Ritchie Community League.
Allan was an Architect and Scottish immigrant who came to Canada in 1906. He lived in this house across the street from the modern Ritchie Community Hall at 9760 78th Avenue. Allan served only a short term as league President, as he and his family moved away from the city in 1923. Coincidentally, Allan's former house is depicted in our Centennial logo!
What likely inspired residents in Ritchie to explore establishing their own community league was the formation of the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues in 1921, and the many leagues surrounding the neighbourhood. Ritchie no doubt had its share of civic issues, and the waves made by other leagues would also have influenced the establishment of the Ritchie Community League. One of these inspiring events was the Garneau Community Leagues effort for school sanitation.
In early 1922, the Edmonton Public School Board met to discuss sanitation and health affecting children in schools. The Garneau League addressed the Board, requesting that additional sanitation be used in schools to protect children. Specifically, they pushed for the use of “antitoxin as a preventative for diphtheria.” The league requested a health inspection at the school, the inspection report, and the statistics of infectious cases at the school compared to three other schools in the area. The Garneau League’s push for vigorous sanitation in schools showcases the power leagues held to create change in the community. From this context of community leagues, their history, and local advocacy, the Ritchie Community League was born in 1922.
To learn more, listen to Episode 2 of A Little Bit Ritchie.
Thank you for tuning in to this special episode of A Little Bit Ritchie, where we visited some of the sites that shaped the neighbourhood. If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating and a review! A Little Bit Ritchie is brought to you by the Ritchie Community League Centennial Celebration Committee. Erin Fraser and Seghan MacDonald chair the committee. This episode was researched by Linnea Bell and written by Elyse Colville. Special thanks to Dane Ryksen, who wrote and researched the section of this episode about Redeemer Lutheran Church. A Little Bit Ritchie is produced by Castria Communications and Media Solutions. This project is supported by the Edmonton Heritage Council and the City of Edmonton. Thank you to Tierra Connor for creating our logo. A special thank you to Scott Carmichael for designing our Walking Tour Map, which can be found at https://www.ritchie-league.com/wanderroundritchie.
To see photos of the locations mentioned in this episode, detailed show notes, a transcription, and references for this episode, visit the link in our description.
Thanks again for tuning in to this episode of A Little Bit Ritchie. I’m Lydia Neufeld.